UC Field Research Safety
Spring is here -- those first warm days were nice! Topics this month include a serious hand injury report, disaster response, and our recent UC Field Safety Workgroup meeting at UCSD/SIO. I'm also excited to report that 98 field researchers and staff took wilderness first aid training at UCR, Davis and Berkeley within the past 6 weeks to prep for field season. Additional training is scheduled for May 10 (Hastings Reserve), June 14 (Tahoe Environmental Research Center), and June 18 (SNARL/Mammoth Lakes). Please contact me at sarasouza@berkeley.edu if you have questions about first aid training options near you. Best, Sara
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If you're heading out to do fieldwork or other University-related travel over spring break, remember to register your trip for a UC travel insurance card, 24/7 emergency assistance contact numbers, and destination-specific information.
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Disaster Response
Earlier this month I took CDC EHTER training that included sobering first hand accounts from staff with Santa Barbara County (Thomas wildfire, mudslides, debris removal), Butte County (Camp Fire), Napa County (2014 earthquake), and Sonoma County (Tubbs fire, recent flooding).
A few basics that may be valuable broadly:
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- Check on the well-being of your own family/loved ones
- Don't rush into disaster areas; consider your own safety and PPE needs
- Maintain a Go Bag with basic supplies, PPE, a flashlight, extra batteries/chargers, printed copies of key documents, contacts
- Set up handwash stations early (with soap!) if water supplies are affected
- Boil water for one minute for emergency disinfection (other options)
- Use a stick to probe terrain for hidden hazards/holes
- Keep boots, outer clothing, and PPE out of your home; clean seperately and wash your hands often. After floods and sewage overflows, bacteria and contaminants are ubiquitous.
- Prevent the spread of norovirus in group housing or shelters; directions to clean-up and disinfect vomit or diarrhea
- Sewage clean up: protect yourself with impervious PPE; indoors use dilute bleach solution on surfaces, outdoors lime may be used (with caution) to raise pH and kill microbes (CDC guidance)
- Isolate/avoid any leaking hazardous materials or chemical spills and consult with haz mat specialists
- Learn more: CDC's guidance on natural disasters and severe weather
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Staff Report: Andrew Ross
Department: Plant Pathology, Entomology and Nematology, UC Davis
A Favorite Outdoor Place: Eagle Lake near Mineral King, CA.
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Incident: I had a serious accident in a previous job when I was managing a citrus/avocado/olive ranch. At ~6am on a Saturday I was riding my Honda 4 trax checking on all the pumps at the citrus orchard. I noticed a gypsum machine at our sand filtration system was not working (the agitator and belt drive system were not moving). This machine is a large tank where we pour gypsum and fertilizer into a tank with about 500 gallons of water. The machine mixes the water with the gypsum and fertilizer and injects it into our irrigation lines (ie: chemigation). I stopped my 4 trax, got off and began taking apart the machine to find out why it wasn’t working. I removed the guard over the belt so I could access the motor. I had my right hand resting on the belt as I loosened the bolts holding the motor to the frame. I did not disconnect the electrical before I started working on the machine (I just forgot, no one to blame but myself). As the bolts got loose enough the machine started working. Instantly the belt pulled my hand through the pulley and out the other side before I could flinch.
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Getting medical help: The pulley had crushed, dislocated, and broke all my fingers in several places and severed my little finger. I looked down at what I had done, said a few four letter words, then took a deep breath and thought about what I needed to do to get help. I realized the ambulance would not be able to find me in the field where I was working and needed to move to a more accessible location. I picked up my finger, rolled my hand up tightly in my shirt tails to control the bleeding, put my tools in the basket of my 4 trax, got on the 4 trax, and used my left hand to operate the throttle as I drove ~ 2 miles to the shop. I called 911 and waited for the ambulance.
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Surgery and recovery: Over the course of the next few years I underwent 3 surgeries. That Saturday morning the emergency room surgeon tried to reattach my little finger and set the bones in my hand but due to the crush injury my bones were very fragmented, the reattachment did not work. A few months later after the other fingers had heeled over, I had another surgery where they removed my little finger at the Pip joint. This left me with a stump on my little finger and serious nerve damage across large portions of my hand causing severe numbness and pain in areas on my hand. As a result I was pretty clumsy and uncoordinated. A few years later I met with a very good hand specialist surgeon here in Davis. She suggested a ray amputation (see picture) or resection where she would cut the metacarpal bone back in my hand, cauterize nerve endings, and use micro surgery to reconnect some of the blood vessels and tendons that were damaged in the original accident. That surgery was very successful but I still have lingering effects from the accident. This injury left my hand with 40% of the strength I have in my other hand and I continue to suffer from phantom pain, phantom itches, and a great deal of arthritis in cold weather.
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Since then: I have been very cautious to follow proper safety procedures when working with power tools. I always make sure to unplug power tools before doing any work on them. I also use this story as an example of what not to do when I instruct people how to use power tools properly and in other safety trainings I give to department personnel.
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My thoughts on this incident: I appreciate Andy sharing his story; the pain and surgeries and long recovery are a huge cost for one mistake. The accident highlights how critical it is to de-energize equipment before troubleshooting or doing maintenance. And in a shared space or part of a larger system, to physically lock out/tag out equipment so no one else starts it up unaware (learn more). Also, working alone or without reliable communication clearly exacerbates the severity of any medical emergency.
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UCSD Scripps Institute of Oceanography
Representatives from each campus, as well as colleagues from Stanford and NOAA, came together February 27 for our second UC Field Safety Workgroup meeting. A big thanks to Christian McDonald (UCSD Scientific Diving Safety Officer), Allyson Long (SIO Safety Officer), Isabelle Kay (Scripps Coastal Reserve Manager), Phillip Van Saun (UCOP Director of Risk, Safety, and Resilience), and Eric DeLucien (UAS Program Manager) for sharing their expertise and supporting this cross-training effort.
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Last, a book recommendation
I was warned this book is heavy -- it is. But this story about the brutal murder of a woman hiking alone to Havasu Falls on Havasupai tribal lands in Grand Canyon is incredible reporting of the cultural and family influences, and choices made, by those involved. Definitely an interesting read!
Have a great spring break and please feel free to reach out with any questions or requests!
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