Vain drivers

A recent report revealed some worrying information, around 3.8million drivers put other road users at risk by not being able to see properly mainly because they think specs make them look ugly.

Unsurprisingly the worst offenders are women, some 14 million female motorists need glasses to meet the legal requirement of reading a car number plate at 70ft.

But one in four regularly drives without them — and one in five has had a crash or close shave within the past year as a result.

Incredibly one in 16 believes they are safe to get behind the wheel despite their poor vision.



The same report also named the most bizarre insurance claims recieved in a single year, so funny in fact that we just had to mention them.

A motorist called his insurance company after a camel kicked his car.

While another said his windscreen was melted by a crashing Harrier jet.

In another case, a car windscreen was shattered by a nut thrown by a squirrel.

One car was dented when a naked pedestrian ran across it for a joke.

And another claim came after a woman put shampoo in her tank thinking it was petrol.

Trying to save money by DIY.

Recent research has shown DIY bodges cost people £850m a year in paying builders to sort them out.

Not only that, but some 70 people die each year from DIY disasters with a further 200,000 injured.

And despite that, a recent Federation of Master Builders survey reckons that 40% of people will still attempt all their building work themselves.

If you're one of the 40% - you've been warned.

Mind how you go now.

Stick to the hammer and nails.

The perils of using a simple tool like a nail gun have been displayed recently as two victims will no doubt tell you when and if they recover. One DIY fan called Nigel from Leicester decided to nail the floorboards down in his bathroom with a DIY staple gun. Seems fair enough, you might say.

The problem arose when the clumsy clot lost his balance and fell over. As he explains 'I heard the gun go off. I felt a pain in my chest, so I went to take off my jumper, but I couldn't because it was nailed to my chest.' Ouch!

It was later revealed at hospital that the nail was an inch inside his heart, and a single millimeter away from the main artery. In the most shocking, and most stupid, aspect of the story, the man actually considered removing the nail with pliers before dialing 999. Certain death would have followed.

Best left to the professionals you might say or maybe not as a 17 year old working on a building site in Australia recently shot himself in the head with a nail gun.

Mind how you go now.

Safer living in the South?

Homeowners in the south-east of the UK are the worst culprits for DIY disasters, according to new research.

Some 29 per cent of the recorded incidents of damage caused to neighbours' properties as a result of property renovation occurred in the south-east, a new Halifax study indicates.

A cumulative £173 million worth of damage is caused by neighbours undertaking home improvement projects, with one-third of those affected having to cover the cost themselves, while others split the cost.

David Rochester, head of underwriting at Halifax Home Insurance, said: "A number of errant DIYers are not just damaging their properties, but their neighbours' homes too."

Mind how you go now.

DIY fans expected to cause up to £25 million damage this Easter

DIY enthusiasts could cause up to £25million worth of damage in British homes this Easter weekend - one of the most popular periods for taking on home improvements.

Research suggests that a clumsy 16 per cent of people have damaged their homes or their property carrying out a DIY improvement and the industry expects to pay out anything up to £25 million for DIY-related damage this Easter.

A survey of 2,000 householders by an insurance company also found that nearly 30 per cent of people admit they have injured themselves or someone else while carrying out a DIY job. This figure is supported by the fact that an estimated 200,000 DIY enthusiasts turn up at hospital each year.

Worryingly, 55 per cent admitted to starting a DIY job without the correct tools and almost 50 per cent said that they had started a DIY job without really knowing how to do it - including electrical and plumbing jobs.

So if you're looking to start those long-awaited home improvements this weekend - you just mind how you go!

Blowtorches can be ...., dangerous

There's ordinary foolishness, and then there's extraordinary foolishness. Stealing fireworks from a storage depot is foolishness. But using a welder's torch to cut through the wall of the building housing the fireworks - that is extraordinary foolishness.

Several burglars pushed their luck to the brink of failure when they tried to pull break into a building containing a large volume of fireworks. They used a gas cutting torch to slice through the main door. The door was eight feet tall, concrete, and reinforced with a solid inch of steel. Just as the torch penetrated the door, and success was at hand... a spark landed in a crate of fireworks inside.

Fireworks are explosive, and this particular crate contained the equivalent of a hundred pounds of gunpowder. The entire factory exploded. The door was popped from its hinges and slammed flat into the ground. The roof lifted off and landed in one piece. Interestingly, despite the violence of the explosion, the debris was confined within the factory perimeter.

Astoundingly, the perpetrators were not killed, and have never been found. Their cutting equipment remained behind, along with the car, which had been flattened by the concrete roof. Flabbergasted pyrotechnics professionals have dubbed them the "Hole in the Ground Gang."

Mind how you go now.

More silly sausages!

We love these silly mishaps.

Watch them and have a giggle - but mind how you go won't you?

Don't mess with Oil tanks!

After smoking marijuana and consuming substantial alcohol at a popular party spot in Routt National Forest, USA two teens decided that it would be fun to leap and cavort upon a mostly-empty oil tank.

Mostly empty...

"There were several ignitions sources," according to the local sheriff. Teenagers were smoking, and there was a bonfire nearby. The energetic gyrations of the dancers caused fumes to leak from the relief valve, and an ignition source sparked a "flashdance" as the crude oil storage tank exploded, hurling two teens 150 yards to their deaths.

The deceased were identified as Samuel and Christopher, 17 and 19.

Mind how you go now!

Working with Evo-Stick?

A man has been killed after working on a new house.

Apparently he was unexpectedly confronted by a malfunctioning cannister of insulating foam. "The operative picked up one of the cans and gave it a shake as recommended. A pressure explosion occurred when the can burst (and) the bottom section hit him on the chest. The impact was so severe that the bottom section crumpled and wrinkled to some six inches, resulting in his death."

A safety alert was issued, warning of the potential for cans of Evo-Stik Expanding Foam to undergo lethal decompression. But the warning was retracted when it was discovered that James had, for reasons unknown, applied a blowtorch to the pressurized 500-ml cannister.

You can't make it up can you?

Mind how you go now.

I told you to be careful!!

With earthquakes that hardly trouble the Richter scale, and just one native poisonous snake, you'd think Britain was the safest country on Earth.

But that didn't stop more than a million of us ending up in accident and emergency last year - sometimes for the most bizarre of reasons.

These included three patients needing treatment after being bitten by a crocodile or alligator in the last year. The luckless trio were among 77 patients bitten by reptiles overall.

In addition, eight Britons got into a pickle with a scorpion, 12 pushed their luck with a venomous spider - and 725 had a nasty encounter with a hornet.

Fifty-five people were seen after suffering 'contact' with venomous snakes or lizards, and 22 came off worse from an encounter with a marine animal or plant.

The latest emergency hospital admissions statistics also revealed that one unidentified patient needed to see a doctor "for an illness resulting from staying too long in a weightless environment".

Another 60 Britons were seen by paramedics after being struck by lightning.

Doctors and nurses treated 4,660 dog bite injuries, with 1,369 of the victims being under 14. DIY enthusiasts also kept medical staff busy. There were 3,435 injuries while using power tools and other household machinery, and there were 452 lawnmower accidents.

Some of the other statistics might confirm suspicions over declining public services.

Amid fears that fortnightly bin collections are fuelling a boom in the numbers of vermin, it is disconcerting to note that 19 people visited a casualty department after being bitten by a rat.

Two of these victims needed to be admitted to hospital.

Equally worrying, 9,000 people were treated for illnesses contracted while in hospital and there were 162 cases of foreign objects being left in the body after surgery or other treatment.

Overall, 1,096,946 Britons were treated by casualty staff during 2006-07.

Not all of them injured themselves in such exotic ways, with more than 86,000 being hurt after "slipping, tripping or stumbling".

There were also 246 shooting victims, and nearly 6,000 people were stabbed, with all but 550 being men. On top of that, there were more than 3,500 cases of people being hit with a blunt instrument.

I told you to mind how you go didn't I?

Now - you take note.

And mind how you go.

Now why don't B & Q do this?

This is just the profile our industry needs.

A mix of modern music and essential tools.

And it's Harry's favourite video!!

You never know who is watching!

Let this be a warning to those of you who like to play little workplace pranks - you never know who might be watching and you might just hurt yourself!

You mind how you go now - the German way

Of course, Harry the Hammer would also want you to mind how you go. I'm also up for proper training to reduce the number of accidents in the workplace and whilst using DIY tools and equipment.

But I couldn't possibly illustrate the dangers of using workplace tools and equipment as good as the Germans.

Here's a German training video and .... well they do it so well don't they?


You mind how you go now.

Harry

Top 5 Stupid DIY Accidents - Number 1

And here is our favourite - our number 1 DIY disaster.

It's about a chap called Nigel from Leicester who decided to nail the floorboards down in his bathroom with a DIY staple gun.

Which is fair enough.

However, our Nigel only went and lost his balance and fell over. And as he told TV interviewer Carol Smillie: "I heard the gun go off. I felt a pain in my chest, so I went to take off my jumper, but I couldn't because it was nailed to my chest."

It was later revealed at hospital that the nail was an inch inside his heart, and a single millimetre away from the main artery. However, the most shocking, and most stupid, aspect of the story, is that he actually considered removing the nail with pliers before dialling 999.

And certain death would have followed.

You mind how you go now.

Harry.

Top 5 Stupid DIY Accidents - Number 2

Never drink whilst doing your DIY.

Why not?

Well you might suffer the same fate as Paul from Yorkshire, who told the BBC how he went boozing one lunchtime and thought it would be a good idea to partake in a spot of DIY in the afternoon. There was a small piece of wallpaper in the corner of the ceiling that was 'annoying' him and which Paul wanted to remove.

So what did he do? Why, he got a butcher's boning knife and stood on a wobbly chair, of course. Obviously he fell off, and plunged the knife - to the hilt - into his chest, about an inch beside his heart.

Let that be a lesson to you.

You mind how you go.

Harry

We like their tools too!

Some funny stuff from DeWalt.



Mind how you go now.

Harry

Top 5 Stupid DIY Accidents - Number 3

We like the story of the chap from Gwent who decided to plumb in an outside tap to make watering the garden easier for his sister-in-law.

As his sister-in law tells it, he used a 'DIY outside tap kit' which he fixed to an existing water pipe, puncturing the pipe and allowing the water to flow through the tap when in use.

The problem was that he didn't connect it to the water pipe - but to the flippin' gas pipe!!

So instead of watering the plants, he gassed them.

Don't you despair sometimes?

You mind how you go!

Aaah - the old ones are the best!

This is a bricklayer's accident report, which was printed in an Australian insurance newsletter. It's almost certainly apocryphal - but it makes Harry smile!

Mind how you go.

Harry

Dear Sir,

I am writing in response to your request for additional information in Block 3 of the accident report form. I put 'poor planning' as the cause of my accident. You asked for a fuller explanation and I trust the following details will be sufficient.

I am a bricklayer by trade. On the day of the accident, I was working alone on the roof of a new six-story building. When I completed my work, I found that I had some bricks left over which, when weighed later, were found to be slightly in excess of 500 lbs. Rather than carry the bricks down by hand, I decided to lower them in a barrel by using a pulley, which was attached to the side of the building on the sixth floor. Securing the rope at ground level I went up onto the roof, swung the barrel out and loaded the bricks into it. Then I went down and untied the rope, holding it tightly to ensure a slow descent of the bricks.

You will note in Block 11 of the accident report form that I weigh 135 lbs. Due to my surprise at being jerked off the ground so suddenly, I lost my presence of mind and forgot to let go of the rope. Needless to say, I proceeded at a rapid rate up the side of the building. In the vicinity of the third floor, I met the barrel, which was now proceeding downward at an equally impressive speed. This explained the fractured skull, minor abrasions and the broken collar bone, as listed in section 3 of the accident report form. Slowed only slightly, I continued my rapid ascent, not stopping until the fingers of my right hand were two knuckles deep into the pulley.

Fortunately by this time I had regained my presence of mind and was able to hold tightly to the rope, in spite of beginning to experience pain. At approximately the same time, however, the barrel of bricks hit the ground and the bottom fell out of the barrel. Now devoid of the weight of the bricks, that barrel weighed approximately 50 lbs. I refer you again to my weight. As you can imagine, I began a rapid descent down the side of the building.

In the vicinity of the third floor, I met the barrel coming up. This accounts for the two fractured ankles, broken tooth and several lacerations of my legs and lower body.

Here my luck began to change slightly. The encounter with the barrel seemed to slow me enough to lessen my injuries when I fell into the pile of bricks and fortunately only three vertebrae were cracked. I am sorry to report, however, as I lay there on the pile of bricks, in pain and unable to move, I again lost my composure and presence of mind and let go of the rope and I lay there watching the empty barrel begin its journey back down onto me. This explains the two broken legs.

I hope this answers your inquiry.

Kind Regards,

Mike Pashby

Watch those drills now!

OK - it's not real.

But its very funny!


You mind how you go now.

Harry

Top 10 DIY Tools

Now, I suppose you think that old Harry is just messing about with this DIY disaster thing - but oh no!

I'm nothing if not careful with my research. And I've been doing some sniffing around with those in the know. And RoSPA - the Royal Society For The Prevention Of Accidents - have a list with the top 10 dangerous DIY implements:

1. Knives and scalpels (21,300 accidents in the UK each year);

2. Saws (15,100);

3. Grinders (6,400);

4. Hammers (5,800);

5. Chisels (3,900);

6. Screwdrivers (3,400);

7. Power Drills (3,000);

8. Axes (2,200);

9. Planes (2,100);

10. Welding Equipment (2,000).

What's more, injuries from tools and machinery are estimated to account for 87,000 of the 220,000 DIY injuries.

You mind how you go now.

Harry