Injuries

[maui_mallard]

I thought maybe some of the people here would like to share their stories on injuries while working on a computer? Hopefully nobody posts anything too graphic...but i thought maybe some people would like to share some advice on how to be safe while working in a computer and the possible outcomes that could occur!

Ill start it off....

Injury:

I was working in my Computer Engineering class, putting in ide cables. My teacher asked entire class if everybody was ok with their computers, the second he said that my hand slid off the ide cable and the my thumb got jabbed into one of the pins. The pin went right in between the nail of the thumb and the skin. I did hurt for while. I thought it was extremely ironic that the second he asked if everything was all right, i got hurt.

Advice:

Always pay attention when working inside a computer!

[bfdman]

As a 24 year tech I've had more than a few injuries. In the old days of DIP RAM chips I developed a technique (because the pins were splayed out at a slight angle) where I would place one row of pins in the DIP socket and push down at an angle such that the pins already in the socket would bend slightly so that they were then at right angles to the body of the chip then the other row of pins would line up and one last push would seat the chip. I did so many of these through the years that I became quite quick (DANGER, SLOW DOWN) and one day as I attempted to push one chip into a socket it flipped over and all the weight of my upper torso and the force of my pushing pushed the pins of the chip right into my thumb where it got lodged in the bone. It took a co-worker 30 minutes to pull it out with a pair of pliers. I've slashed my fingers to the bone on more than one occasion necessitating trips to emergency and stitches and even done the "60 cycle shuffle" as I worked on too many power supplies at one time, some live (it was necessary) and some without power. I have countless soldering iron burns as well

[maui_mallard]

wow...my doesn't even compare lol

[jbennet]

My server fell on me and broke 2 of my ribs. Its an old compaq proliant and weighs about 30 stone (im not joking, its a tank , even has a special rack which I stupidly wasnt using (which is why it bent and fell on me) )

And ive done the IDE pin thing before. I know what you mean.

I needed 8 stutches once because i sliced my wrist to the bone on my case (damn £20 case had razor sharp edges). I had to go to A & E because i lot a lot of blood. Now it looks like im an emo

[gn0m3]

done the pin one too guys. mine is a little more stupid, mainly down to me not understanding how stuff works!! about 10 years ago I bought a computer from a car boot sale, took it home plugged it in and nothing happened when i hit the power button. i looked at the back of it to check it was in properly, then i noticed a little slider which had two different volt settings. thinking it was that simple i took a screw driver and flipped it down. thats about all i remember, my dad found me on the floor sort of twitching. dont laugh, i was young!!

[jbennet]

That shouldnt have electrocuted you?

I did it and just blew my PSU

[Serunson]

i am currently injury free!
Go me!
But i have stubbed all of my toes on the desk that my PC is on ;)
~ does that count?

[Don Gino]

From the occasional soldering iron burn, I have had nothing apart from getting flashed in the eyes by an exploding power supply

[jbennet]

Oh a laptop battery of mine exploded once (didnt take too well to the freezing method)