Cherokee Lions Club

Safety Newsletter

Vol. 4-2002 - 22 October 2002

Incident Reports: Things our members observed

Yard Incident- Dangerous Situation - I was mowing the yard with a riding lawn mower and ran under a swing that hangs from a tree limb. The rope on the swing caught on the clutch pedal and pulled it up keeping me from being able to depress it. The smart thing to have done was to turn off the key but I could not think quickly enough. Fortunately the rope lifted the left side of the mower up and the wheel started spinning.

Field Incident- I killed two Copperheads today (Tuesday 22 Oct.) and one yesterday. All were quick to strike and in no hurry to move out of the way. It's that time of year when they are too cold to move in the mornings and they spend much of the day sunning in the open, especially early and late in the day.

Home Incident- Minor accident - While walking from the dining room to the den I tripped on the stairs and took a spill. The den is a "split level" and lies 3 steps lower than the dinning room. The den is a converted carport and the steps down to it are irregular in width and they have a rounded edge to the tread. My foot hit the rounded edge and just slid off, causing me to stumble. Even though I was holding the handrail I was on the floor before I knew what was happening. I have since had the steps rebuilt with wood to make each step equal in size and had square corners put on each tread. The fall required a trip to the doctor but no injuries other than some bruised ribs and sprained ankle.

Safety Discussion:

Seasonal Reminder - Jimmie McWilliams reminds us: It's time to change anti-freeze! Remember that pets look upon all spilled liquids as stuff to sample; "Maybe my owner spilled some stuff from the kitchen". Children also, don't know to avoid fascinating colored liquids. [Antifreeze is a sweet, enticing liquid but it is deadly in even small quantities. Even the small amount that leaks and puddles on concrete can cause sickness or death in pets. ed.]

Hunting season has arrived again and the wildlife will be moving out of the deep woods and onto the roadways as hunters invade the forest. Most car-deer accidents just result in some costly damage to the front of the car but the pictures below show that more serious things can happen. Click each picture to see an enlarged photograph.



Participate in our Safety Program: Remember - If you did not turn in an incident report, you deprived other members of an opportunity to learn from your observations and experiences. If you were not watching for incidents, you missed the opportunity to learn from a near miss or unsafe practice. Just watching for "accidents waiting to happen" will make you a safer person.

Be the hero in Cherokee and help save someone's life.

Give your incident report to David or Jona at the next meeting or e.mail to djksrm@hiwaay.net or call 370-7910 and leave the message you would like to see appear in the next newsletter. Just make a short description of some incident you see like the ones at the beginning of this newsletter.

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