[hermantheshocker]

Germany. On a rainy September day, a 32-year-old man was working on a 50-m (164 ft) high Ferris wheel, which had to be dismantled after the end of a local carnival. He was working on the axis of the Ferris wheel at a height of 28 m (92 ft). He wore a safety harness and special work shoes. Witnesses stated that his safety rope was fixed to his safety harness, but not to the Ferris wheel. In this way, the man was not protected against falling. He suddenly lost his grip and probably slipped on the wet metal. He then fell to the ground. Witnesses saw the man in a head-first fall onto the base of the Ferris wheel and hit his head on the edge of the metal platform.


Fig.1 End position after the fatal fall with destroyed skull. Black arrow: point of first impact with smashed brain tissue. White arrow: fragment of the cranial roof.


Fig.2 Corpse covered with a grey blanket. In front of the corpse is the point of the first impact of the head (black arrow). From here, a splash pattern of blood and smashed brain tissue extend towards upper edge and right upper corner of the image.


Fig.3 Base of the Ferris wheel. The corpse is covered with a grey blanket. White arrow: brain tissue.

During the fall, the witnesses perceived no vocal expressions. Whether there were active body movements is unknown. Finally, the man was found lying in a supine position. Smashed parts of his brain and fragments of the comminuted cranial roof were found in the impact area, with a splash pattern of blood and brain tissues for several meters around. Nevertheless, the witnesses immediately started cardiopulmonary resuscitation, which was continued by the arriving emergency doctor despite the obviously fatal head trauma. The man died immediately from severe open head trauma with decerebration.


Fig.4 Destroyed head with a disrupted scalp, fragmental fracture of the cranial roof, ruptured dura mater and missing brain.


Fig.5 Open fracture of the left upper arm.

At autopsy, the man had a weight of about 71 kg (156 lbs) and body length of 170 cm (5'7). Only sparsely developed livores at the back of the body were found. A few conjunctival petechiae were present in the eyelids. Massive craniocerebral trauma with central rupture of the scalp was present. The skull was extensively fractured with comminuted fractures of the cranial roof and base. The head appeared to be split into two parts. Cleavage of the anterior cranial fossa and a rupture of the dura mater were observed. The temporal muscles were destroyed. The man had a deep facial skin rupture, especially of the nose and left upper lip region. Multiple fractures of the facial bones, especially of the forehead, were observed. The man was decerebrated with the destruction of the brain in several small parts with a total weight of 600 g. The cerebellum and pons cerebri showed contusions.

The laryngeal cartilage was vertically fractured. Blood was found in the trachea and deep bronchi. Multiple fat and muscle hematomas of the thoracic and abdominal wall were found. A massive thoracic trauma with fractures of the sternum and multiple bilateral rib fractures with a left hematothorax, an extensive hematoma of the left pleura parietalis, and a rupture of the inferior lobe of the left lung was present. The autopsy revealed multiple lacerations of the liver tissue in the abdominal cavity. A bloodless spleen and anemic kidneys with a hilus rupture of the right kidney were found in the bloodless abdominal cavity. Aortic injuries were not present.

The man had fractures of all four extremities, including an open wrist fracture of the right arm, an open left forearm fracture, and left proximal and right distal femoral fractures. The extremities showed diffuse abrasions of the skin. No fractures of the spine were found.
Chemico-toxicological analysis and the determination of blood alcohol concentration were inconclusive. The cause of death was polytrauma, including severe traumatic decerebration.

-

This post is for educational purposes only and is nonprofit. Under Section 107 of the US Copyright Act of 1976; Allowance is made for "Fair Use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. OP is not a medical expert. No copyright infringement intended. This post does not encourage or glorify violence/harassment. Images might have been upscaled and enhanced. Text might have been shortened and simplified/reorganized for online view.

[Sebring]

I know this is a worker (RIP), but there are so many injuries and deaths from rides malfunctioning and sounding rickity rackety, I won't even go on them anymore.
Great post Herman!

[K53]

Appears to be a workers compensation case.

[William May]

That is one HUGE Ferris Wheel! I've never seen a portable one so large!

[William May]

Originally Posted by Sebring ↗

I know this is a worker (RIP), but there are so many injuries and deaths from rides malfunctioning and sounding rickity rackety, I won't even go on them anymore.
Great post Herman!

My wife and I used to go to the local county fair to ride the rides. I'm an airplane mechanic, and she was oblivious to all the missing bolts, turnbuckles hanging loosely because they never put the cables on them, etc. She wanted to know why I was such a scaredy-cat going on those rides, and my 1 minute dissertation on the one we were about to ride, as our line moved around the base of the ride to the rider entrance, cured her of going on any County Fair rides ever again.

But we still went to the petting zoos, and walked through the sales area where you buy treasure hunting equipment and teeny-tiny cinnamon donuts and specialized cooking devices that are a miracle, and bedazzling devices to make your jeans sparkly, and all the other stuff like that.
And we saw the pigs at the fair.

[ride]

An unofficial motto is midway rides function in spite of maintenance, not because of maintenance (adopted from an often-used Air Force tagline).

[Boondoggle]

When I was in high school I was hired by a carnival company to help assemble and disassemble their rides. After seeing how that was done and by whom (most of them were intoxicated), I swore I would never get on a carnival ride again and haven't since. I might consider bumper cars, but that's about it. No way I would get on anything that goes above ground level.

[Deepwater Horizon]

Poor dude! RIP

[cardsharksam]

Humpty dumpty went on a wheel
Humpty dumpty let out a squeal

[King-RL]

Yes as an aerospace Quality Inspector i cant go on anything like this. Even flying commercial now i notice missing sealant around the window or damaged door seals as im boarding. Im used to seeing new aircraft so when even seeing the grime of daily use or normal wear and tear use it scares the hell out of me. Lol