Gruesome Experiment Shows The Deadly Reality Of Falling Objects On Job Sites

Posted on Apr 13, 2018

Gruesome Experiment Shows The Deadly Reality Of Falling Objects On Job Sites

You’ve heard it time and time again – to wear safety gear – and hopefully you’re already implementing the best safety practices on job sites including wearing hardhats. For a friendly and somewhat gruesome reminder, the people at Black & Veatch conducted a little experiment using watermelons to show just how brutal receiving a blow to the head by a dropped object can be (with and without a hardhat on). In the video you can see three different objects of various weights that are typically found on jobsites. With a bunch of watermelons as their test dummies, they used a height of 30 feet to drop the objects directly onto them. By the time these objects reach the ground they have a shocking amount of impact. For example: a one-pound bolt after being dropped 30 feet can have an impact of almost 3000 pounds of force (which is almost as much as that of a hippo’s jaws). In the video the crew conducting the experiment grimace and wince as some of the objects obliterate the unsuspecting watermelons. They even refer to the exploded fruit as “brain matter.” The results of the dropped sledge hammer and pipe wrench are pretty shocking (even with a hardhat on).  In short, wear your hardhats when cutting concrete and performing any other jobs on a construction site – it can literally mean the difference between a bump on the head or instantly dead. Add some flair to your hardhats and show off that you’re a CSDA member with these sweet decals on sale in our online store!!!

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Have you ever had a close encounter with a falling object? Share your story in the comments and stay safe out there! Watch the video here: Black & Veatch is a leading engineering, consulting and construction company with 100 offices worldwide! You can visit their YouTube channel HERE. Don’t forget to share this post with your friends & coworkers on Facebook and check back for more videos and stories in our blog each week!

Author: Matthew Meeks

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