"Woman has scalp ripped off ....."

Being pulled into moving machinery has been repeatedly covered on the Aluminium Plant Safety Blog. What item (e.g., clothing, appendages, hair, etc.) is caught in the machinery varies. But, the results are similar, clothing is ripped off, appendages are ripped off, hair is ripped off, etc. Commonly, these incidents involve fatalities. Here is one incident that should make us all aware of this hazard.

The 27-year-old suffered the horrific injuries after her hair got caught in an aluminium roof sheet machine.

A doctor (name omitted) and nine other medics at a local hospital in India carried out the miracle surgery - which means (worker’s name omitted) natural hair will even grow back and likely cover the scarring.

(the Doctor) said: "We then decided to carry out microvascular plastic surgery [after an examination] on (injured worker) to replant the scalp.

"She will get her normal hair growth in a few months.

he 27-year-old can be seen post-op, smiling behind a blue facemask.

She has large cuts around her forehead and a clear scar where the skin has been reattached.

Some of her hair is also already starting to grow back - just as the doc promised.

We are so glad that this incident did not result in a fatality. We can assume that this worker did not have her hair tied up prior to the incident. On our travels we have run into this issue of long hair or long facial hair (e.g., beards). Some managers have told us that the worker’s ethnicity or religious following prevents them from placing their hair in such a way to minimize the potential for it to be grabbed.

We have seen photos of the injured worker. The photos are graphic and we decided not to post them. We will show them on our plant visits if the hazard presents itself. We will show these photos with respect to the injured worker but to emphasize what could go horribly wrong if a worker is allowed to operate machinery with long hair.

Please comment.