Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

People Describe The Worst Workplace Accidents They've Ever Witnessed

ambulance
A first responder ambulance parked outside of Ann Taylor Loft in China Town, Washington DC during the Coronavirus pandemic. Credit: @upgradeur_life www.instagram.com/upgradeur_life

Not everyone has the luxury of working in a safe environment.

Rather poignantly, most of the essential workers, who continued to report to work as the world shut down during the pandemic, often had to report to very dangerous conditions.

And while we'd like to think that the people who are responsible for ensuring the safety and well-being of these employees will make sure nothing happens to them, that simply isn't always the case.

As many people have witnessed, truly horrific accidents take place at work more frequently than we think.


Redditor Andyman_11 was curious to hear about the absolute worst workplace accidents people have witnessed, leading them to ask:
"What's the worst accident that happened at your workplace?"

As If One Time Wasn't Bad Enough

"Not my story, but my dad told me it."

"A man got his arm stuck in a machine, which degloved his arm."

"After he recovered, he was showing the safety people how it happened, and he accidentally degloved his other arm."- nugget_the_third3

Before You Eat Those Fries...

"Working at McDonalds, a girl slipped walking past a deep fryer and her hand went deep into the fryer."

"The manager wrapped her hand in a cloth, when she pulled it off to put in water all of her skin came off."

"We were still made to work so we walked off, they were even happy to keep using the fryer after it!"- Reasonable_Slice5324

Sometimes It's Their Own Fault

"Working for a specialized trucking company, a fellow driver lost control fully loaded going down a winding mountain road."

'The truck tipped over, slid across 2 lanes of oncoming traffic and landed in a field."

"Truck and trailer were absolutely demolished, cab was flattened, and the driver (a huge MFer) crawled out the back window without a scratch."

"$400k unit wasn’t even recognizable."

"Guy was fired when insurance pulled the ECM out of the rig and found he was going over 100kmh around a 50kmh corner and didn’t even touch the brakes."- Barquebe

"Man fell 75 feet due to standing on the wrong side of the pipe he was cutting."

"You ever see those cartoons where they cut the branch while standing on the branch?"

"He was cutting from inside and everyone thinks he just got disoriented."- R3DLOTU5·

Bizarre After Effects

"Guy fell 15’ and landed on his head."

"He lived."

"It fixed his lazy eye and he’s still with the company."

"He became very irritable, has violent outbursts and is a lil psychotic but otherwise perfectly ok."- Oneinsevenbillion75

Choose Your Smoking Breaks Wisely

"Had a corn starch dust explosion at a previous job."

"And no it's not previous because I caused it lol."

"A truly stupid guy decided he'd sneak a cigarette break in basically the worst place he could."

"He came very close to death for his stupidity and could have taken others with him, but thankfully he was the only one seriously injured when the dust went boom."

"That night I was pretty far from the boom area doing vacuum decay testing on completed bags of sugar substitute."

"I was uninjured, but it definitely scared the sh*t out of me."- LaReinaTormenta

They Call It Protective Gear For A Reason

"Teenage girl cut off her finger after refusing to wear the cut proof glove because 'it was ugly'."

"Follow safety protocols folks."- the-cosmic-kraken

So Many People's Worst Nightmares

"When I worked at a grocery store a guy lost his thumb in the meat slicer."

"Worst part is, because of the blade it went flying and they couldn’t find it soon enough to reattach."

'Deli was closed for 24 hours."- Mryan7600

Not Always Causing Physical Harm

"Worked in a grocery store as a teenager."

'My coworker (and still friend) was lowering a huge pallet of 1L apple juice tetra packs and the whole thing tipped from like 20ft up."

"Thousands of liters of apple juice flooded the whole back of the store."

"It was super hot that day and it just smelled like intense hot apple juice."

'We had the worst ant problem forever."

"Thankfully nobody was hurt but what a godawful mess."- permacloud

Wearing Your Hair Up Is As Stylish As It Is Safe

"A girl with long hair leaned down to check something near a fast rotating piece of machinery and got it caught."

"It ripped a good chunk of her scalp out."- EntertainerOk9552

Don't Rely On Workman's Comp

"At Walmart, an assistant manager had a heart attack in the break room."

"When she was taken away and treated she disappeared from work for months, and when she finally came back."

"Walmart management decided to put her outside in the hot California summer heat to be a greeter."

"When she refused they didn’t care and she quit."

"Every single person on my team was saying they probably did it on purpose and wanted her to quit."

"Really f*cked up and it’s probably true."- Filthy_pilgrim

At Least He Was A Good Sport...

"I watched a guy, who pinned his safety guard back on his Skill saw with a nail, lay the still spinning blade right into the meat of his thigh."

"It went right in."

"I almost passed out when he yanked it out. "

"He was in shock and laughing about how the blade was so hot it cauterized the cut, so not much blood."

"He then got into his yellow Bronco with a bad clutch and drove himself to the hospital."- Spodson

Why Updates And Refurbishments Are Necessary

"Hydraulic ferry doors were forced open to let cars out, pins snapped and doors slammed shut on an employee."

"They survived but it wasn’t pretty."- PlantBagWood

Texting While Moving Is Dangerous

"A crew was walking a plane out to the flight line and a guy got his bottom half squished underneath the wheels."

"Texting and not paying attention was suspected to be the cause but that’s not confirmed."- niciswan

"Safety First" should not simply be a warning or guideline for employees to follow.

But rather a basic standard for any workplace putting their employees in dangerous situations to uphold.


More from Trending/best-of-reddit

Donald Trump
Mark Mirko/Connecticut Public via Getty Images

Trump's Commencement Speech Claim That The U.S. Is 'Hot' Right Now Turns Into Hilariously Brutal Self-Own

President Donald Trump's attempt to smear the Biden administration turned into a self-own while he spoke at the commencement ceremony for the U.S. Coast Guard Academy this week.

Trump spoke as several hundred protesters gathered outside Coast Guard Academy campus in New London, Connecticut. During the nearly hour-long address to cadets and their families, he alternated between praising the graduating class of 2026 and revisiting familiar themes about what he described as the country’s recovery after a period of decline.

Keep Reading Show less
Screenshots from @tiktoktimmay8's TikTok video
@tiktoktimmay8/TikTok

Dad Brutally Reviews Perfumes During Daughter's Birthday Party At Ulta In Hilarious Viral TikTok

For those who did not know, having a birthday party at Ulta Beauty is now a possibility. Complete with skincare sessions, mini-makeovers, discounts, and goodie bags, it's kind of perfect for teens and tweens who are enthusiastic about makeup and skincare.

But while the birthday party is going on, what is a bored parent to do?

Keep Reading Show less
Screenshots from @dadgummit10's TikTok video
@dadgummit10/TikTok

Guy Goes Viral After Bombing Job Interview With Hilarious Answer To 'What's Your Weakness?'—And Oof

Let's face it: every single one of us has flopped at least one job interview. Whether we knew in the moment that it wasn't going well, or it only hit us later how spectacularly we'd missed the mark, we've all been there.

But at least most of us can say that we didn't freeze up and start spouting facts about our favorite snack.

Keep Reading Show less
Photographer taking photos of newlyweds
Erstudiostok/Getty Images

Couple's Engagement Photo Goes Viral For Its Unintentional Optical Illusion—And We Can't Stop Laughing

When two people are planning to get married, there are countless details to consider, often to create an incredibly beautiful and aesthetic wedding.

One detail that most couples take very seriously is the photographer who will take the wedding photos and help create an engagement announcement.

Keep Reading Show less
Redditor imfrom_mars_'s photo of a textbook that includes a ChatGPT prompt
u/imfrom_mars_/Reddit

ChatGPT Response Appears To Make It Into School Textbook—And We're Doomed

Students are being actively discouraged from using ChatGPT and other AI-generation tools, as they are expected to learn their educational concepts and be able to put them into practice. They are also not supposed to use these tools while writing papers or during at-home tests.

Given how expensive grade school and college textbooks are, it is reasonable that educational writers and content professionals should be held to the same standards. Wouldn't it make sense for them to use the knowledge of their field, rather than what's been fed into ChatGPT, to make a textbook a worthwhile purchase for students?

Keep Reading Show less