I don’t know that I necessarily have the conscious thought each day that I’m grateful to be alive. But Shane Reimche from Eugene, Oregon certainly understands that today. Just a few seconds after walking into a convenience store on March 28, a runaway saw blade from a nearby construction site sliced into the building where he’d been standing.
We’re not talking about your everyday 7 1/4-inch circular saw blade. This came off a serious concrete cutter with a 4-foot blade. What’s particularly terrifying is how fast the blade came in and how deep it cut into the building frame. I imagine the owners of the vehicles it passed between are counting their blessings as well.
The big question we’re asking is… How does that happen? It’s only speculation, but the best guess here is a mistake in blade installation. We’ve been around machines like this, and it’s hard to imagine it was a failure on the tool’s part. However, it’s possible, as is a maintenance issue.
ABC 7 reported that a contractor on the site said, “the blade may have gotten loose from a lost bolt — in addition to potential operator error..” According to Not The Bee, an investigation is underway and the worker operating the tool has been removed from the site while they sort it out.
No matter what the cause, we’re glad Mr. Reimche avoided what could have been a catastrophic incident. Someone’s going to have an uncomfortable visit from OSHA, though.
