14 ACCIDENTS Farmer warns of dangers after losing hand
Backing for union’s safety week
A Strathaven farmer has called for people to be aware of the ever yday dangers on farms after losing his hand in a life - changing accident.
Robert Hamilton (37) runs Robert Hamilton Agricultural Contractors, but an ever yday farmyard task cost him dearly two years ago.
As par t of t he National Far mers Union (NFU) Scotland Farm safety week, the local dad-of-two told the News about the devastating accident,
In May 2014, Robert was making repairs to a couple of issues with his rear discharge spreader.
Despite attempting to make the same alteration just ten minutes before, the second time he wasn’t so lucky.
He told the News: “I was just running t he machine i n t he af t ernoon and checking it over and the floor chain was running ver y slowly within the rear discharge spreader on Terragator.
“I wiped grease off the pipe next to the floor slat. About 10 minutes later I did exactly the same thing again but never got away with it.
“My hand got trapped in the floor slat and the front roller.
“I knew then that it wasn’t a good situation.
“I knew that the only way I could survive this was for my hand to come off between the forearm and wrist.”
Robert then urgently attempted to reach his mobile and phone his father. But, when he did, he was unable to hear him over the roar of the machine.
He abandoned the phone to focus on freeing his arm and managed to pull it away.
Once he reached his dad, Robert was taken to Hairmyres Hospital before being transferred to Glasgow’s Royal Infirmary.
He remembers the devastating news after hours in the operating theatre: “I remember the doctor telling me that he couldn’t sew my hand back on and there was nothing they could do as it had been crushed.
“I underwent an operation to have my arm repaired as best as they could, which lasted for a few hours.
“I spent two weeks in hospital, and then had to go back in for a minor operation and then regular check-ups after that.”
Robert is married to wife Gillian with two children Robbie, aged three, and 18-month-old Eilidh, and states that adapting to life after his accident has involved ups and downs.
“At the start I had a couple of bad days trying to deal with what had happened and it was hard.
“However, I started to deal with it better, and do everyday tasks easier – you just adapt.
“It did have a wider impact on my family though. That sort of impact can sometimes be underestimated after an accident.”
He now hopes people will learn from his story, adding: “I wasn’t ignorant to health and safety. At the time the machine was having maintenance done and the guard was not on.
“I have done this kind of work for years, for as long as I can remember, from early teens.
“It’s not the end of the world, but I was lucky as it could have been a lot worse.”
For more on the NFU Scotland safety week go to nfus.org.uk.
My hand got trapped ... I knew then it wasn’t a good situation