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2005 April Slush
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Darwin Awards
2005 Slush Pile

This item was recently submitted by a reader.
Should I include it in the archive?
Vote to tell me what *you* think!

A "hit" in safety instructions

2005 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance

(1990, Essen/Germany) During his time as an ambulance man, a friend of mine served in a corps specialized in saving people out of collapsed or unaccessible buildings. One day, he had a very special lesson in safety. Their instructor (due to what my friend says, a very experienced man) told them how to rope down from a scaffold using a jack, a rope with a carabiner, and a belt with an eye.

The instructor stood atop the scaffold, about 10m above the ground, telling everything about how to safely come down from there. Finally, he leapt forward to demonstrate it.

He only had forgotten to hook the carabiner into his belt.

He survived the fall, so didn't really make it for a Darwin Award, but as far as I know he's paraplegic now. However, my friend and his comrades never forgot this memorable lesson.

Submitted on 04/21/2005

Submitted by: Markus Gerwinski
Reference: Personal account

Copyright © 2005 DarwinAwards.com

Great? 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Awful?
Love it! Hate it!
>> Moderator Scores <<

Daniel said:
Maybe Toss: Lacks Excellence
I just don't find this one all that amusing.


Kelly said:
Neutral: Other
I'm not sure what to do with this. It didn't happen to you, you only heard about it. It did happen to your friend, but he only saw it. If the instructor submitted it, it would be a Personal account, but he didn't submit it.


Jack said:
Neutral: Personal Account
I'll go for a PA on this. It sort of reminds me of the story about the parachute instructor who was so interested in videotaping his student that he forgot to put on his own 'chute...


Charles said:
Neutral: Personal Account
I'll reluctantly side with Jack. In my mind, this too easily could be a simple oversight rather than stupidity...


Tracy said:
Neutral: Personal Account
I think this is just a story about a friend of a friend - but if you can supply further verifiable information, it may stay as a HM


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