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Keven Moore: Till injury do us part? If you need reason to go ring-less, here’s a good one


wedding-rings

Until Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon nearly ripped his finger off when his wedding ring got caught on a piece of furniture, you might have given little (if any) thought about the dangers of wearing jewelry. Yes, jewelry.

Fallon’s injury occurred when he tripped on a rug and used his left hand to break the fall. When the wedding ring got caught, his ring finger was ripped out the socket. He was quickly rushed off to surgery, where a surgeon took a vein out of his foot and inserted it into his finger to keep it from being amputated. His bandage is still visible each night during his show.

Each week KyForward’s “resident riskologist” Keven Moore shines the light on America’s riskiest behaviors – from unsafe driving practices to workplace stress to common home accidents. And in the process, he provides the information needed to help people play it a little safer.

While bracelets, earrings and necklaces present their own hazards, the most dangerous piece of jewelry anyone can wear is a wedding ring. Now, I realize that wedding rings have special meaning and are worn to symbolize eternity, fidelity and commitment. But they also represent extreme risk. Many hand surgeons won’t wear their wedding rings because they have seen what can happen with them.

I once was a safety manager for a large regional retail company in the Midwest. A young retail buyer rushing out the front door to catch a cab to the airport got his ring finger caught in a simple push-handle of the front glass doors at our corporate offices. The force of his momentum caused his finger to separate from the rest of his hand as he landed just outside the door on the concrete. Needless to say he missed his flight.

I too once caught my wedding ring on a mall exit door and it stopped me dead in my tracks, nearly breaking my finger. My ring still bears a small dent as evidence. After reading the accident report, I checked out the door thinking that the handle must have had some sharp edges. Instead, it had a dull smooth lip of an edge where the ring was caught.

Many of these accidents tend to happen in an industrial or agriculture setting. Even my 91-year-old grandmother lived most of her adult life with only seven fingers. (She lost the other three inside an old hand-fed corn stalk shredder down on the family farm in Grayson County.

Electricians have been trained to remove all metal jewelry to avoid being electrocuted on the job. In the industrial setting many of my clients have instituted safe working practices, requiring workers such as machinists, welders, mechanics and others to remove rings while on the job.

But these types of ring avulsion accidents also happen during everyday activities. There have been reports of people losing ring fingers while dunking basketballs, jumping over chain link fences, jumping off playground swings, snagging rings on protruding nails and reaching for something while falling from elevated areas.

Statistical data indicate that these accidents are happening to twice as many men as women. (Eight out of 10 women will, in turn, tell you that the real reason all these guys go ring-less is so that they can flirt with unsuspecting single women.)

The Journal of Hand Surgery published an article titled “Ring Avulsion Injuries: A Biomechanical Study,” which was a simulation study using a suspended cadaver arm with a ring attached to the ring finger. The study found that it only took 35 pounds of pressure to cause a Class III amputation to the ring finger, proving that in addition to being a symbol of your enduring love, that small wedding ring is one large hazard.

Hand surgeons have proposed solutions to the jewelry industry and have suggested a variety of options, including as breakaway rings. However, there hasn’t been enough concern or uproar from consumers to force any real change.

If you work in a high-risk position where you may be at risk of losing a finger or two, you may want to ask your insurance agent to add an accidental life and dismemberment rider on your life insurance policy or ask about adding the coverage on your employer benefit package. As always, be sure to read the fine print within the policy to make sure that such amputation accidents are not excluded.

As a safety and loss control consultant who has only removed his wedding ring once or twice this year, my first instinct is to engineer out or remove the hazard. But being an equally trained married man of 28 years, I am a little bit more concerned about the secondary injuries from getting caught not wearing my wedding ring. I am willing to take my chances.

Be safe, my friends.

Keven-Moore_102

Keven Moore works in risk management services. He has a bachelor’s degree from University of Kentucky, a master’s from Eastern Kentucky University and 25-plus years of experience in the safety and insurance profession. He lives in Lexington with his family and works out of both the Lexington and Northern Kentucky offices. Keven can be reached at kmoore@roeding.com.


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