SpudFiles

Posted: **Tue May 24, 2011 10:22 pm**

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/artic ... d=10727918

A Bay of Plenty truck driver says he felt like a human balloon when compressed air was forced into his body after he fell on to a brass fitting that pierced his buttock.

Despite the freak accident, Opotiki's Steven McCormack, 48, was cheerful in Whakatane Hospital's intensive care unit yesterday, saying he felt "lucky to be alive".

On Saturday he was standing on the plate between the cab of his truck and semi-trailer at Waiotahi Contractors.

His foot slipped and, as he fell, he broke the hose off a brass nipple connected to the compressed air reservoir powering the truck's brakes.

He fell hard on to the nipple, which pierced the flesh of his left buttock.

As the air, compressed to 100 pounds per square inch, began rushing into his body and he started screaming.

"I felt the air rush into my body and I felt like it was going to explode from my foot," Mr McCormack said.

"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."

Doctors later told him that the air separated fat from muscle, and they were surprised it did not break his skin.

Mr McCormack's workmates heard his screams and found him with the elbow-shaped nipple hooked into his rear, company co-owner Robbie Petersen said.

He said he could hear the air hissing out and quickly released the pressurised container's safety valve to stop the air flow.

The nipple remained embedded as three men - Jason Wenham, Ross Hustler and Mr Petersen - lifted Mr McCormack's upper torso on to the truck's plate.

Mr Wenham put him on his side in the recovery position, a move Mr McCormack thought probably saved his life.

It helped him breathe, although his head and neck were swollen and one lung was filling with fluid.

His workmates broke into a water-cooler to find ice, which they packed around his neck to ease the swelling.

They waited an hour for ambulances to arrive from Whakatane as Opotiki's ambulance and the rescue helicopter were busy.

Aided by a doctor, ambulance officers removed the nipple and Mr McCormack was rushed to Whakatane Hospital.

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 his skin felt "like a pork roast" - crackling on the outside but soft underneath. The only way for the air to escape was the usual way gas passed from the body, he said.

He credited his workmates - Mr Wenham especially - with saving his life and thanked emergency services and hospital staff for their actions.

He also thanked his family for their support.

Mr Petersen said it was a "million-to-one freak accident" and he had notified the Department of Labour.

The surgeon who treated Mr McCormack declined to be interviewed.

- NZPA

Posted: **Wed May 25, 2011 12:01 am**

Wait, shouldn't this go in the pneumatic section? :p

All jokes aside, this is a very interesting article and that dude is very lucky.
Crazy that could happen though,

Posted: **Wed May 25, 2011 1:49 am**

Skin removal by compressed air

I think I've heard of that actually, don't feel like rummaging but I recall reading of it used to inflate dead animals to help detach the fur from the flesh.

Having it done while alive sounds just dire.

Posted: **Wed May 25, 2011 2:36 am**

Horrible, I'm gewtting weak at the wrists just thinking about it, and I'm not normally squeamish.

Hotwired wrote:Having it done while alive sounds just dire.

A friend of mine was injected with nitrogen as part of an endoscopy procedure to do just that.

Posted: **Wed May 25, 2011 6:25 pm**

Well I do feel sorry for the bloke, but it hurts holding back all the puns that have been made available.

I believe shark darts use a single 12 gram CO<sub>2</sub> to emit the equivalent volume of gas that is contained in a basketball. Seems to be quite effective, that bloke was quite lucky.

Posted: **Wed May 25, 2011 6:33 pm**

I herd about this this morning on the radio. This should just go as a warning to not dick around with compressed air, had it entered his blood stream he would be dead.

Posted: **Wed May 25, 2011 7:53 pm**

I've heard of people getting water injected under their skin by an impeller engine, and I very nearly experienced this when I was thrown off the back of a jetski while a friend was doing a 360, and into the jet.

Posted: **Wed May 25, 2011 8:00 pm**

[quote="jackssmirkingrevenge"]Horrible, I'm gewtting weak at the wrists just thinking about it, and I'm not normally squeamish.
[quote]

I honestly did not flinch or even get uncomfortable reading the article, but I suppose that shows the difference between each individual.

That guy is lucky to be alive, and I bet this is going to be his new way to pick up girls; "Hey, I got inflated with 100+ psi of compressed air, wanna go out?".

Posted: **Wed May 25, 2011 8:11 pm**

warhead052 wrote: That guy is lucky to be alive, and I bet this is going to be his new way to pick up girls; "Hey, I got inflated with 100+ psi of compressed air, wanna go out?".

Tell me, where are you finding girls who know what psi is?

Posted: **Wed May 25, 2011 8:17 pm**

My friends who listen to what I build, then when they get confused I explain. Fun way huh? My favorite explanation, "Put it this way, its 20 pounds per square inch is like putting 20 pounds of make up on every square inch of your face" (my friend) "Ohhh that makes sense!" See how fun it is to explain to girls.

Posted: **Wed May 25, 2011 10:21 pm**

warhead052 wrote: "Hey, I got inflated with 100+ psi of compressed air, wanna go out?".

Right.....He's sure to score with a line like that....maybe an SMBD skank on Hollywood Blvd.

_________________
A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you have.

Posted: **Wed May 25, 2011 11:19 pm**

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Posted: **Wed May 25, 2011 11:44 pm**

ramses wrote:Tell me, where are you finding girls who know what psi is?

Engineering classes.

Where I work about 1/4 of the engineers are ladies. Science, Math, and engineering is not just a man's field anymore.

Posted: **Wed May 25, 2011 11:54 pm**

Technician1002 wrote:Science, Math, and engineering is not just a man's field anymore.

Posted: **Thu May 26, 2011 12:11 am**

Sorry, I am a tech and work for a bunch of Engineers.

I can't complain. They do a good job. They not only know what PSI is, they know PSIA, Pascals, Torr, Bar, and microns.

SpudFiles

Interesting article...

Interesting article...