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Tuesday, 14th of July 2015. A warm and sunny day at the height of Swedish summer. The Caterpillar Propulsion factory on the island of Öckerö was closed for the month-long Swedish industrial holiday. A few days earlier, Dan Kasper, team leader and 14-year veteran at Caterpillar Propulsion, had received a phone call. Would he mind interrupting his vacation a couple of days to come in to the after-sales factory on Hönö and take care of an emergency job?
A client is having an issue with the shafts on a vessel and each day operations are down is costing them large amounts of money. The situation needs to be taken care of immediately, and the call goes to team leader Dan. Well aware of the gravity of the situation, and eager to meet a customer’s needs, Dan agrees to come in and work. As day one comes to an end, Dan realizes that he might not be able to finish the job in two days, so the following day he gets an early start. With him at the factory are his colleagues Bertil and Anders. Safety regulations clearly stipulate that you are not to be alone on the floor and there has to be at least one other person within visual distance at all times.
The job at hand was cutting two shafts. The first one was completed and Dan began working on the second one. So far it had only been roughly cut and now it needed fine cutting, a process that requires a lot of time and expert precision on the lathe. By now it was 9 p.m. and Dan had been at the factory for close to 15 hours. There was a lot on his mind and many different stress factors involved. He was feeling anxious about delivering the shafts to the client on time. The lathe he was working on was rarely in use and had been partially obstructed by boxes stacked alongside it. His wife and children were waiting for him at home and he wanted to complete the job that day so he could start enjoying his vacation with his family.
Nearing the end of the job, Dan needs to reach the inner adjustment knob on the opposite side of the lathe. He takes a shortcut and instead of walking around, bends down and reaches under the rotating shaft, knowing full well that it goes against safety precautions. Anxious to finish the job and his day, and with his extensive experience on the job, Dan doesn’t think much of it. Next thing he knows, he feels something nibbling on his neck. When he realizes it is his t-shirt getting caught in the lathe it’s too late, and in a split second the accident is a fact.
Bertil, who was working across from Dan, had bent down to pick up a tool. When he stands back up again, Dan is nowhere to be seen. He calls his name, and all he sees is a bloody hand reaching up. As Bertil rushes around the other side, Dan is coming to. His head has hit against the machine and he has been thrown onto the floor. His neck is aching, and he’s had a blow to his nose and just below one eye, but apart from that, he feels ok. Fortunately he was wearing safety glasses so his eyes are unharmed. Because it was a hot and humid day, Dan was wearing a t-shirt instead of the thicker sweater he usually wears to work. The t-shirt has been completely torn off his body, is ripped to shreds and sits tightly wound around the shaft.
Thankfully the story has a happy ending. Dan is taken to hospital where his physical injuries are determined to be relatively minor. A colleague comes in to work to finish the job and delivery can be made to the client on time. For a while after the accident, Dan struggled with thoughts of what could have happened and was given the help he needed to process them. Today Dan, who is well aware of the fact that the outcome might have been very different had he not been wearing that t-shirt, is using his experience to inform others of the importance of following safety precautions. No job is important enough to take risks, and going the extra mile should never be at the expense of personal safety.