[net.general] Computational injuries

benw (10/09/82)

One time I was stress testing a Fortran 77 program and ended up in
a truss for months (and you thought you hardware types were the only
ones to get disability!)
                                           Not afraid to name my sign,
                                            Taurus

bcw (10/10/82)

From:	Bruce C. Wright @ Duke University
Re:	Computer injuries

About 5 or 6 years ago, I got cut fairly deeply from a terminal I was
carrying - the terminal casing was a heavy wire mesh without protecting
the cut edges and it slipped in my hands.  It wasn't too serious but it
could certainly have been prevented by a better-designed terminal.

Our Field Service engineer for some of the PDP-11's around here got
cut deeply enough to require stitches while working on the equipment -
I think the scenario was not unlike the one described by Herb Jellinek.

I'm sure that there are quite a few injuries on computer equipment, but
the worst injury in the lab I work in was caused by a common, ordinary
desk.  Some people were trying to move the desk and the top came unstuck
from the rest of the desk, and in the ensuing melee one person nearly
had a finger cut off.  Probably our experience is not unusual - computers
may have hazardous areas but they are probably not exceptionally dangerous
compared to any of a number of other common objects.

			Bruce C. Wright @ Duke University

mike (10/13/82)

#R:burdvax:-21800:brl-bmd:2800001:000:700
brl-bmd!mike    Oct 11 12:09:00 1982

Hardware people seem to get chewed up quite a bit.  Some of the
culprits are:

*)  Cards with inadequate extractors.  The back of the cards frequently
    eat not only hands, but cables too!

*)  Inadequate provisions for cable routing.  And always near sharp
    metal edges.

*)  Inconvienient cabinet design, requiring you to "climb in" to access
    adjustments.  (Ex:  PDP-11 power supply, voltage adjustment).

Maybe some day hardware manufacturers will be more aware of the
issues involved with making equipment easy to service....

(Raised floors are good sources of injury, too!  Plenty of sharp edges
just waiting to chomp on man or cable)
				-Mike Muuss
				Ballistic Research Laboratory