Lasst night I ran into Wayne. the senior driver with the company for whom I work. The whole right side of his face was swollen and seriously bruised. It looked to me like someone had put a boot to him.
It turns out he was in the process of chaining down a military truck when his binder slipped and whacked him in the face. Ouch. It takes a lot of physical strength to chain down a load like that and there is a certain amount of risk involved. In his case the bar slipped while trying to force down a chain binder and bounced back into his face.
It happens. I've caught the bar in the chin myself so I know how it feels. In his case it caught him on the side of the face and really laid him out. The right side of his face was swollen and he had a big bruise extending from his eye down to the bottom of his neck.
He told me it knocked him cold for a bit. I believe it. While I've never been knocked out by a binder bar (I can take a punch very well), I've seen stars and blood a few times. It's a dangerous job and I am reminded of that from time to time. Sometimes that reminder is painful as in Wayne's case.
I made him buy me a beer just to make him feel better.