CASE # 1317

On Nov. 7, 2002 I began my shift as night maintenance mechanic. I had worked on a piece of equipment the night before and decided that the first thing I wanted to do was to check on it to see how it was running. The first shift was still in production so the equipment was running. As I was making my observations this piece of equipment started to move. I felt something touch my leg and realized immediately that it was the safety bar on the moving piece of equipment. The safety bar was supposed to stop the equipment if anyone got in it's path. The only problem was the equipment moves in two directions and the safety bar only worked in one direction. The machine doesn't move very fast but it was fast enough that by the time I felt the safety bar touch my leg it was too late to move. My foot was up against a 4" high concrete curb and the bar hit my leg about 6" above my ankle. Since my foot had nowhere to go this 10 ton machine with the bar sticking out tried to go through my leg. I felt the bones snap and I remember crying out help as I fell and looked down to see my foot flop over the bar. I saw a gush of blood come out of my pants leg about the same time as one of my co- workers came to my aid.
I spent seven days in the hospital and had three surgeries to repair what doctors described as a near amputation of my left foot.
After 5 weeks with an external fixator I was put into a cast and returned to work. I had two more surgeries over the next two years and through it all I continued to push myself to get to work every day. The company I worked for had treated me well throughout this ordeal and tried to be good to them. I wasn't the same person after the accident. Being in pain 24 hrs a day changes a person but I kept trying. Then suddenly at the end of June of this year I was called in and told I was being let go after 28 yrs in the industry.

The photo shows an area where a large chunk was taken out of my leg and has had a skin graft. The verticle suture line is from the ankle fusion. There is also a suture line that goes almost all the way around my ankle that does not show up well in this photo. The fresh wound is from a recent fall in my workshop. I also have many photo's that were taken soon after the accident.