The other day my friend was walking home from work using his white cane. All of a sudden he stepped into a hole, dropped 8 feet, and submerged into mud and water covering him all the way. It was the middle of the winter, the water was about 40 degrees Fahrenheit. He survived, due to nothing more than luck, when he touched a thick tube on which he could pull himself out of the freezing water. People saw the accident on the street and called the fire department, and they rescued him in half an hour.
Now you may wonder, how did it happen if he used his cane properly? Probably, he was. He was walking on a sidewalk where he had walked each day for years. He wouldn’t have thought to slow down and check for life-threatening hazards. But it was even worse. The hole was in front of a retirement home, also near a local school serving kids with special needs.
Of course, taking all safety measures, even if the hole was not covered, who couldn’t have prevented such an accident? But is this what we need to look out for? This would also assume that with each move we make in life we should expect the absolute worst. Just because 40 years ago bottles of medicines were poisoned, should we now send all medications for testing before we take them for a headache? Should we check for landmines in a country where the last one was laid 80 years ago? Should we anticipate that someone is making a trap for us to pull a prank? We could, but what would life be that way?
An uncovered hole is not only the few blind people here and there who walk the streets but also people in a retirement home where most likely many people have some kind of a visual impairment. This hole was a risk for the majority of the people who lived and walked around the immediate area.
It makes me so sad that construction companies, who exactly understand the risks and dangers, the abilities to prevent them and the legislations which apply to them are carelessly leaving such hazards on the way.
My friend got away with a broken foot and probably a fear for life of walking alone on the street. But what if someone shorter falls into it? What if someone doesn’t have the presence to find a way to rescue themselves?
And the takeaway? It is not about teaching people to get around fearing for their lives, but about preventing such unnecessary accidents.
If you are in the position of doing construction work to hopefully enhance city facilities, consider the unexpected. It is not people’s responsibility to protect their lives, it is your responsibility to protect theirs.
Even a visual clue or a thin guard is not sufficient to stop people. It needs to be a thorough analysis of the environment, complying with rules and legislations, but most importantly, ensuring that people who may be more likely to get into an accident are fully protected from falling in.
This time, my friend is on the way to recovery and he will be able to raise his two daughters. But without his luck of finding the tube to hold on to, a careless accident couldn’t be turned around.
How horrible Tom, you are correct, it doesn’t matter if he used his cane or not this should never have been left in a position to be accessed so easily. Great posts this week, thank you for continuing to bring awareness to these important issues.