Brewery Accident - Got Burned!

[brewingnewbie]

had an accident the other day. my pants got caught on a valve to the brew kettle which was full of 190F water for sanitizing. clamp must have been loose on it and it came undone spewing the water and steam upward and outward. hit me right at knee length! had only split second to react and put the clamp back on or clear the area and flood the restaurant with 7 bbls.
luckily the bottom clamp remained on and i has able to tighten the top clamp.

got 2nd degree burns on both elbow and knee areas (of course right above the rubber gloves and boots) with a little spot on my chest. burns like nothing i ever felt before. couldn't of been ALOT worse!

i've only been brewing for almost 2 years and have only 2-3 small water and/or chemical burns before.

i was wondering what type of safety mishaps everyone else has been involved with? (so i know i am not the only klutz out there)

[GlacierBrewing]

Yup, burns.....
My favorite is one when I was bending over with my hand on my thigh, hot liquor sprayed out of a valve I thought was closed. I ended up with a bad burn on my thigh and hand but my thigh had a "hand print" that wasn't burned.
Also, crushed fingers/hand between two sliding full half-barrels.
Probably my most persistent injury is a lower back issue from poor body mechanics.
Oh yea, standing up into the small faucet on the sample port of the fermenters.

[burlybeer]

On my very first day at the brewpub I had just been hired to, I was in the walkin moving some kegs and stuff around , cleaning the mold left by the previous brewer...I lifted a keg, prepared for it to be full, when in fact it was empty (who puts a full keg on top of an empty keg) ...it snatched up so quickly that I slammed it against one of the acorn nuts on the side-manway grundies. I managed to catch that web of skin between my thumb and forefinger between the nut and keg. The result was a nice hole about the diameter of a pencil. It didnt bleed much, or hurt much (beside my pride), but it sure did teach me a lesson I never forgot. Theres a nice scar there now.

One time, I did get overcome with chlorine dioxide while putting dryhops in a tank I had just CIP'd...I was sick for two days afterwards and switched to PAA (and started wearing my respirator more often).

Brewing is dangerous, lessons are learned. Be vigilant.

[beauxman]

I always kid around about needing a brewer's helmet, so I must not be the only one either.

1) Fingers pinched/slammed between kegs, yes
2) Head slam into FV/SV/BBT racking arm/sample port/ect, yes
3) Bad case of brewer's back, yes
4) Partial loss of hearing, maybe
5) hot water/steam.....not yet

Breweries really are dangerous places, another reminder to always wear safety gear and slow down when possible. Easier said than done.

-Beaux

[grassrootsvt]

No doubt that nearly all brewers have made these same mistakes.
Some of my own...
- Constantly hitting my head (or back/shoulder) (sample port, tank closure, etc), sometimes drawing blood, by bending over and then standing up while having forgotten my location.
- Serious burns on my arms following a ridiculous display of rationality. Was brewing a 7%, 120 Ibu Black Hoppy Beer (IBA) and thought that I would try and drain some of the hop trub from the bottom of the directly fired kettle. Unfortunately, from the heat, the old school Din style valve that controlled the flow from the drain port (not racking port) could not be moved when the kettle was post boil due to the temperature... Thus - 70 or so gallons (out of 7bbls) of hot hoppy black wort flowing down the drain as I am attempting to replace the solid end cap... fighting the temperature and burning in order to save my wort. In the end: 140 gallons saved. 70ish lost. Serious blisters. Humiliation. Wonderful beer.
- Slipping and falling on my ass, shin slipping beneath a manual forklift on a wet rubber/wheat goop ridden brewery floor while taking out the spent grain (300+kg). Result: bloody shin and...now... infection and soreness.
- Bleach directly in my eye while cleaning and scrubbing a floor
- Phosophoric Acid directly in my eye while adding Acid to a water bath.
- Sore wrists, shoulders, back.

The list is so long, I have to wonder how I am still healthy and have my vision. Beyond this - so many more burns (face, arms), chemical mishaps (via the seemingly statistically impossible), and...lest we forget...all of the drunken evenings that have ensued from drinking said libation... headaches, drunken phone calls, and so forth.
Yes, we are all lucky to be alive and still brewing. And safety goggles serve a very explicit purpose.

[brewingnewbie]

i'll second that standing up into a sample valve!!!
always seems to hit the same exact spot right above the kidneys!!

[Sauce]

Hmmm....lets see

Multiple minor hot water burns, a few chemical splash scares, as well as the numerous head and shoulder clunks and scrapes from swickles, valves and such.

But the two most most memorable...and stupid were:

1. Attempting to take a 40 plate P&F filter out of the back of my Jeep Cherokee by myself. As I attempted to lower the two wheels down to the ground, I quickly realized there was no way I was "going to be able to gradually lower it down. All I could do was a controlled "drop".

As I struggled to keep it from crashing down I had no time to get my right leg (wearing shorts at the time) out of the way. Slowly as the press came down, the quarter inch tube coming out of the lower bleed valve proceeded to gouge a 13 inch string of flesh out of my shin......just like a wood gouge. For how big the wound was there wasn't a Huge amount of blood, but still alot...didn't need stitches but did go on a course of antibiotics.

After I got bandaged up and with help finished removing the press from the jeep, I pulled a 13 inch piece of flesh from that little tube...looked like a hairy tapeworm:rolleyes:

2. Having a mashtunn screen fall on my head.

This one wasnt quite as dumb as the first, but pretty close. We have a 20 bbl mashtunn with rakes and screw down sheets, two long side plates and two shorter middle plates, one right in front of the lower manway.

Cleaning procedure is to grain out, rinse down thoroughly, then remove the screen in front of mash door and lean it up against the rake shaft and hose out under the remaining screens until clean.

Well, as I'm leaning in with my head down with a flashlight to see where I'm spraying the
v-wire screen proceeded to fall and hit me it the back of the head.

My chin hit the mashtunn bottom, and as I extricated myself from the tunn I felt that warm wet sensation running through my hair then down my face. I quickly grabbed a towel and put it on my head then soaked my head with a heavy concentration of iodophor.

Like alot of head wounds, it wasn't near as bad as it looked, but I did get a call after I left and someone else arrived and saw the bloody towel and drips of blood leading to the bathroom.;)

Now I lean the screen up on the right side, against the rakes with a stop against the bottom edge.

[Rob Creighton]

On occassion I look down at my hands and stare at what 30 years of working with stainless steel has done to me.

Can't remember how many stitches I've had.

Ever notice that the thin stainless on the Italian equipment - filters, fillers, etc... - cuts quicker than German or NA equipment?

The finish on some early brewpub equipment - cask, continental, criveller - was downright dangerous.

Best one was from a labeler pallet that took a knuckle off. While they were sewing it back on, the emerg room I was in was shared with a murder witness junkie that they were trying to get a blood sample from for the trial. The doc told me while he was stitching that the two cops giving me the evil glare thought I did this to myself so I could get to her and kill her.

I'm bleeding all over the place and an IV team couldn't get a drop out of her.

Ah, the good times!

[leftnutbrown]

Yep, been there too.

I used to think I had the best stories until now, but I am glad to hear that everyone shares the pain. The worst burn that I have ever come across was, an old friend that got caught in a boil over and finished up with 2nd, and 3rd degree burns on about 60% of his body.

My worst was a handful of hot water and caustic, resulting in a week of pain.

I once stood up too fast and hit my head on end of a racking arm handle and actually knocked my self out for a couple of minutes.

Also, took a 220 shock for about 30 sec. while trying to make a vorlauf pump work. Not my brightest moment.

I would say my favorite mistake was forgetting to close the bottom valve of an 80BBL and getting flushed across the floor. Big oops and huge mess to clean.

Good thing we learn from our mistakes. :eek:

[beauxman]

But the two most most memorable...and stupid were:

1. Attempting to take a 40 plate P&F filter out of the back of my Jeep Cherokee by myself. As I attempted to lower the two wheels down to the ground, I quickly realized there was no way I was "going to be able to gradually lower it down. All I could do was a controlled "drop".



That just hurts thinking about, damn those things are heavy!

Also add:

1) Wearing shorts, 190F water fills the boots (not me but saw it).
2) Climbing ladder to top of FV, ladder slips, bang (not me but saw it).
3) Cleaning corny keg dip tube with wire brush at light speed, sharp metal brush end goes through finger (not me but heard about it).
4) Assistant brewer removes tri-clover sample valve fitting on SV tank with full pressure in cold room. Trying to re-fit cap and save the beer, realizing what the meaning of frostbite is after about 4 BBL has coated you while standing under the condenser fans.
5) Assorted mash tun screens falling on foot, banging head on sprayballs, slipping in caustic.
6) Tripping down brewing stage staircase. SS does not forgive easily.
7) Falling on SS stage/staircase with traction cut metal edges making hamburger out of your hands.
8) Fall into open trench drain, tooth punctures lip, go to hospital (not me, but owners wife! Poor lady...)

Thats all for now, maybe some more will come to mind later. Fun but serious post, safety first!

-Beaux

[Jephro]

My injuries...some of them anyway:
-Sample ports.. ouch, from which i have a smiley face scar on "my side" (aka love handle, mini keg, beer gut etc.) and multiple injuries on my head which i'm sure will show themselves when my hairline finishes receding.
-Acid sprayed in face, due to faulty pump on a 30 gallon container (thank multiple gods ((and OSHA)) for eyewash stations - and the protective glasses i was not wearing)
-Hit head on just about anything i can (just to keep my good moods in check)
-"brewers back" i like that term, can i steal it?

Close Calls:
-Had a ladder shoot out from under me while inspecting a 20 BBL FV-> fortunately i had a good grip on the manway and the FV was bolted to the floor and our driver had just stopped by, who was able to replace the ladder as i hung on the side of the tank.
-Co2 leaks (i'm sure we have all been there, good to know that tingle and when to leave doors open behind you)

Brewer buddies with bad burns:
-My buddy "The Colonel" While knocking out a brew we had the heat exchanger outlet hooked up to our racking hose to the cellar (no hot water recovery and slow drains in the brewery) which was for some reason hooked up to a BBT instead of an open drain. Anyway the pressure built and the clamp on the hose failed and sent a burst of hot HE water onto his legs giving him 2nd and 3rd degree burns. All i saw was a burst of steam and heard screams, i rushed over and started spraying his legs with cold water.
-Another friend still has a Polo logo scar on his ankle from hot wort filling his rubber boots and melting the embroidery thread into his skin ...->don't tuck those pant legs

---> when people see me sampling beer (and think thats all brewers do) i make sure they realize how dangerous a brewery can be and why we are not drunk every day as many of them assume we are.

BTW - the polo scar guy (thanks John) who went to pharmacy school and taught me to look three times at what your doing, makes you think, its saved me some skin and some beer for sure!!

[Bham Brewer]

I've had a few and witnessed a few!

1) A co worker was wearing loosed boots and filled one with 180+ degree water...

2) Had a boil over splash me on the stomach, a co worker said he knew I was really hurt because I was screaming and not cussing!

3) (near miss) A cip hose with HOT caustic had it's clamp give up and the hose popped off the ferule under full pump pressure.. I happened to have JUST stepped out of the path when it happened.

4) Was setting up an old pony labeler when the wrench slipped and I punched my hand into the guard full force, cut my knockle to the bone.

5) Had chlorinated alkali CIP splashed on my already wet overalls, didn't realize it until the nice chem burn on my thigh.. 2 inches from trouble!... started itching, pulled the overalls off and was greeted by crystalized caustic all over my jeans!

6) Had a tiger-flex hose fail from heat(about 160 degrees.. bad hose!), my assistant was in it's path, he jumped out of the way only to hit the central CIP unit and knock a couple TC's loose. The CIP was circulating 200 Degree caustic and he got sprayed from above and below. I had to crawl under the stream to hit the shut off for the pump. He was screaming and I had to physically drag him under the drench shower and hold him in place while it did it's job. He was ok, it had happened so fast that he didn't have any burns of note, but it scared the living s**t out of both of us.

7) Fell off a ladder after doing something with a top manway... hit my back on another tank behind me then twisted the hell out of my ankle when I landed. That one had me off work for a week.

8) Slipped on some wet tile stairs, hurt my back... another ER visit from that one

And I can't tell you how many times I've slipped going up brewhouse stairs, banging my shins on the steel... I have calcified knots on bothe legs from it!

[wildcrafter]

Dang, all of this pain makes me wince!

Aren't you folks worried that an insurance agent will read some of this and increase your rates?:eek:

[BrewinLou]

Braided hose burst on our old keg cleaner shooting 180 degree water on the back of my legs and the back of my arm. Burnes my arm very bad. Get Silvadene cream from your doctor for all burns that stuff is the best. I do not even have a scare after my skin peeled off several times.

[NYSBrewer]

Cuts, scrapes burns, falls, hitting head, chemicals in the eye....yep I've done it all. I just made my assistans read this post. He gets aggitated with me when he says hes burned himself, or has gotten chemicals on him and I say, "Shake it off kid, I've done it a thousand times." Now he knows im not kidding. And by the way, I have done the scratch on my back alot from the sample port. Almost every time my wife has questioned,"how did you get that scratch on your back?" As if to accuse me of something. If only it really was from sex in the grain room with a waitress, unfortunatley, my life isnt that cool, and I really do love my wife!!

[ancienbrasseur]

I had the pleasure of brewing on a system that required frequent spelunking under the brewing platform to manually bypass failing Phenumatic valves. Similar to a fear factor challenge it was a obstacle course of hydraulic fluid, grime, & (beast of all) a jungle gym of intermittently insulated steam pipes. I received quite a few 2nd degree, & one very painful 3rd degree burn while rummaging around under that death trap of a brewery.

[tsewong73]

I've spilled plenty of my own blood while doing brewery work, badly sprained an ankle, got sanitizing acid in my eyeball and burned myself a few times.

But the first blood spilled in my own brewery was while I was changing the light tubes on a ballast. I was on a tall ladder and working above my head pulling down the dead light tubes when I discovered that the light tubes were actually holding the sheet metal reflectors up. When I released the last tube, the sheet metal fell behind me and dug into the back of my calf. I set a new personal record with 9 stitches.

[J.M.Martin]

Thought I was purging a grungy with CO2 only I had not opened the value and the tank stated to pressurize this would not have been a problem but on this particular day I had not secured the clap well on the top lid. I happened to be on a step stool leaning over the top on the grundy when the lid blew off! Lucky I had been reaching for a bottle and the lid hit my forearm instead of my neck. The force of the impact flew me back into the grundy behind me knocking me out, in a closed room, filling with CO2! Luckily one of the cooks heard the noise and came in to check on me, found me and dragged me out of the cooler. Double check everything and grundies suck!

[Rosie]

Had quite a few burn and chemical close calls, mostly fittings leaking on the way to the heat exchanger and being blasted with wort or water. Couple CIPs gone wrong as well, thankfully only a few other scrapes and bruises...my best/worst was actually in a customers cellar...

...I was plugging our line into the chiller which was tucked in a low corner of the cellar. I lifted my head up and whammo, a jagged piece of 15mm copper (a protruding water pipe someone hastily removed) rammed into the back of my head. I think my baseball cap somehow saved me from cookie cuttering a hole out of my scalp as I was left with relatively minor bleeding/bruising.

My safety glasses have saved me so many times, firm believer of always having them on.

One I don't think I've read about yet, that I witnessed. Sodium hydroxide crystals added to a bucket of hot water...they basically jumped out of the bucket, burned a hole in jeans and continued towards the bone.

Had a few rude awakenings with CO2...ever put your head in the fermenter? I had a homemade CO2 fitting go wrong resulting in a rocket flying around the brewshed - that was scary as hell! Have also had homegrown racking device come apart under the pressure of a transfer and luckily the javelin just missed me!

Be safe guys!

Jeff

[burlybeer]

sex in the grain room with a waitress,

ah, the day to day tribulations of the pubbrewer.....

[mic_mac]

I still think "Pink Boot Society" Founder - Teri Fahrendorf's story might pip you all to the post for the most horrific tale (well written too)

see here http://www.terifahrendorf.com/burn-article.htm

seriously scary doo-doo.

I've been brewing on & off since 1996, but so far apart from the odd graze, caustic splash, knee-bashed on stairs & an ongoing case of Brewer's Back (caused, I'm sure, by being young & dumb enough to agree when asked to regularly single-handedly load a van with full SS kilderkins!) I seem to have come off pretty well for work-related injury of the physical kind (the mental scars are there though!)
cheers
Mike.

[NYSBrewer]

ah, the day to day tribulations of the pubbrewer.....


That was taken compleately out of context. That was a joke. Period.:mad:

[DancingCamel]

Hey Rosie -

Big fan of the unitank filled with CO2. We actually do a controlled excercise with new workers at the brewery (whether or not involved in brewing). We stick their head into a unitank we just racked from so they get that their playing with serious stuff. (Yeah, we usually pull them out quickly). Always good for a laugh and (knock-on-wood) nobody yet has gotten careless with the gas.

David
Death-Wish Brewery

[SRB]

A 246 hour June month in the brewery and inadequate core strength gives me the unfortunate and painful chance to post on this thread. Leaned over to sanitize our SS yeast holding jug and....ZAP.....on my knees....lower back death.
Ive worked physical jobs my whole life and my back has given me fits off and on ever since a form tackle injury in highschool football. Plus Im confident my genes work against me.

This chocks up as the worst yet. Maybe age has something to do with it. :(
We can barely keep up with demand as is and boom Im out now for three days maybe more..:mad:
Good thing there is another Matt (partner) who switched gears and is back in the brewery.

back to the floor and another movie.......Scarface?

[kai]

The most potentially embarrassing injury I've experienced is dropping a bloody great big hinged hopback lid on my wrist in front of a full restaurant.

No-one saw it, god bless.

[Sulfur]

@srb ahh yes lower back death....what I find amazing is that i've seen people "recover" completely. Of course it depends what kind of damage it is. I was alarmed when I saw it first happen to my boss, he could only walk inches at a time when it happened. Could not get out of the Lauterbottich. Really looked like an old man who needed a cane...then it happened to me! I couldn't even get out of bed...my boss sent me to his doc who convinced me into injecting something into my back. Felt horrible, but did the trick. It still happens occasionally but not so bad. Basically, warm up the back first before using the muscles, and don't torque it more than one way. I routinely, load/unload malt/kegs/etc. ButI always make sure not to overdo it...or I try to make sure , sometimes I can't help it and pay the price for a day or two after. I must be getting older b/c I routinely harp on taking care of the back to my helpers. One guy thought he knew better, and sure enough he has back problems now. You only get one chance, take care of yourself...

[edm1077]

Small breweries aren't made for big dudes! I am 6'5 270lbs. and I am always having to fit in small spots to fix something. That said, I think my biggest enemy is the steam pipes! I can't tell you how many times I have burnt the top of my head. Fortunately I am tall so not many people see the top of my head on a regular basis.

Oh and I slipped one time and a flat head screw driver wound up jabbing the corner of my eye! That pretty much sucked, thank God it didn't do any damage, but I had a pretty awesome blood red eye for about 2 weeks.

[drewseslu]

I've only been doing this for a few years, but I have a list already:

1 - Emptying out the last of 55 gallon drum of concentrated liquid caustic. A few drops fell into my boot. By the time I felt anything it was too late. Despite some time under the hose I still have a scar the size of a nickel and some rough skin around it.
2 - Inside both of my elbows I have some mild caustic burns, I'm still not sure how those got there.
3 - Mild caustic scarring around my eyes from a pair of safety glasses that had been sprayed with caustic solution and dried before I put them on (not white a crystalline which I might have seen).
4 - Mild scarring along my back from the sharp metal edge along a sink corner.
5 - A nice red line scar along my right thigh from stacking full plastic half barrels. A bit of my skin got pinched between the kegs as they came together, and presto! A bruise that left a scar.
6 - Plenty of bangs on the head from running to racking arms and the like.
7 - Burns along my arm and back from a collection hose coming loose.
Lots of little acid and hot liquor burns, splashes with hot acid, falls, bumps, bruises, cuts and tweaked back moments.
Oh and the greatest may be:
8 - Bloody discharge from my eyes due to lack of sleep from working in the breweries such long hours.

[drewseslu]

I've only been doing this for a few years, but I have a list already:

1 - Emptying out the last of 55 gallon drum of concentrated liquid caustic. A few drops fell into my boot. By the time I felt anything it was too late. Despite some time under the hose I still have a scar the size of a nickel and some rough skin around it.
2 - Inside both of my elbows I have some mild caustic burns, I'm still not sure how those got there.
3 - Mild caustic scarring around my eyes from a pair of safety glasses that had been sprayed with caustic solution and dried before I put them on (not white a crystalline which I might have seen).
4 - Mild scarring along my back from the sharp metal edge along a sink corner.
5 - A nice red line scar along my right thigh from stacking full plastic half barrels. A bit of my skin got pinched between the kegs as they came together, and presto! A bruise that left a scar.
6 - Plenty of bangs on the head from running to racking arms and the like.
7 - Burns along my arm and back from a collection hose coming loose.
Lots of little acid and hot liquor burns, splashes with hot acid, falls, bumps, bruises, cuts and tweaked back moments.
Oh and the greatest may be:
8 - Bloody discharge from my eyes due to lack of sleep from working in the breweries such long hours.

[Larry Doyle]

A brewery is a safety mine field. You can get hurt bad and even killed without even trying.
Everyone needs to improve their safety odds. For example, only idiots, fools and blind people fail to wear safety glasses on the bottling line, in the lab and in the shop.

Do not turn a blind eye(pun semi intended) to unsafe acts, unsafe conditions and unsafe processes. If you are an hourly worker, raise hell with "management" over unsafe conditions and practices. And if you are "management" (or, perhaps, "mismanagement") raise hell with employees who work unsafely or do not follow the safety rules.

[dereknobleluke]

I've had cuts scrapes, chemicals, fingers mashed, but I had one experience
I'll never forget and it wasn't really my fault. DE filter, 3 m, day before valentines day. Pushing the bell through the scavenge plate with ~ 65 PSI top pressure when the bottom clamp gave way. the 45 pound SS bell missed my head by a foot, proceeding to travel up 15 feet, through the roof of the garage type brewery and land in the parking lot on the other side! permanently damaged (but they still work) 14 guage screen bottoms with the pressure shock and I couldn't hear from the rest of the morning...the "gunshot" was heard at the street adn the landing bell missed a dude loading his truck up at 6:30 am!!!!!

[beejay]

While apprenticing in Belgium, I noticed the water out valve on the heat exchanger got clogged somehow and the wort wasn't cooling. In a bit of a panic I removed the water out hose from the heat exchanger to see what the problem was. Of course I had been recirculating hot wort through trapped water, so it had built up quite a bit of pressure. Next thing I know i'm being blasted with a steam propelled water gun from thighs down... It was certainly no fun, but I've certainly learned my lesson after that one.