Man killed by tape measure

[WLJ]

Left his hard hat in the truck

Tape measure falls 50 stories, killing man at construction site
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/11/04/ma ... 0-stories/

[RecoilSensitive]

yes saw that.


shouldn't have measured twice

[Dave1965]

I really doubt a plastic hard hat would stop a one pound tape measure from killing him.

[Rem700]

Ouch. 1 lb and 50 stories.....im with Dave, it probably wouldnt have mattered.

[DDgunslinger]

Karma's a bitch... just sayin

[WLJ]

I really doubt a plastic hard hat would stop a one pound tape measure from killing him.

It did ricochet off something before hitting him so we may never know.

[KYgundude]

Actually if the helmet did stop it I bet the compression on his neck still could have. Either way we need to ban tape measures now! Do it for the children.

[Dave1965]

Speed at Impact =127 Mph
Joules at impact=728

yeah hard hat wasn't helping any

[WLJ]

Again
It did ricochet off something before hitting him so we may never know.

This introduces too many unknown variables at this point to make a judgment IMHO

[rustynuts]

Does it matter? Dude's dead!

[Dave1965]

Again
It did ricochet off something before hitting him so we may never know.

This introduces too many unknown variables at this point to make a judgment IMHO

Lol Wilson will argue with a wall to correct it.

[rustynuts]

How about this? Dave and Wilson stand on the ground in hard hats. DD drops two tape measures, one that will deflect off something before striking WLJ in the head, the other straight down on Dave.

Then we'll know for sure.

[Marcus]

How about this? Dave and Wilson stand on the ground in hard hats. DD drops two tape measures, one that will deflect off something before striking WLJ in the head, the other straight down on Dave.

Then we'll know for sure.

This sounds perfect.

[Dave1965]

While we stand on rustys nuts.

[WLJ]

Well as long as it just hits me in the head and nothing important.

[rustynuts]

While we stand on rustys nuts.

That might hurt!

[KYgundude]

Before you start the test be sure and say "ok, I'm only going to show you this once"

[Rext]

I was wondering just the other day,how many times HAS a hard hat actually prevented a serious injury? We are on jobs everyday and they make it mandatory for hard hats even outside with nothing but the blue sky overhead. No way that those plastic hard hats prevent anything other than a bump maybe?

[KYgundude]

They are quite resilient. Not tape measure at terminal velocity resilient but if you had a hammer dropped from the story above you, it would stop it no problem.

[Mike]

A hard hat would have easily prevented it. It won't get up over 100 miles per hour(A human will, but they weigh much more). Maybe around 60-70. It would be like a very large hailstorm minus the blowing wind. Simply dropped off a building I am actually surprised it killed him.

[Mike]

Speed at Impact =127 Mph
Joules at impact=728

yeah hard hat wasn't helping any

Where do you come up with that speed? Humans don't even reach that speed sometimes. If you drop a 100 pound anvil and a baseball off a building, they won't both hit at the same time or speed.

[Toecutter1978]

That sucks. Those small bump helmets I seen guys had to wear in the motor pool while working on equipment don't do anything besides protect from a gouge from a corner. Hey wait, that's what they're for.

[Dave1965]

Speed at Impact =127 Mph
Joules at impact=728

yeah hard hat wasn't helping any

Where do you come up with that speed? Humans don't even reach that speed sometimes. If you drop a 100 pound anvil and a baseball off a building, they won't both hit at the same time or speed.

Calculated from weight of object and height of fall. Irregardless of some ricochet/deflection that may have happened at 49 stories up.

This is ignoring the air friction factor. Can easily read about freefall from plane and terminal velocity here:
http://www.angio.net/personal/climb/speed

[Rem700]

[youtube]E43-CfukEgs[/youtube]

[rustynuts]

[youtube]E43-CfukEgs[/youtube]

That's pretty damn cool.