new thread
Man dies when either his long hair or
arm gets caught in amusement ride.
Remember: whenever you are around
machinery take care!
Man Scalped, Killed When Hair Catches On Roller Coaster
40-Year-Old Pulled Up 40 Feet On Super Loop 2
POSTED: 7:43 a.m. EDT August 17, 2003
UPDATED: 8:03 a.m. EDT August 17, 2003
LANGLEY, Washington -- A 40-year-old carnival worker was killed at the Island County Fair Saturday after when his hair got caught on a roller coaster car, pulling him up as high as 40 feet before he fell, back-first, onto a fence, according to a Local 6 News report.
Doug McKay was spraying lubricant on the tracks of the Super Loop 2, a ride at the Island County Fair on Whidbey Island, when his long hair got caught on a car full of fairgoers, sheriff's spokeswoman Jan Smith said.
"It basically scalped him, and he fell and landed on the fence," Smith said.
McKay, co-owner of Paradise Amusements, based in Post Falls, Idaho, was pulled between 25 and 40 feet into the air.
Paradise Amusements had set up rides at the Island County Fair, located about 30 miles northwest of Seattle, for the past three years, Smith said.
Smith said grief counselors were on hand but that the fair continued after the incident.
The more I hear about this incident the more it sounds
like he ignored rule number 1, when working around any
mechanical device, shut the thing off. Don't touch it
while it is still running.
That scalping must of hurt like hell.
Not to mention falling on that fence!
I wonder if the grief counselors rode on the Super Loop 2.
If you have long hair and want to take care of it, then thats one of the first things on your mind, that guy was just too careless, how can be working around machinery like that and forget about your hair. thats just awful
I heard about this on the news yesterday. Sounds like the guy was not excercising basic safety precautions (like performing maintenance while the equipment is in operation).
Probably a much more common situation would be working on an auto engine. I've seen a lot of people performing tweaks while the engine is running. This is extremely dangerous if you have long hair. Not only are there rapidly moving parts, there's a fan blowing the air around, so you can't very well control where your hair is.
John Muir, in his "How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive for the Compleat Idiot" has as one of the very first instructions (in fact it may be the very first instruction), to put your hair in a sock.
Eeek! That's horrible. As girly as it may sound, a bun is probably the best thing to put your hair in when working around anything dangerous (machines, etc.) There's nothing hanging off of your head, and it's easy to do. Sheesh, poor guy.