1-833-300-2114

We are still surprised when people who make a living maintaining hydraulic systems are totally unaware of dangers associated with oil injection injuries. But then again, maybe we should not be since it is not something that you see every day. I want to share this story with you because some day you can save your body part - or maybe someone else's. Here is a story of someone who did just that.  

In 2009 a customer walked into our Fresno store with a hose that needed replacing. I am going to call him Rob but it is not his real name. Joe, our sales person, was in the store and engaged in a conversation with Rob while the new hose was fabricated. During the conversation, Rob mentioned that he had used his hand to "feel" for a pinhole leak in his hose. He found a leak - and the leak found a couple of his fingers.

By the time he came to our Fresno store, Rob's injury was a couple of hours old. What originally looked like a couple of sharp cuts in his fingers was now red and beginning to swell up. Joe encouraged him to go to the hospital immediately. Unaware of the seriousness of his injury, Rob seemed unconvinced in spite of our whole store crew telling him that he could lose his fingers or even a hand from the injury. He left with his new hose and Joe did not see him for another three weeks or so.

The next time Joe saw Rob, he told him that he ended up going to the hospital the afternoon of the day he got injured and that he was just released. Not only had the doctors cut open his fingers but his whole forearm all the way to the elbow to remove the fast dying tissue. They told him that had he waited a couple of hours more, he would have lost his whole arm.

So now you know that if you or someone around you gets injected by oil, paint - or even just high pressure water - you need to drop everything and rush to the nearest emergency room.

To learn more, see our earlier blog about injection injuries. We included a couple of gruesome pictures so if that bothers you, just take our word for it - injection injuries are bad.

To learn how to prevent injection injuries in the first place, read our blog about hydraulic safety. It could save someone's fingers, a limb or even life. And that someone could be you.

Posted by Marek Bobik:

 

Plan for Injection Injury Download Free Guide
Related Articles

Hydraulic Injection Injury – Be Prepared

Two previous blogs on our website address the dangers of fluid injection injuries. We recently...
Read More
Renters of Hydraulic Equipment May Be Exposed to Injuries from Worn-Out Hydraulic Hoses

Renters of Hydraulic Equipment May Be Exposed to...

We have written several blogs in the past about risks associated with using equipment with worn-out...
Read More
Eliminate costly hydraulic leaks - Use Parker Seal-Lok™ fittings

Eliminate costly hydraulic leaks - Use Parker...

Using O-ring face seal fittings (ORFS or flat face fittings) such as Parker Seal-Lok is one of the...
Read More