Construction Worker Impaled by Rebar, Survives

Falls account for a large amount of on the job injuries, especially in construction.  Because of that, many of the safety precautions construction workers take revolve around preventing falls.  Unfortunately for 40 year old Santosh Nayak, a construction worker from India, he not only fell from the building he was working on, but landed face down on top of a 6 foot long piece of steel rebar, according to Central European News.

It was a race against the clock to save Nayak’s life, as the rod ruptured his liver, diaphragm and one of his lungs, but doctors now say he is recovering.  According to reports, it took the doctors at Apollo Hospital about 2 hours to remove the rebar from his abdomen.  Nayak had to sit upright during the entire procedure. 

Below is a picture of the man in the hospital before the rebar was removed.

Photos: Santosh Nayak Indian construction worker impaled. Inches from death https://t.co/2XBCCO7wt3 #India #Mohammad Guddu #workers safety

— Scallywagandvagabond (@ScallywagNYC) March 2, 2016

This story is a tough example of how certain safety precautions can reduce major injuries like this.  Fall protection measurements and rebar caps could have kept his injuries from being so serious.  It’s also a great time to remind your team about the proper procedures when a worker is impaled by any object.  According to firstaid.about.com, if you are tending to someone who has been impaled, you should stay safe, call 911, DO NOT REMOVE THE OBJECT (but if it MUST be removed, follow these steps to control the bleeding), do not apply pressure to the object if it’s in an eyeball, shorten the impaled object safely if an ambulance is not available or the patient needs to be moved, secure the object after it’s as short as possible, and follow basic first aid tips.

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