150 Workers Die Each Day From Doing Their Jobs

[meaculpa2011]

78. I installed an outdoor GFI at my father's house.

So... he takes out his 1959 vintage hedge clipper, plugs it into the 50 foot extension cord that he's cut through 500 times and repaired with duct tape, and goes along merrily clipping his hedge on a nice spring morning with the grass dripping with dew.

"Click." No power.

So he calls me to complain that I broke his house and he can't clip his hedges. I try explaining, but...

Off to the garden center to buy a new clipper and extension cord then drive the 12 miles to Dad's house.

Too late. He opened the window and plugged his apparatus into an unprotected receptacle and got knocked on his ass.

92 years old. Survived D-Day and The Battle of the Bulge. Lucky this time. Just a jolt.

Fault? In part mine. When I installed the GFI I should have bought him new equipment and thrown the old stuff into the ocean. Mostly his though. When I suggested a new hedge clipper and cord he just laughed.

There's plenty of blame to pass around. I think we can all agree that reducing workplace mishaps is complex and needs to be addressed rationally.