previous job (kubota and off-road equipment dealer), coworker was laying on the ground under a off-road vehicle, jack stand gave out. I wasn't back there, just heard a a faint holler. Broke two ribs and lots of bruising. Everything was per osha, but it was a matter of the jackstand failing. Boss bought the jackstands, they were cheap. But that's all we had to work with. It was either use them or don't do the work. The latter was occasional.
I had it happen to me once, changing a TH350 transmission on a 79 Chevy pickup. But in that case the jack stands didn't fail, the frame did-it bent where the jackstands were on the frame. It is a C-channel and the C faces inwards, bent and then slid right off, with me under it. I was home alone, doing this, GF just happened to stop by because it was my birthday. Had she not stopped by I'd have been a goner. Didn't get hurt too badly but couldn't move, pinned me. She knew enough to get the jack out, and jack the truck up enough that I could wiggle out. Bent the oil pan but I don't care. I told the owner to have it towed off and pay someone else to fix that pile of steaming feces. That's one of many reasons I don't like GM vehicles. Cheaply built. I have owned many and the 79 was the last.
not even mentioning racing accidents, in the pit area, on the track. I used to race go-karts all over the midwest (won several championships in the 1980's) and I had a rookie get tangled up with me as she tried to pass between me and the wall. She endo'd I don't know how many times, got thrown off and up/over the wall. Got hurt pretty good, and never races again. I watched it happen after I was spun into the infield, ended up facing directly toward the wall, watched while her body was tossed right over the wall. Watched a sprint car go up in flames, driver unconscious. They got him out quick enough to not get burnt too badly. I was sitting in front of the line waiting for them to get off the track so we could run our main. Quite a few drag racing wrecks. Worst was a friend who was asked to drive someone else's really fast corvette (well it was not a real corvette just a body on a chassis that resembled a vette). This car ran mid 4.20's in the 1/8 mile at 170mph and change. My friend who was asked to drive had never been in a car that fast. But he did pretty good the first 2 rounds. Third round he menioned how much of a handful it is to drive it. 4th round, it got away from him as he pulled the chutes, the chutes got tangled up, didn't deploy correctly, got the car turned around, went over....and over and over and over, THROUGH the top of a 40' Oak tree, took some limbs off, hit the ground on the roof. broke both legs, some ribs, his back, one wrist. That was in 2007. To this day he still does not walk correctly, everything hurts, he is disabled for the rest of his life. Bad deal.
occupational, I had a trailer dolly flip back and hit me square in the lower lip, send the corner of the handle right through and into my gums. Bled like a stuck hog for a few days. Still wear the scar. Tons of cuts, bruises, broken bones from different occasions. Mostly fingers and toes. I had a little spill a few weeks ago and had to go into the doctor for x-rays. They brought out the x-ray images and asked what all those things are in my hand. It's slivers of metal. Copper wire mostly, some steel shards from grinding mower blades (I did it daily for 30 years). I had them pick quite a few of them out, and am bandaged up for another few days. Over those 30 years, I would imagine that I've also had enough fluids on my skin to soak through, probably cause issues later on. The life of mechanic'ing. Don't smoke or drink anything and no drugs, but plenty of mechanic dirt, grease, grime, which may be just about as bad in the long term-according to one doctor.
