Theater student sues Waynesburg College over injury

This is a saw, this is your arm going through a saw..... any questions ?
 
This guy shouldn't use a saw if he says that he doesn't know what he's doing then! What an idiot. It sounds more like a typical "ouch i got my arm chopped off but i dont want to look stupid so i'm going to sue someone and blame it on someone else" case. I don't know if they didn't have good supervision, but he's the nut wanting to use a miter saw "without proper knowledge or supervision."
 
After being on this forum a lot recently I see how stupid and inexperienced I am.

But, after stories like that, I feel a lot smarter.

Hooray! :)
 
A saw's the kind of thing that if I felt like I didn't know how to do it...then I quite simply would just not attempt it in the first place...
Strange story anyway...here at my school, and I would imagine most others would be like this, we have to sign waivers...I don't think we can sue if we get injured at school...maybe we could, I know nothing about legal issues, but I thought that's what the waivers were for :p
Not to mention we have safety training and have to take a test proving we've learned all the safety rules and proper use of equipment before we can work in the shop...
 
The US legal system and also the insurance industry has some odd practices.

Couple of observations:
Waivers are not worth the paper they are printed on if a serious injury happens.
Many times inorder to get the Schools or business insurance company to pay the medical bills you need to sue, what happens is that a lot of insurance companies simply deny a claim until they are sued.
The legal wording in the article looks like and this is just speculation on my part, that there was a general waiver, the insurance company is refusing to cover the medical bills, and the lawyers are filing and wording it as the way to get around the waiver.

With these things they rarely are what they appear to be

Sharyn
 
Another stupid person story:

At the junior high last year, a kid was working with a blow torch, and accidentally passed his arm over the flame burning his little wrist to a crisp. Disregarding instructions to put it under cold water from the shop teacher (also the school 1st aid specialist) he proceeded to peel the burnt skin from his wrist into a nice inch thick slab leaving a complete bracelet of fleshless area where you could see his bones. He continued to show this to his friends who were equally amused, before the teacher found him.

Don't know where they took him, or what happened to his grade. Weren't any law suits, but I thought it was close enough on topic.

Hooray! :)
 
Wow. There are some basic rules of shop safety.

1) If you haven't been given adequate training, you shouldn't even be in the shop.

Part of my intro tech class at bucknell (the second and third days of the class) was to go through a comprehensive shop safety course.
 
Sounds like neither the shop teacher nor the first aid person, know anything about treating third degree burns. At that point the skin is dead, but it is acting like a barrier to bacteria and contaminents. You never put a third degree burn under water, you wrap in a wet, sterile dressing and proceed to the hospital. The water would make the skin slough off, just like pealing an orange.
 
Interesting... the basic rule for burns is running water straight away. 10 min for general burns, 20 min for chemical, radiation and other serious burns, 30 minutes (no more and preferably no less) for bitumen burns. But after cooling the burn (which is what the water does), you should cover the burn with a non adherent (burns) dressing or failing that, aluminium foil, cling wrap or the like. Then prevent infection and minimise shock. Seek medical advice if: burn is deep, a superficial burn is larger than a 20 cent piece (roughly 1" in diameter), the burn involves the airways, face, hands or genitals, you are unsure of the severity of the burn and any other time when you think it appropriate.

Mostly paraphrased from Australian First Aid. Reggie98, I am more than willing to stand corrected, but I do wonder from where you have gotten your information, the source I am using I thought was pretty reliable.
 
Having been unfortunate enough to have third degree burns on my legs (gas + stupidity = tenor running like the human torch), running them under water (I ran mine under our garden hose that was luckily there) does make the skin slough off... mine rolled down my leg like a tube sock with old elastic.
 
My source is the various first aid classes I have taken and been certified in. Specifically, third degree burns should never have water run over them.
 
Here in the us US approach is usually to IMMERSE it in the water, NOT to run water on it, the action of the water flow can cause the skin peeling off, During medical treatment they probably will remove the skin but best to have the doctor do that
Sharyn
 
Having been unfortunate enough to have third degree burns on my legs (gas + stupidity = tenor running like the human torch), running them under water (I ran mine under our garden hose that was luckily there) does make the skin slough off... mine rolled down my leg like a tube sock with old elastic.

Let me just say, "Ouch !" oh and "YUCK". In my time as a first responder Burns were always the worst, Hated dealing with them, I hate getting them, I can deal with almost everything besides burns.
We're way off topic here now.
 
Damm that sucks

But i hate to tell that what they the teacher for.
I am sorry but if your a student and not getting paid for your time don't use anything remotely dangerous to you of others without the teacher near you. They don't to hover but a max for a teacher to be away is 10 feet no more.

James
 
Ouch! I have to say this is one of my worst nightmares...and I mean that literally...I have nightmares of students getting hurt.
I teach high school students and I give them safety instructions until I'm blue in the face and they STILL do stupid stuff.
And I also know...when actors are forced to do tech stuff and they obviously hate it...they do a crappy job and pay very little attention.
Not that I don't like actors...but they're actors.
 
Every power tool booklet has at least one page of safety instructions. If a person is unfamiliar with the tool, they should be "encouraged" to read it. Common sense for safety around tools with rotating parts is no long sleeves, gloves or loose clothing. Looking cool, or emulating what one might observe being done at Orange County Choppers isn't necessarily safe. The director failed to enforce that very basic rule.

Van: I take personal offense at your little joke, "This is your hand going through a saw..." A very un-professional comment.
 
weeeelllll...i am so glad to know that my embedded fear/respect/cautiousness of saws is now reinforced.

i now also see why exactly my theatre dept. is organized based upon experience. the longer you're there, the more trust you accumulate. and until your skills are proven you always have either a teacher, or a more experienced student watching what you're doing and stopping you if they see something incorrect. we have a policy that if you see someone doing something you feel is unsafe to always either stop the person, or go to the AME, ME, ATD, or TD immediately and get him or her on the case.

and to everyone who is reading this: IF YOU DO NOT FEEL SAFE OR CAPABLE OF DOING A JOB, DON'T DO IT, IT WILL END IN YOU AND/OR SOMEONE ELSE GETTING HURT.
 
Every power tool booklet has at least one page of safety instructions. If a person is unfamiliar with the tool, they should be "encouraged" to read it. Common sense for safety around tools with rotating parts is no long sleeves, gloves or loose clothing. Looking cool, or emulating what one might observe being done at Orange County Choppers isn't necessarily safe. The director failed to enforce that very basic rule.

Van: I take personal offense at your little joke, "This is your hand going through a saw..." A very un-professional comment.


Take all the offense you want. If someone is stupid enough to operate a saw when they don't know what they were doing then a mishap is going to happen. I for one have been a Profeesional Theatrical technician for 25+ years and I have all ten fingers, both eyes and I can still hear. Personal safety in the shop is like that old saying, " charity begins at home." Safety begins with knowing your limitations. From the posting and the news article you cannot begin to make a judgment that the "director" was at fault, < why the director would be in the shop is a mystery to me, but maybe you mispoke, typical highschool mistake. See in the real world a t.d. or shop foreman run the shop. a Director blocks things.> From The posting and the news article you can only infer that the kid was running a saw without proper training and got hurt. Now if someone said to this kid ," you, go cut a bunch of wood." and the kid said< " I don't know how" and the shop foreman said ," Do it anyway." then the guy should be strung up. If, however, as I suspect, the kid said," Oh sure I can do that." and tried to do it without the proper training then, well the kids to blame.
Read what Punktech said that's the best advice I can think of If you don't know what your'e doing don't do it.

Oh and BTW The mark of true professional humor in any feild tends to be a rather morbid treatment of any accident that occurs in that feild. Shocking but true.
If your'e that easily offended on a personal level then I suggest you don't watch tv listen to the radio or go to movies, Hell while your at it I'd quit theatre, if that's what you do, You might run across something offensive in there too.
 

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