A Day to Remember
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- Date Submitted: 02/06/2010 12:11 PM
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A Day to Remember
It seemed as if it was going to be just another normal day, but October 14, 1999 was not normal at all. I was working a third shift job and I left home around 11:20 pm. I arrived in time for my team meeting and started my workday at exactly 12:00 am. The first two hours went smoothly but a problem with a cobble, an accident on the job, and the birth of my second child changed everything.
My first dilemma of the evening began with a cobbled piece of nickel. A cobble is simply when metal does not follow a desired set path. When this happens, metal comes out of the mill, stands on the floor like pieces of spaghetti and some of the metal remains in the mill stands. It was our job to cut the metal out of the stands and off the floor using oxygen/acetylene torches or magnesium stick oxygen torches. As you can imagine, this is a time consuming task and is never much fun.
I went to the site of the cobble, located a magnesium stick torch and started to light it. I was then told by a co-worker that the torch I was about to use needed some repairs, and I was handed an oxygen/acetylene torch and began work. A few minutes later, I was stopped again and handed the magnesium torch back and was told it had been repaired. I used the torch for a short while and was turning the valve to the off position when my ordinary day changed.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw a flash and heard an unusual noise. It only took a second for me to realize that the light and sound had come from the object I was holding, and I immediately dropped it and walked away from the area. I did not want to look at my hand because I knew something bad had happened. When I finally got the nerve to look, I realized I had been badly injured. I had been wearing a thick cotton glove, which had been burned off and I saw that I had severe burns to my right hand as well. I did not feel any pain at this point but I knew it would be coming shortly. Several of my co-workers came to check...
It seemed as if it was going to be just another normal day, but October 14, 1999 was not normal at all. I was working a third shift job and I left home around 11:20 pm. I arrived in time for my team meeting and started my workday at exactly 12:00 am. The first two hours went smoothly but a problem with a cobble, an accident on the job, and the birth of my second child changed everything.
My first dilemma of the evening began with a cobbled piece of nickel. A cobble is simply when metal does not follow a desired set path. When this happens, metal comes out of the mill, stands on the floor like pieces of spaghetti and some of the metal remains in the mill stands. It was our job to cut the metal out of the stands and off the floor using oxygen/acetylene torches or magnesium stick oxygen torches. As you can imagine, this is a time consuming task and is never much fun.
I went to the site of the cobble, located a magnesium stick torch and started to light it. I was then told by a co-worker that the torch I was about to use needed some repairs, and I was handed an oxygen/acetylene torch and began work. A few minutes later, I was stopped again and handed the magnesium torch back and was told it had been repaired. I used the torch for a short while and was turning the valve to the off position when my ordinary day changed.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw a flash and heard an unusual noise. It only took a second for me to realize that the light and sound had come from the object I was holding, and I immediately dropped it and walked away from the area. I did not want to look at my hand because I knew something bad had happened. When I finally got the nerve to look, I realized I had been badly injured. I had been wearing a thick cotton glove, which had been burned off and I saw that I had severe burns to my right hand as well. I did not feel any pain at this point but I knew it would be coming shortly. Several of my co-workers came to check...