This was a freakish accident that almost killed Andrew, one of her cutters, He was boning a Forequarter... He had just taken the chuck off and was marking out the scotch,( chuck tender ) he hit a gap between the bones and bam.... hit his arm. He went to the bone, tendons, nerves, artery - was less than two minutes from "checking out"
Kaaron says it freaked the hell out of her...she never seen a cut that bad before...She didn't see it happen, she was in office doing wages... Heard him yell for help, thought he'd fallen or tripped, came round the corner and saw fountains of blood.
She got him to the hospital before paramedics even got to the ambulance.... And lucky she did... Hospital is only 3 mins away.
He says it was a learning experience for him. Won't be back to work for a while, he has at least 6 months before he can get back on the knife... Kaaron says " I won't forget about it for a while either mate ".... I'm still having nightmares and not sleeping properly... Having to "wear a happy mask" at work.
I told her some Jack Daniels every night before bed would help with the nightmares and not sleeping lol
My Condolences to Andrew and HOPE he has a speedy recovery !!!!
Hi guys.... Andrew has checked out of hospital but is in need of intense physiotherapy over the next few months, has no feeling in his right arm (luckily.... hard word to use in this situation - as he is a left hander). The scary part is, I saw how easily it happened when our fill in butcher was marking out scotch yesterday, on the other forequarter, his knife found that gap between the bones and flicked out.... so easily done. He was actually wearing his mesh glove, but it wasn't a long enough one to have prevented this accident.... the only thing I could liken the fountains of blood to would be a lamb having its throat cut.. THAT I can deal with. A good mate, great butcher and neighbour was almost lost and we are all glad he is still here today.
It could have been so much worse had we not reacted when and how we did - and I sincerely thank my staff Lorraine and Trevor who were there also and for the help and support they provided.
-- Edited by Pink Lake Butchers on Thursday 15th of August 2013 07:38:24 PM
To say this guy was lucky is right. Lucky that somebody was there to hear him yell, lucky the hospital was so close and lucky that he made it in time to get fixed up. Hope he heals well, and soon.
Kaaron, you probably saved this man's life by reacting quickly and not losing your head, THANK YOU !
Boning out hanging meat is dangerous, I know of many times the outcome was not positive. It takes less than a second for an accident to happen, and it can happen to anyone, regardless of experience. In some areas, not all, safety equiptment such as gloves ( chain or kevlar ) for the non-cutting hand, forearm guards ( chain,kevlar or hard plastic ) and mesh aprons or belly guards ( yeah, that can and does happen - read between the lines on this type of injury ) are required, but they are a good idea for every cutter.
Any accident to anyone should be a wakeup call to everyone. Learn the easy way, not the hard way. Prevent accidents before they happen. Safe cutting everyone.
I just do not understand why our trade insists on moving as quick as we sometimes do, especially when breaking beef. It amazes me how shoddy many of the cuts and primals are when they arrive in boxes from packing houses.
Take your time. Leave the bone-skin on the bone instead of tugging and yanking like crazy. That way you don't ding yourself up and as an added bonus, you don't have to trim your loins of boneskin, which is an unneccesary waste of time and only fills up your render barrel... because we all know boneskin does not belong in your burger even if the jackass $150,000 manager thinks it should.
I once shoved a poo, blood, and vomit covered 6" stiffy into my thigh killing swine. Lesson learned. Slow down.
-- Edited by JimmyMac on Thursday 15th of August 2013 10:59:49 PM
That blows.
I had an arrogant meat manager that once was going to "school me" how to cut knuckles (reality was, his assistant manager was removing the silver side of a knuckle and cutting breakfast steaks with the grain). Well, he grabbed a brand new boning knife off of the sink, sliced open the box extremely fast with full force, and cut through the box through his shirt. He went through 3 layers of clothing and cut his tendons to his fingers. Even worse, they pulled deeper into his arm. Let's just say he earned a four month vacation while attempting to school me.
Sadly - we didn't insist that he go faster, he admitted to "testing" himself. Its not a race, and I'd rather our butchers were in good health than risking injury.
