Wounded in the House of my Friends
September 27th, 2009OSHA is for Heathens
I went to the church today to help tear down a set. I was hoping to get to know more people and help out, but it did not work out that way.
I thought they were hard up for helpers, but when I arrived, there were maybe thirty guys hacking up the old set and moving it out. There was no meeting. No plan. There were no groups with specific tasks. There was no safety gear. There were no rules. There was absolutely no leadership. There was one guy who occasionally gave very vague instructions to no one in particular, and whoever got there first got whatever task he needed done. Everyone worked very fast. There was no communication.
I should have backed out slowly and gone home, but I’m not a blue-collar guy, so I suppose I’m not as sharp as I should be about workplace safety. And I wanted to be of some use.
The set consists of a number of plywood pieces propped up with two-by-four supports. It’s all held together with drywall screws. I suppose each section is around ten feet long, so they’re pretty heavy. There are also big aluminum structures that hold TVs. There are cables all over, and weird props like stage rocks.
I was not able to be very helpful, so I tried to stay out of the way until an opportunity arose. People kept wandering near me, carrying heavy things they didn’t seem to know what to do with, and I kept moving, trying to find a safe place to stand.
Right after I found a place that seemed relatively secure, I felt something bite me in the lower back and the back of my left leg. Somebody had dropped a section of the set, and the edge had hit me twice on the way to the floor. I yelled “JESUS!”, which probably was not a great idea, but I didn’t have a lot of time to plan it. The next time I get maimed at church, I’ll try to remember to watch my language.
I turned around and saw the set section lying there, with parts of it shattered. I looked at my leg and saw a lovely injury that started high with abraded skin and ended low, with a strip of skin peeled off. And the blood was starting to flow.
I never saw the person who dropped the set on me. I am told his name is Mike.
Some guy whose name escapes me sent me to the men’s room to clean up the wound. He said he’d find a first aid kit. When I located him again, we sat down and started patching up the leg. My back wasn’t scraped badly enough to need a bandage.
The kit had antibiotic packets, but when I opened one, it was completely dry. OSHA would tear this place up.
I assured everyone I was okay (in the sense that I did not need an ambulance), but I pointed out that the total lack of leadership and organization is what caused my injury. If that thing had hit my head, I’d be in surgery right now. Had I been one inch farther back, it would have opened my leg up to the point where I’d need expensive treatment. As it is, it will be a good two weeks before my leg is right, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s very painful to walk on over the next few days.
It’s a wonder nobody has been killed down there.
On the way home, I realized what they need when they do projects like this. They need one leader with supreme power. They need that leader to draw up a plan that calls for tasks to be done in a certain order. That would take fifteen minutes. He needs to decide how many men he needs. He needs to stand in front of the church on Sunday and ask for that many men. He needs to have a duty roster. When enough men sign up, he needs to tell the church he has everyone he needs. He needs to divide them into groups, with a leader over each group. On the day of the project, they need to have a ten-minute meeting where he explains what they’re going to do. He needs to hand out hard hats and gloves. He needs to give them basic safety rules. Finally, how about a prayer that everyone goes home in one functional piece?
He should also insist that everyone wear boots and jeans. I’d be a lot better off if I had done that. I didn’t have any idea how dangerous it would be. Most of the skinned area would have been covered by boots.
Christians forgive. So I forgive. I forgave all the way home. Several times. Eventually, it will stick. I will not let myself be crabby about this for the rest of the day. At least I hope not. Nobody intended to drop a set on me. Everyone there was trying to do something unselfish. These are good people. But it’s hard not to be annoyed when you get a painful, bloody injury that was completely unnecessary and caused by obvious mistakes.
On a DVD I watched, the pastor talked about his deformed left index finger. The last joint goes off at an angle. He hit it with a sledge hammer while he was putting up a tent in the rain. He was driving a heavy steel stake. Another church-related accident. It should never have happened. Back when I was on the kibbutz, they stuck me in the almond fields with a bunch of blunt stakes and a sledge, and they told me to drive them into the hard dirt and tie them to the saplings. I did it, but my right hand shook in the evenings. It was a very dumb idea. The Israelis marveled at my capacity to take abuse, because I was too stupid to complain. Later, one of them came out with a proper implement for driving stakes. It was a heavy pipe with two handles and one end welded shut. You drop it over the stake, and one person takes each handle, and you drive the stake into the ground in about ten seconds, without injury or strain. That’s what the pastor should have been using. Or he should have found someone with the proper power tool. I suppose a Bobcat would be ideal, if you rigged it up right. But hey, people perish for lack of knowledge. He mashed his finger (nearly losing the end of it), and I got my leg peeled. The next person may die.
I think it would be best if I excluded myself from this kind of thing in the future, unless they’re willing to start planning and quit using the Holy Spirit as a parachute. I really wanted to help, and I have faith that God will watch over me, but I’m not crazy.
September 27th, 2009 at 7:07 PM
I see this as your opportunity. Talk to the pastor and let him know.
September 27th, 2009 at 9:02 PM
My wife and I get involved in some pretty major projects here and there, often involving other people. We’re both amazed at the lack of safety awareness that people exhibit, much of it through the lack of planning that you describe. Both of us have extensive experience in industry, where they constantly drill everyone on safety issues. Some things are obvious, such as using proper equipment: hard hats, gloves, SAFETY GLASSES, long pants, shoes/boots (not sandles or tennis shoes), and SAFETY GLASSES. But the main thing is planning and observation: if that thing falls, where’s it going? Is this part too heavy to hold once the bolts are removed? If so, how are you going to support it?
A couple of years ago, I was watching a fella use a table saw, and it was evident that his hands were in severe danger. Sure enough, an hour or so into the project, he cut himself, fortunately not TOO severely. He just hadn’t thought the thing through.
Your point about having a leader is very important. Before performing certain operations, it’s well to have a brief confab about exactly what you’re going to do, and each person’s part in it. About 30 years ago, a friend was having an old-fashioned barn raising, and he had enlisted the help of at least a dozen people. Because he frankly didn’t want to lead the thing, he asked me and another buddy to run the job. We divided the crew into 2 sub-crews and went to work, with me and Buddy#2 running things. We didn’t even have any close calls, and some of it was potentially quite dangerous, what with working at heights and with heavy timbers.
Besides the safety angle, decent leadership on such an operation makes sure that everyone has a job that he/she is comfortable with and can be productive. One of the worst things you can do with volunteer labor is to get them to the job, then not use them.
September 27th, 2009 at 10:29 PM
Or you step in and lead…
Sometimes the job picks you, Steve. Not the other way around.
You had a come to “Jesus!” moment.
September 27th, 2009 at 11:45 PM
Welcome to the world of being a “volunteer.” I’ve done everything from Church to community theater to Habitat for Humanity and every time I see what you see…silence…with a basic lack of leadership many times out of fear of offending some “volunteer”…people which really shouldn’t be there in the first place without some direction and supervision.
At habitat we had a rule that if you dropped your hammer TWICE off the roof you were banned from working on the roof in the future.
The problem was really for the person(s) standing or walking by the “drip line” when you did it those first two times…
September 28th, 2009 at 12:58 AM
Demolition is almost always the most dangerous phase of any construction project. I have 20+ years in the business with the scars to prove it. I still see things that fall the way they weren’t supposed to fall… The key is to make sure the workers are out of EVERY possible path of destruction.
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You are spot-on about leadership. The sheep need a shepherd with experience.
September 28th, 2009 at 3:32 AM
> I yelled “JESUS!”, which probably was not a great idea, but I didn’t have a lot of time to plan it.
That’s too funny. Good writing, as always.
Best to you and your sister.
September 28th, 2009 at 5:34 AM
Your comments are good and sorry to hear that you became damaged. The services of a retired Navy Chief, Army, Marine, or AF NCO or some old construction foreman/superintendent would be solve those problems. Rather than back out and not participate, you ought to consider taking the suggestion to the head guy or governing directors or whoever makes such decisions.
September 28th, 2009 at 5:56 AM
I’ve had similar experiences, thought not on such a grand scale. I think part of it is that people “volunteer,” and so for someone to start actually treating it like a job site means that it becomes “work.” And thus, loses some of its appeal (and thus support).
Another aspect might be that in a “church” setting, someone is waiting for the pastor to step up and take charge. Except that, maybe running a jobsite isn’t his strength, or maybe he’s not even there. No one wants to be the one to “take over”, and so no one does anything.
It’s likely a well-intentioned invidividual volunteered to help “organize” the thing, but rapidly became overwhelmed when it came time to “lead” the thing.
September 28th, 2009 at 9:40 AM
Sounds like one of those vaccuums that is just crying out for “someone” to step in and fill the void.
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One problem with all volunteer projects is the ‘people just show up’ factor and that those who do show are often clueless and unequiped. I, for example, am almost perfectly clueless and uneqiped as to building/repair type projects. I don’t own much in the way of tools or safety gear and don’t really know what to do with them anyway.
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A knowlegeable person to be planner and foreman would be a great contribution (if executed graciously).
September 28th, 2009 at 10:54 AM
I’m curious about what kind of liability there might be for the volunteer “leader” should anything “untoward” happen. Especially if you showed that planning and safety meetings were held and you missed something. I don’t know and never worried about it til now. You’re the lawyer.
Also, yelling “JESUS” as been known to save lives miraculously (usually as the cement truck is approaching your car), whereas yelling something else is only embarrassing (and forgivable).
September 28th, 2009 at 11:03 AM
The big problem with suing your church is that you end up paying for the verdict out of your own offerings. Also, it probably tends to chill your relationship with the pastor.
September 28th, 2009 at 11:49 AM
Hey, at least you didn’t yell “Allah!” So you got that going for you.
September 29th, 2009 at 2:44 AM
“Hey, at least you didn’t yell “Allah!” So you got that going for you.”
Snorfle.