Some days are longer than others. Today’s shift was about 11 hours. When we finally got back to the dive shop I was exhausted. Patrik told me to take a minute to relax and that he would take the tanks out of the van. I never want to relax; I always want to do my job until it’s done.
Well, today I found out why its good to take time to rest. Despite his warnings, I started to unload the steel 12L tanks (30ish lbs each) and felt my weak arms wobbling. To compensate the weak arms, I thought I would swing the tanks from the back of the truck. “YEOOOOOOOOOOW!!” Thats when “It” happened.
I swung a 30+lb tank from the back of a van onto my big toe. It came smashing down through my waterproof boots. I saw the indent mark on my boot. I dropped down and instantly the tears fell down my face. Patrik came to help me, and I slowly got up and tried to continue to work. He stopped me and said to tend to my toe.
I took a good 15minute break and then helped out doing the easy stuff, like washing masks and regulators.
Lessons learned:
Don’t push yourself too hard
Don’t swing tanks close to your feet
