Another safety tip learned the hard way :(

[gjat]

Hmm first I saw a coworker loose 2 toes while wearing steel toes. The Dr told him straight the toes would have been crushed without them but that would have left him with a 50% chance of keeping them.

Next I was driving a car that got T-boned at an intersection by a guy going way too fast. The door of my car ended up in the drivers seat and I ended up in the passenger seat. Brused, sore and with a minor scalp cut from flying glass but a walk away. If I had been wearing a seatbelt the story would be different. Both cars where totaled.

I watch and like Myth Busters but their science isn't always 100% accurate.

It is realistic. I'm in construction where we move large concrete or steel poles. I have NEVER heard of a real-life situation where steel toes cut off somebody's toes. I HAVE seen toes smashed to ground beef in non-steel toed boots. And my Brother-in-Law was a paramedic for 16 years. He said he NEVER unbuckled a dead body (though many died later), but he had scraped up lot's of people 'thrown clear' of the vehicle.
I play the odds. If 90% of the time steel toes will save my foot from being hamburger, I'll risk the 10% chance it will chop my toes off. The only 100% things in life is death and taxes!

[ump107]

I have to agree with gjat, I have been involved in Fire and Emergency services for over 12 years. I have only seen one person survive that was ejected from a vehicle, if you call being paralyzed and on a ventilator for the rest of your life surviving. Seat belts do help save lives but remember nothing is always 100%. As far as steel toes go it depends on What is dropped on your foot and weather it hits the steel toe or not. I wear steel toe or composite safety toes shoes, frequently as do many of my co-workers, I believe that statistically you have a better change of avoiding severe injury when wearing them over choosing an ordinary shoe.

You can make all the comments that you want to about Mythbusters being entertainment, however I tend to believe that even though they are a TV show in the episode mentioned they did closely replicate the ANSI test rig.

[gimpy]

Safety features are made for a reason. They may/will not prevent injury/death in all instances, but for most times, they will do what they are supposed to. There are actually times when having/using these safety features, etc, may actually do more harm. But these instances are a lot, lot fewer and farther between, believe me.

This is from a retired highway patrolman that has seen a few collisions over the years. I can recall (just off the top of my head) at least two instances where wearing a seat belt would have saved lives, maybe even injury, but because people were ejected, the vehicle landed on top of them. One of them, an 18 wheeler barely rolled onto its passenger side (1/4 turn--passenger side). The driver came out and under the fuel tank. It should have been a non-injury collision, not a fatal which it was. There was no damage at all to the inside cab area. I have seen many accidents where injury was nil compared to what it would have been. I can only recall one instance where wearing a seat belt may (I stress MAY) have caused a death instead of the serious injury that occurred.

Anyway, as you can see, don't get me started about safety equipment, especially seat belts. They should be worn every time/all the time.

As far as steel toed boots in our workshop/garage, it has probably not been really thought about/stressed much as a safety feature with us (compared to "no guard, riving knife, pawls, etc.), until an unfortunate accident such as this occurs. I, for one, will learn from this and wear my steel toed boots in the garage/workshop.

Off my soapbox now . Glad the toes doing better.

Frank

[bobby_m]

ump,

I agree with you. One cannot completely reject the Mythbuster's findings simply because they are also entertaining. They are certainly going above and beyond the typical anecdotal positioning we're subjected to daily. With that said, I would not take their findings as final scientific conclusion. They do their best within time frame and budget and do believe they are being as objective as possible.

The steel toes have their limitations, but as far as I concerned, anything exerting enough psi to crush the steel would usually remove toes (or destroy them) if the steel wasn't there.

Anectodes? My cousing rolled his truck over without a seatbelt on and his head hit the passenger side pillar between the windshield and door opening and died instantly due to head trauma. Would he have died with a seatbelt on? I don't know that, but I know he wouldn't have died in the same fashion.

Everyone has stories that can skew probabilities in their own world but I agree with looking at the big picture.

Bobby

[JSUPreston]

Well, I told my wife about the OP last night. She told me to go get some steel toe boots/shoes and to start using them in the shop. I'm with everyone else, I'll risk the 10% chance that it could hurt me for the 90% that it will help.

[scorrpio]

I wonder if there is something called 'steel toe slippers'. In summer days, going about in a shop wearing full boots gets too hot - though I have to admit that my old $250 Special Forces boots perform admirably all year round - but having a pair of slippers made from some high-impact strength material to slip on when in the shop would be grand.

[Lanstorm]

Glad to hear they saved your toe. I think with your OK I'll show your post to the kiddies in my stagecraft class who insist on wearing flipflops to work.

I wear steel toes every time we are building, and I've had enough sheets of plywood and chunks of lumber dropped on my toes to make me thankful I wear them. Of course, I'm not an indestructible teenager either...

g.

By all means