New Zealand trucker 'blown up like balloon' by air hose

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bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-13537084

A New Zealand truck driver who fell on a compressed air hose that pierced his buttock has survived being blown up like a balloon.

Steven McCormack had fallen between the cab and the trailer of his truck, breaking the air hose.

The nozzle pierced his buttock and began pumping air into his body, which expanded dramatically.

As he screamed, Mr McCormack’s colleagues turned the air off and lay him on his side, saving his life.

The accident happened at Opotiki on the North Island on Saturday.

Mr McCormack, who is 48, is still in hospital in the nearest town, Whakatane.

He said that doctors had told him they were surprised that his skin had not burst, as the compressed air - pumping into his body at 100lb/sq in - had separated fat from muscle.

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“
Start Quote
I was blowing up like a football… I had no choice but just to lay there, blowing up like a balloon”
End Quote
Steven McCormack
"I felt the air rush into my body and I felt like it was going to explode from my foot.

“I was blowing up like a football… it felt like I had the bends, like in diving. I had no choice but just to lay there, blowing up like a balloon,” he told the local newspaper, the Whakatane Beacon.

He said his skin feels “like a pork roast”, hard and crackly on the outside but soft underneath.

He credits his colleagues, especially Jason Wenham who lay him on his side, with saving his life.

Mr Wenham, Ross Hustler and Robbie Petersen had lifted Mr McCormack off the brass nozzle which was still stuck in his body, and packed ice around his swollen neck until an ambulance arrived.

Doctors inserted a tube into his lungs to drain the fluid and cleared the wound in his buttock using what felt to him like a drill.

“That was the most painful part,” he said.

“It’s fair to say he’s lucky to be alive, it was a potentially life-threatening situation,” a hospital spokeswoman told AFP on Wednesday.

Mr McCormack confided that the air was gradually escaping his body in the way that air usually does.

[205]

Ouch

[daidap]

I liked that last line.

I bet he can ■■■■ the national anthem now.

[wheel_nut]

Luckily for this bloke, he survived albeit feeling a bit bloated.

I do remember being warned about this when my brother and I worked in a commercial bodyshop and we used to shoot each other with a shot blasting machine These things only operated on low pressure but high volume air delivery

This was taken from a study at Liverpool University

A compressed air line should never be pointed at the body. There is a danger that air can enter the bloodstream through a cut or abrasion on the skin with possible fatal results. This has been known to happen, for example, when someone was using compressed air to clean overalls after work - a highly dangerous practice.

“Blowing down” of machinery may blow out swarf which may enter a persons eyes. Eye protection must be worn when doing this task, and care must be taken not to put anyone nearby at risk.

For any equipment which uses compressed air it must be remembered that there may be a hazard from stored energy unless the pressure inside and outside the equipment is equalised. Care must be taken when opening up equipment, to ensure first that pressures are equalised.

Air receivers associated with compressed air equipment must have a written scheme of examination.

As a tanker driver I was reminded of the dangers of compressed air when a Huktra driver blew his head off in Belgium when the manlid failed

[ttx_boy]

When i was a kid,i always told never to put a bicycle pump against my skin and pump it.
It is possible that under pressure,air can penetrate the skin and enter the blood stream,resulting in death!

[switchlogic]

Compressed air can be lethal, if it enters the blood stream you can have a heart attack, stroke or less fatally it will painfully enter your lungs.

I learnt the results of air in the blood online last year after while trying to fix the airline on the back of the seat I accidentally blew up my finger like a ballon through a small cut. I panicked because although I didn’t know the worst case scenario I know it was dangerous from my time as a mechanic. I wrapped a cable tie round the base of my finger and pushed the air out hoping for the best. Thankfully I’m still here. Horrible experience though.

[bigvern1]

That was a close one…We ALMOST lost you…■■■■■■■■!

[goldfinger]

Don’t forget, this can happen with pressure washers too, cousin in Cannock was being handed down a washer lance down some stairs when trigger got caught. Blew his whole arm up (nicely coloured too ).
He was lucky too.

[wheel_nut]

It is also the reason why nurses expel air out of a syringe before plunging it into your bum, as that is enough to kill someone if they inject air bubbles

[scarab]

“That’s right nurse, I thought the airline had pierced my buttock and so I was trying to use the vacuum to remove the air from my body…honest”

[caz]

DaiDap:
I liked that last line.

I bet he can ■■■■ the national anthem now.

I doubt it, it’s pitched to high

bloody kiwis

[big_joe]

When I was a young lad, I undid a fitting off a compressed air line which was still under pressure, the pipe contained a small amount of grit and sand which gave me a shotgun type injury to the arm as it exited the pipe at high speed, and bloody painful it was too. Looking for some sympathy off the old man, all he could say to me was ‘‘You won’t do that again will you son’’ he was right, I’ve had the utmost respect for compressed air ever since