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Ridiculous Accidents

Yup, the props staff forgot to blunt the knife. Yeah, right. :lol:

This sounds painful -

Toddlers' toilet seat crush peril

An increasing number of small boys may be finding toilet training a more painful experience than they anticipated, say safety experts.

Doctors at one English hospital reported four cases in which a toddler's penis had been injured by a falling toilet seat.

The fashion for heavy wooden and ceramic seats is worsening the problem, they say.

Figures suggest there may be up to 250 similar cases a year in the UK.

Perhaps it's advisable that parents with toddlers think twice about having heavy toilet seats while their children are young.

Dr Joe Philip, from Leighton Hospital in Crewe, said that parents might need to take more precautions to keep their young sons out of A&E.

He called for more seats to be designed to fall slowly, and for heavier seats to be banned from households with young boys.

He even suggested that the social norm of putting the seat down after use be suspended and the seat fixed in an upright position.

He said: "As Christmas approaches many families will be visiting relatives and friends and their recently toilet-trained toddlers will be keen to show how grown up they are by going to the toilet on their own.

"It is important that parents check out the toilet seats in advance, not to mention those in their own homes, and they should accompany their children if necessary."

The four boys visiting the Crewe hospital, aged between two and four, all needed to stay in hospital overnight, although fortunately no lasting damage was done.

They had all lifted the toilet seats themselves, which had then fallen back down onto their penises, the journal BJU International reported.

Increasing risk

Dr Philip said: "A recent market research report has suggested that there has been a worldwide increase in the number of wooden and ceramic toilet seats sold.

"We would not be surprised to hear that other colleagues have noticed an increase in penis crush injuries as a result of this."

He said that parents should consider training their youngsters to hold up the toilet seat with one hand.

A spokeswoman for RoSPA confirmed that the cases at Crewe were not isolated examples.

Sheila Merrill, home safety manager for England, said: "The most recent figures show there are an estimated 250 visits to A&E each year by boys under the age of five involved in similar accidents.

"So perhaps it's advisable that parents with toddlers think twice about having heavy toilet seats while their children are young.

"However, as with children of all ages, in all areas of the home, supervision is always the most crucial aspect in preventing accidents."
 
Sounds a bit dodgy to me.

Husband fell off river bank twice
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/engl ... 928500.stm

Mary Stastny had to break into her friend's house to call an ambulance
A woman who dragged her husband to safety after he fell off a steep river bank was horrified to see the dazed man stand up and plunge back over the edge.

George Stastny was walking with his wife Mary near their County Durham home when he tripped and fell 20ft, breaking his nose and injuring his back.

She pulled him to the top, where he passed out, but as she went for help he stood up, fainted, and fell off again.

The 66-year-old was checked at hospital, but was not badly hurt.

The couple were walking in the Teesdale Valley, close to their home in Whorlton, near Barnard Castle, on Sunday when Mr Stastny tripped. I keep telling George that to fall off a cliff once is unfortunate, to fall off a cliff twice is just ridiculous

Mary Stastny

His fall was broken by trees, and he managed to remain conscious while his wife helped him back to the footpath.

But after her husband passed out, Mrs Stastny had to leave him to raise the alarm.

She said: "As I was leaving, I was terrified he would fall down again. I just went for help and he shouted that he was coming round.

"I turned around to see him stand up and to my horror, he fell down again. He fell right down the cliff to where he was before."
Mr Stastny's fall over the cliff was broken by trees

Unable to move him a second time, Mrs Stastny ran to a friend's house, but found no-one was home.

So she used a broomstick to smash a window, and climbed inside to call an ambulance.

In the meantime, her husband had regained consciousness and made his way to his mother-in-law's house.

Mrs Stastny said: "Once we knew everything was OK, we could laugh about it. I keep telling George that to fall off a cliff once is unfortunate, to fall off a cliff twice is just ridiculous."

But the couple's luck got even worse when police visited the next day to inform Mrs Stastny they were investigating her on suspicion of burglary.

She said: "They went to my friend's house to see if they wanted to press charges for my breaking and entering. Thankfully they said no.

"The police did apologise, but they were only doing their job and the emergency services were fantastic."
 
Buckingham Palace footman causes £60,000 damage to new carpet by spilling tea
A hapless Buckingham Palace footman caused £60,000 worth of damage to a new carpet when he spilled a trolley of drinks.

Last Updated: 8:32AM GMT 16 Mar 2009

The accident happened in the Picture Gallery which had just been recarpeted at great expense two days before. The 156ft-long room is the size of two tennis courts.

The footman was wheeling the trolley of hot drinks across it when one of the wheels fell off and the drinks scattered. :shock:

An insider told the Daily Mail: "It took three days to lay the carpet and it had only been down for two days when the accident happened. No one could believe it.

"They had a spare section of carpet which officials thought would cover unforeseen accidents in the future - not in the same week it was laid. They've had to use it all up at one go."

The accident happened during a staff meeting and the part-time footman was sent with tea and coffee.

The insider said: "It tipped over and everything fell off - tea, coffee and china. They spent a week in the gallery trying to remove the stain.

"But instead of making it better it seems they opened up the fibres of the carpet and made it even worse. It was ruined.

"He was not a full-time staff member and just comes in part-time but people don't think he'll be coming back any more." [Victimization! :evil: ]

A Buckingham Palace official said: "It left a large stain at one end. Professional cleaners were called in after staff efforts failed but to no avail."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstop ... g-tea.html
 
Flat blown up in air bed accident

A German man has blown up his flat while trying to mend an inflatable mattress, local fire officials say. :shock:

The man from the western city of Dusseldorf used car tyre solvent to repair a hole and left it overnight.

But when he tried to inflate the mattress the next day, it was ignited by a spark from an electric air pump.

The explosion blasted the sitting room wall into a stairwell and blew out windows. It injured both the man, 45, and his young daughter.

The three-year-old girl was reported to have suffered third degree burns, while her father had his arms burnt.

The fire brigade evacuated two buildings and sealed off a street while they checked for structural damage.

"The apartment looked devastated," Spiegel Online quoted a fire brigade spokesman as saying.

The paper said the cost of the damage was estimated at 20,000 euros (£17,200), and that the man would be put under investigation for causing an explosion through negligence.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8153387.stm
 
Foreign Legion shooting practice triggers huge wildfire in France
Drill instructor suspended after blaze forces evacuations in Marseille
Angelique Chrisafis in Paris
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 23 July 2009 18.27 BST

A French Foreign Legion drill instructor was suspended today amid political fury over an "imbecilic" shooting practice that started one of France's biggest wildfires in recent years.

The fire broke out during a shelling exercise by the First Foreign Legion Regiment on their base outside Marseille yesterday after soldiers fired non-regulation tracer bullets that caught fire on scrubland in summer temperatures. :shock:

The fire tore through more than 1,000 hectares of scrubland, swept along by 40mph winds, destroying several hill cabins and damaging nearby houses. It reached the edge of Marseille's densely populated residential neighbourhoods as clouds of thick smoke clouded the skyline of France's second city.

Hundreds were evacuated from homes in eastern Marseille overnight, after spraying their doorways with water to try to keep the fire back. Residents of a retirement home were evacuated in their pyjamas and wheelchairs in the early hours of the morning. Seven firefighters and police were injured but no one was killed and the fire was brought under control today .

It was the second time a military exercise had started a wildfire in the area. :roll:

Today the prime minister, François Fillon, visited the military camp at Carpiagne between Marseille and Cassis. The prime minister said the tracer bullets, which contain an incendiary substance to make them visible, were banned on bases in the south of France all year round, not just during periods of heightened fire danger.

A Foreign Legionnaire was suspended today and a military inquiry and judicial investigation were launched. "We're waiting for the results to make decisions but there will be sanctions against those who have committed these serious professional mistakes," Fillon said, adding that rules would be tightened to avoid future lapses.

Earlier the local prefect, Michel Sappin, condemned the exercise as "imbecilic", given the previous episode and the high fire risk in the scrubland.

Marseille's centre-right mayor, Jean-Claude Gaudin, slammed the military's "incredible stupidity". He said: "It's staggering that they could have been carrying out exercises in 32C [90F] heat with violent winds. This is stupidity that could have become criminal stupidity."

The government promised that the army would take part in the clear-up.

...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/ju ... n-wildfire
 
Real-life Ram-bo: The sheep who abseiled down electricity cable after snagging his horn
By Mail Foreign Service
Last updated at 1:23 PM on 07th August 2009

This hapless sheep has become a real life 'ram-bo' after inadvertently abseiling down a hill when its horn became snagged on an electricity wire.
The unfortunate sheep was spotted bleating for help more than 15 feet above the ground next to an telegraph pole.
Amazed onlookers watched the ram descend from a grazing pasture - apparently accidentally - while dangling from a live wire.

The drama unravelled at the small town of Helgoysund on the Norwegian coast on Wednesday.
Tourists at the scene mounted a rescue attempt and eventually roped him to pull him back to ground level in little over an hour.
Bemused spectators suggested he may have been trying to take the fast route down to a herd of ewes grazing in the field below.

Marita Vestersjo Landsnes, aged 13, caught the calamity on her camera phone. The schoolgirl said she couldn't believe her eyes when she saw the sheep sliding down the live wire.

Her dad Geir Landsnes, 45, also watched the dramatic events unfold. He said Marita would never to go out without a camera again.
He said: 'As a reward for his embarrassing predicament we helped him to achieve his quest by allowing him access to the ladies.

'My wife saw something surreal from the kitchen window and realised it was the sheep hanging five to six metres off the ground from the wire by its horn and called me straight away, asking what to do.
'I asked my daughter Marita to photograph the rescue operation so I could see the images of what had happened.
'Marita is so proud that her images and I've encouraged her not to leave the house without her camera.'

The sheep had been grazing on the hill. He had got his horn stuck on the zip wire and as he got more agitated, was pulled down the hill on the wire he was attached to and ended more than up five metres above the ground. :shock:
The German tourists were in the area because the Landsnes family, alongside the sheep farm, run a small vacation place on the Norwegian island.
The sheep escaped unharmed.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldne ... z0Na21jONl
 
Man's hand cut off by towing rope

A man has had his hand severed while he was being towed on a rubber ring by a sea scooter in south Devon.

The 45-year-old man, from Ivybridge, was on the inflatable ring on Sunday afternoon outside Torquay Harbour.

His hand was severed after it became entangled in the tow rope while he was being towed by the privately-owned sea vehicle, police said.

His right hand was lost at sea, coastguards said. He was taken to Torbay Hospital for treatment.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/8231007.stm
 
This is a bit more than a Silly Mistake - but happily all ended well:

Vintage bomber takes off by mistake at air show
Simon de Bruxelles
13 Comments

A 70-year-old former RAF pilot yesterday relived the stomach-wrenching moment when a vintage bomber he was manoeuvring at an airshow accidentally took off because his co-pilot hit the throttle.

The recently restored Handley Page Victor, a vital part of Britain’s nuclear deterrent in the 1950s and 1960s, was intended only to taxi along a runway in front of spectators, before stopping for photographs, at a Leicestershire airshow.

Bob Prothero, a retired RAF group captain from Portsmouth, was on the flight deck, with an engineer as co-pilot. As the aircraft gathered speed, Mr Prothero instructed the co-pilot to slow the aircraft, but instead he increased the throttle — and then froze.

The 75-tonne V-bomber rapidly reached take-off speed and began to climb. As it lumbered into the air, reaching 150ft, it veered to the left — heading towards a housing estate.

Mr Prothero, who last flew a Victor in the 1980s and whose flying licence had long since expired, was faced with a split-second decision: “I was petrified. Everything was pure instinct,” he said. :shock:

“I was shouting at the co-pilot to pull the throttle back. I saw the nose rise into the air. I thought, ‘Oh God here we go, how are we going to get out of this one?’.”

Mr Prothero could try to land the aircraft immediately — but risked missing the runway and crashing. Or he could fly the heavy aircraft around before landing. “I had to make a snap decision. I pointed the nose down and noticed we were well and truly airborne, but because of the crosswind we were not over the runway. Thankfully, I managed to pitch the aircraft back towards the runway and away from any spectators.”

Mr Prothero landed the aircraft — named Teasin’ Tina — without a scratch. He described the event as the “most terrifying nine seconds of my life”.

“My only concern was getting the plane down as quickly and safely as possible,” he said.

A video on YouTube shows the Victor leaping up, lurching left, then touching down in a cloud of dust.

One onlooker is heard asking, “Should it be doing that?” while others are heard shrieking in disbelief.

The aircraft is designed to use a drag parachute as a brake, but Mr Prothero had no time to deploy it.

He said: “Although I touched down on the grass I still managed to keep it under control. All that was left to do was get out and kiss the ground. 8)

“Nobody could really believe what had happened. There were people slapping me on the back and congratulating me on not crashing the thing and ruining the day.”

Yesterday the Civil Aviation Authority, which held an inquiry into the incident at the Cold War Jets day at Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome in May, said that it would take no action. Its report said: “The problem arose as a result of the engineer ‘freezing’ at a time of high stress.”

David Walton, the managing director of the aerodrome, said: “It was a brilliant piece of airmanship from Bob. If the aircraft had stalled, the day could have ended in tragedy.”

The British-built Handley Page Victor was part of the nation’s V-Bomber nuclear deterrent during the Cold War and also served in the Falklands and the Gulf War.

Bruntingthorpe-based Teasin’ Tina, along with Lusty Lindy, are the only two Victor bombers that remain in working condition.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/u ... 826566.ece

Here's a partial video of the event
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2ECsXoR63o

This is what was meant to happen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kW1daa2V8Y
 
It's funny - most of the coverage (including the photo in yesterday's Telegraph) would lead one to think that this has just happened, but as the article says (once, and in passing), this was back in May. It's just that the inquiry has only just been held.

Great story, though, and nice to know that there was a proper pilot at the controls, even when no flight was intended!
 
Falmouth police inspector seriously injured
4:38pm Thursday 1st October 2009

Falmouth police inspector John Trott remains in hospital today after he was left seriously injured in a collision with a lorry at the weekend.

Insp Trott, who lives at The Lizard, was taking part in a cycling time trial and had reached the Victoria interchange on the A30 when he collided with the back of a highway maintenance vehicle. :shock: The reason why still remains a mystery and Insp Trott has no memory of what happened.

He was left with fractured ribs, neck bones and sternum and the extent of his injuries was so severe that he had to be airlifted to Derriford Hospital.

It is unlikely he will return to work until the New Year and in the meantime a temporary inspector has been appointed at Falmouth police station etc...

http://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/fp ... y_injured/
 
Half a million road crashes 'caused by women drivers applying make-up'
Nearly half a million road accidents a year are caused by women drivers applying make-up behind the wheel, a new survey discloses.
Published: 7:00AM BST 02 Oct 2009

Around on fifth of female motorists confess they have touched up their mascara on the move – equivalent to 2.7 million of Britain's 15 million women drivers.

Three per cent admitted causing a collision when distracted by applying cosmetics.

The poll of 4,000 women drivers by women's motor insurer Diamond comes a year after the introduction of a new offence of causing death by careless driving which carries a prison sentence of up to two years.

Previously, careless driving offences – including applying make-up, eating and map-reading – were punishable only by a fine.

Young women, aged between 17 and 21, were found to be the most likely to put beauty before safety and most liable to crash their car as a result.

Twenty-seven per cent confessed to putting on make-up and nine per cent of those aged 18 or younger have had a crash while doing so – three times the average.

That compares with just six per cent of women aged 56 or older who are least likely to do it at the wheel and just one in 200 – 0.5 per cent – in that age group who have had an accident while applying make-up.

Diamond managing director Sian Lewis said it is "worrying" that so many women put themselves and other road users at risk.

"We all have busy lives but applying your make-up when you're driving means your full attention is not on the road ahead," she said.

"Is your mascara more important than yours and other road users' safety? Even if you're lucky enough to arrive at your destination safely, you could be charged with careless driving if spotted by the police.

"Women are generally great at doing more than one thing at once but this is definitely one area where multitasking should not be practised." :twisted:

In March 2006, 22-year-old part-time model Donna Maddock, of Mold, North Wales, was fined £200 with six penalty points for careless driving for applying make-up at the wheel of her Vauxhall Astra whilst doing 32mph on the A490 near Abersoch.

A separate survey earlier this year found that seven out of ten drivers believe it should lead to an automatic ban.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents appealed for women to avoid the potentially deadly distraction and warned it could prove fatal.

"It should go without saying that applying make-up while driving is a dangerous thing to do," said RoSPA's head of road safety Kevin Clinton.

"Driving requires concentration and even a momentary lapse could turn a near-miss into a serious or even fatal accident. Commonsense says apply make-up before or after driving."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/new ... ke-up.html
 
rynner said:
Amputation after art class burns

A teenage girl had to have most of her fingers and thumbs amputated because of severe burns caused by mixing plaster of Paris by hand during an art class.
The girl, 16, is said to have suffered third degree burns as the plaster set.

It happened in January at Giles School and Sixth Form Centre in Old Leake, Lincolnshire, a visual arts specialist.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/6485481.stm
That story was from March, 2007. Now the outcome...

Fine as art pupil loses fingers

A school has been fined £16,500 after a 16-year-old pupil lost eight fingers when her hands got stuck in a bucket of plaster of Paris during an art lesson.

The girl was making a cast of her hands in January 2007, magistrates in Boston, Lincolnshire, were told.

The plaster heated up and set. Neither staff nor paramedics could get it off, leaving the pupil at Giles School in Boston with serious burns.

The school admitted breaching health and safety rules.

It also admitted failing to report the matter to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which only found out about what happened from the girl's plastic surgeon.

The school was also ordered to pay £2,500 in costs.

The court was told temperatures of up to 60C can be generated in large quantities of plaster of Paris.

Jo Anderson, prosecuting for the HSE, said the girl had been told by her teacher to put her hands into clay to make a mould.

She was then supposed to pour the liquid plaster into the clay mould. Instead she put her hand up to the wrist into the bucket of plaster.

It is understood the mixture began to solidify within about 10 minutes and she soon realised she could not remove her hands.

"The student's hands were literally being burnt as the plaster was setting around them," Miss Anderson said.

"There was no way the student could or should have known of the catastrophic consequences."

Plastic surgeons did what they could to help the girl, but after 12 operations she was left with no fingers on one hand and just two on the other.

Speaking outside the court, the girl's solicitor, Stephen Hill, said his client was a "remarkable young woman" who hoped to go to university and become a teacher working with nursery or primary aged children.

He added: "She is doing remarkably well considering the devastating injuries she did suffer.

"But she is a very stoical. She is a very determined, self sufficient character but she is now only left with one forefinger and an index finger."

Mr Hill said his client had now had enough of surgery.

It had not only left her with just two fingers, it also with severe scars all over her body where the plastic surgeons had taken skin for grafts.

The school issued a statement which said it was proud the girl had returned to school and gained three A-Levels.

It added: "We would liked to reassure all pupils and parents that our health and safety procedures have been rigorously revised. We are confident that such an accident cannot occur again at our school."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/linc ... 303246.stm
 
rynner2 said:
rynner said:
Amputation after art class burns

...said the girl had been told by her teacher to put her hands into clay to make a mould.

She was then supposed to pour the liquid plaster into the clay mould. Instead she put her hand up to the wrist into the bucket of plaster.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/linc ... 303246.stm

Then it was her own fault then, for not listening to instructions. Bloody silly cow.
 
Teacher should have checked though.
Didn't a similar accident happen in Sweden or somewhere a couple of years ago?
 
Doesn't mean she didn;t listen, might have been lilstening but misheard or simply misunderstood. :(

This is pretty ridiculous, also quite horrid. Must have seemed like a good idea after a few pints:

Leeds pub horror as fancy dress sheep set alight

A STUDENT dressed as a sheep and covered in cotton wool balls suffered serious burns after his costume was set alight.
The 19-year-old University of Leeds student was set alight in the Headingley Taps pub, North Lane, Headingley.

Two friends in similar costumes also caught fire when the fire spread.

The fancy dress costume is thought to have been set alight by someone on a stag night.

Witnesses described how flames quickly engulfed his entire upper body, turning him into a "human torch".

Locals in the pub went to their rescue, trying to put out the flames as they rolled on the floor.

Bar staff then used fire extinguishers to put out the fires. They are to be recommended for a commendation for their quick-thinking actions.

A witness, who asked not to be named said: "It was unbelievable how quickly it happened.

"The guys were dressed in what looked like tights and tight fitting costumes covered with big balls of cotton wool stuck on.

"The next thing one of them was rolling around on the floor in a ball of flames.

"It didn't look too bad at first but before they took him away his skin was beginning to blister. It looked bad where the tights had melted and stuck to his legs."

Police, fire crews and an ambulance were called to the pub around 5.40pm on Saturday.

http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/n ... 5747660.jp
 
I've heard of this happening in this country twice before, in the last few years.

Kids - say no to home-made sheep costumes.
 
Why can't they just stick to shagging sheep?


Fan dressed as sheep set alight
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/8336485.stm

Arriva train
Some reports said many fans were dressed as sheep on the train

A 24-year-old football fan dressed as a sheep suffered serious burns to his arms and legs when his suit caught fire on a train in Fife.

Aberdeen fans said the man ran ablaze through the carriage as others threw beer on him to douse the flames.

The Edinburgh to Aberdeen service was stopped at Kirkcaldy at about 1900 GMT on Saturday to allow him to be treated.

British Transport Police said a 23-year-old man had been arrested in connection with the incident.

A second man is reported to have suffered slight injuries.

The train was carrying Aberdeen football supporters back home after their side's match against Hibs in Edinburgh.

It is understood a number of the fans at the match and on the train were dressed as sheep.

The train involved, an Arriva cross-country train, was the 1808 GMT service from Edinburgh to Aberdeen.

The fan who suffered burns is said to be in a serious but stable condition in hospital in Kirkcaldy.

British Transport Police said the arrested man was expected to appear at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court on Monday.
 
This is at least the fourth time I've heard of a home-made sheep outfit catching fire. :shock:
 
escargot1 said:
This is at least the fourth time I've heard of a home-made sheep outfit catching fire. :shock:

i think these sheep costumes are trying to teus something lol, although saying that did it mention how the person got set alight from someone on a stag do????
 
Usually the fire is an apparently playful prank, which soon turns out to be a bad idea as the fleecy materials used are unfortunately highly flammable.

I was directly involved as part of the legal process in one such case and there was certainly an element of rather reckless pranking.

The thing the 'sheep' are telling us is 'DON'T DRESS UP AS A SHEEP!'

i'm listening! ;)
 
escargot1 said:
The thing the 'sheep' are telling us is 'DON'T DRESS UP AS A SHEEP!'

i'm listening! ;)

Ahh so thats the secret message lol, now i get it :D
 
Bungling handyman puts ladder against branch he is sawing off... then sues bosses after breaking his foot
By Liz Hull
Last updated at 9:39 PM on 14th April 2010

As DIY disasters go, they don't come much dafter than sawing off a tree branch that you've just leaned your ladder against.
But when he was asked to prune a sycamore tree in the grounds of a luxury hotel, handyman Peter Aspinall propped his ladder against the branch he was removing instead of the tree trunk.
He sawed through the branch and it plummeted 14 feet to the ground. The ladder and Mr Aspinall quickly followed.

The 64-year-old broke his heel, damaged ligaments and spent ten days in hospital after the fall.
Yesterday it emerged that Mr Aspinall, who has been off sick since the accident 18 months ago, is suing Egerton House Hotel, near Bolton, for his injuries.
A court ordered the hotel to pay £2,015 after a health and safety investigation concluded that the owners had failed to carry out a 'risk assessment' on the dangers of sawing a tree branch with a ladder against it and should have trained Mr Aspinall and a colleague on where to place the ladder. :shock:

The hotel's solicitor, David Walton, told magistrates: 'It is an unusual accident. Laurel and Hardy do that sort of thing.' ;)
Speaking after the hearing, he added: 'The hotel was very disappointed that common sense did not prevail and that the case was brought against them.
'The prosecution case was that had there been a routine risk assessment for the gardening activity of pruning trees then it's unlikely that this accident would have happened.
'But, even if there had been a risk assessment done, no one would expect two experienced men to do such a thing.

etc...

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z0l9yNBJg0
 
Sad, but also moderately ridiculous.

Leeds bin man killed by falling telegraph pole

A refuse collector has died after being hit by a telegraph pole which had been knocked over by a bin lorry in Leeds.

The 55-year-old man was struck on the head in the incident in Beeston Park Terrace, Beeston on Monday morning.

Police said the bin lorry was reversing along the cul-de-sac at about 0800 BST when it hit the wooden telegraph pole.

"The telegraph pole then fell and struck a refuse worker on the head, causing fatal injuries," said a West Yorkshire Police spokesman.

Police would like to speak to any witnesses, particularly anyone who drove out of Beeston Park Terrace around the time of the collision.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west ... 630881.stm
 
I'm in thumb trouble here: Firefighters take two and a half hours to free woman from her ten-pin bowling ball :shock:
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 5:02 PM on 20th April 2010

When youth worker Cherie Beekman took a group of children for a trip to a bowling alley she got little too attached to the game.
When the 33-year-old went to return the green ball she had been using she found she couldn't. It was stuck on her right thumb and nothing would shift it.

She was driven from the alley in Didsbury, Manchester, to a nearby fire station where it took a team of firefighters two-and-a-half hours to cut the ball away using an electric saw, a hacksaw and a chisel.
They even had to use oxygen and made a phone call to the ball's manufacturers.

Cherie told the Manchester Evening News: 'It was really funny at first. At no point did I think "this is going to end badly".
'But then I started to get a bit panicky and I couldn't breath properly because I was worrying.

'A colleague drove me to the fire station. No one knew what the ball was made of so they were on Google and had the manufacturer on the phone trying to help us.
'I'm not big on knives so I got pretty teary when they brought the saws out, especially as I didn't know which way my thumb was stuck inside the ball.'

Cherie, who had taken a group of 16 children bowling with the Prince's Trust youth charity at the Parrs Wood alley, turned up at the Brownley Road fire station. An ambulance crew was later called to give her a check-up.

She said: 'The firemen were absolutely amazing. They kept me calm and brought me endless cups of coffee. I even had to have oxygen at one point. The thumb is just very swollen and achy.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z0ljXW4dHK
 
This is quite funny in a Charly and the Chocolate Factory kind of way... until you really start to think about it, and then it's just very very nasty :shock: :shock: :(

Sweet firm fined £300,000 over worker's crush death

Britain's biggest independent confectionery firm has been fined £300,000 after a foreign worker was crushed to death in one of its sweet-making machines, health and safety watchdogs said today.
Czech-born Martin Pejril was trying to unblock the machine when it suddenly re-started.

He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The 33-year-old was working for Tangerine Confectionery at its factory
in Alder Road, Poole, Dorset, on February 20, 2008 when the accident happened.

Tangerine, the UK's largest independent confectionery company, manufactures sweets such as Sherbet Dip Dabs, Mojos and Black Jacks as well as Butterkist popcorn.

The firm, whose head office is in Blackpool, Lancashire, was found guilty of two breaches of health and safety law by failing to ensure the safety at work of its employees and failing to make sufficient risk assessments.

The company appeared at Bournemouth Crown Court for sentencing yesterday. It was fined £150,000 on each of the two safety breaches and ordered to pay legal costs of £72,901.

HSE Inspector Simon Jones said: "This tragic case highlights the need to ensure that machines are safely isolated before any maintenance takes place so they cannot unexpectedly start up.

"Simply pressing a stop button does not adequately isolate a machine.

"If the machine in this case had been properly isolated from the electrical power source before Mr Pejril attempted to clear the blockage, this accident would never have happened.

"A proper risk assessment would have highlighted the dangers of entrapment.

"All employees need to be adequately trained in correct company procedures - whether it's for clearing blockages, operating machines or any other high-risk activity."

A spokeswoman for the firm said: "Tangerine Confectionery is committed to maintaining and investing in the best possible safety standards and our sympathies remain with his family for this tragic accident.

"We remain disappointed in the conviction and the sentence imposed by the court in relation to this matter and will be considering the company's position in relation to an appeal."

http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/n ... 6249889.jp
 
Falling 30ft nightclub sign knocks woman unconscious
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 11:21 AM on 31st May 2010

A woman was found lying in a pool of blood after a 30ft night club sign was blown off its mounting and struck her on the head.
Paramedics and firefighters were called to the incident outside the Reflex nightclub, Plymouth, just after 11am on Saturday.
The woman - believed to be in her thirties - was given first aid until the emergency services arrived.

Witnesses described how she was distressed and lying in a pool of blood after the freak accident - caused by blustery conditions over the Bank Holiday weekend.
RAF medic Dean Thomas, 27, had been having breakfast with his family in the Union Rooms when the woman was injured.
He said: 'She was conscious by the time we got there. I think she had been knocked out and came straight back round. She was upset and lying in a pool of her own blood.
'The gash by her eye was pretty bad. If it had been one centimetre lower, it would have had her eye out. She's very lucky.

'It was a very big sign, with nails hanging off the end of it, so it could have been a lot worse.
'I had a look at her head and stuck on a dressing, from the pub's first aid box, to stop the bleeding and held it there until the ambulance arrived.'

Police requested the presence of firefighters to secure the front of the nightclub, while paramedics treated the woman, believed to be from Plympton, who was taken to Derriford Hospital.
She was released later the same day after treatment to a cut above her right eyebrow and bruising to her shoulder, back and knee.

The sign has been seized and the Health and Safety Executive has launched an investigation.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z0paYvWu7y
 
If only she had better reflexes........
 
Reminds me of a very windy night, years ago, when I was waiting at T-junction in my car, watching a panel on a bus shelter across the road swinging around crazily.

I thought, hmm, I'll hang on until it falls off... just as it came loose, flew across the road and scraped over my car bonnet. :shock:
 
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