Tradie Has Skull Smashed

It might not look like it, but this is one lucky tradie.

Queensland tradesman Ashley Francis had his skull smashed by a metal cup, which flew off a pipe under massive pressure.

He was knocked unconscious briefly, and ended up with six bone fragments floating around behind his eye.

Doesn’t sound so lucky right…? But we reckon this bloke is bloody lucky to be alive!

Ashley spoke with local publication, The Warwick Daily News, and told them about the incident:

“I was working on laying the concrete for the new kitchen up at the hospital early on Thursday morning,” he said.

“I was hit in the face by the hand-sized cap that goes over the end of the pipe we use to spray the truck down with.

“I must not have turned off the handle completely because it came off under pressure and launched into my head between 140 to 200 psi.

“I was unconscious after impact and came to after my knees hit the floor and I had my mate yelling to check my head because I was pissing blood.”

Sounds bloody nasty, but the ordeal afterwards seems somehow worse.

After visiting hospital with a smashed skull, they sent him off to a local optometrists to check out his eye.

After returning to the hospital they couldn’t give him the help he needed, and he had to go to the much larger Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane.

The distance by road is around two hours, but they couldn’t even hook him up with an ambulance. This is despite telling him he might die if he fell asleep whilst travelling to Brisbane!

Scary stuff.

The following day Ashley was transferred again to the Wesley Hospital, where a doctor was able to operate.

“The surgeon said he was going to go in and either I would be too swollen for him to do anything or he’d clear out the bone fragments and put the plate in.

“Thank God he managed to do it in one go.”

Ashley ended up with a steel plate in his melon, but as far as we know he’s back on the mend.

According to the article Ashley’s bills are being looked after by Work Cover, so it’s good to see part of the system is working well.

Stay safe out there, especially when dealing with anything subject to serious pressure!