Sewer Machine Accident

Here is a picture of a recent sewer machine accident. The operator of the drain cleaning machine was trying to unclog a drain line and the cable got entangled with the pant leg.

Once this happened the cable then entwined with the article of clothing and proceeded to keep turning, winding down until the tension of the cable ripped the skin off of the lower leg.


Due to contamination of the leg by the sewer cable's unsanitary nature, the leg was removed 4 days later due to the inability to prevent the spreading of infection and agonizing pain.


The employee is no longer a plumber as a result of this unexpected accident.



Here's the photo of what that leg looked like before amputation. Not much left.

If this is too gruesome to post on here to other members then by all means delete the photo link. It kinda kills the reality of how dangerous drain cleaning equipment really is when mishaps happen during the use of the equipment whether you've just used one for the first time or you've been doing it for years.....and made a mistake.

I myself have had a couple/few close calls and I'm always trying to stay very attentive to the machine and what it is doing while I'm operating it.

I dont like cleaning out drains anymore

someone got killed here a few year ago

when they rigged up the foot switch to run

then drug the cable up into a crawl space

and while laying on their belly and feeding the

cable into the pipe it caught the root and

wrapped around the guys neck.......

they found him later dead as a doornail....

I've had my share of "fun" with them over the years and like MPM I am not fond of doing mains any more. I almost fell off a icy roof a few years back while running the snake down the stack.

My batting average with drains has
not been good for the past few years....

the odds are I will have to crawl into a
hole and cut out a backwards galvanized tee
just to get the cabel through the drain ,
and usually that means a bath in sewage,,,,

I once had an old lady tha tpoured fuel oil down the
kitchen drain hoeping it would unstop it.....


or going up on a roof in the rain to get through
a line that wont go downwards....and getting lit up
with electricity from your powercord.......thats fun


the going rate around here for a normal drain clean out
is about 100-135 and when you burn away about a half a
day on a difficult one and get covered in
sewage, you just cant justify doing it..


if you cant get the drian unclogged then what??

usually the customer does not want
to pay you for your time ect ect...

they whine that the last guy 10 years ago got through......


I give this work to a drains only company on the
other side of town and he gives me his plumbing calls.....

posting pix of motercycle wrecks:p

Quote:

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Originally Posted by toolaholic

posting pix of motercycle wrecks:p

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Plumbing related?

I'll see your motorcycle wrecks and raise you some tractor power-takeoff accidents -- one in full-motion video.

I once saw a 'retard' riding a motorcycle down a busy street while carrying an extention ladder.

The extension ladder extended farther forward than the front wheel by about 4 feet. To hold the ladder to the bike, the operator had simply inserted his head in between a couple rungs, while his shoulders supported the weight.



Ah well, thank God for Darwin....