An office worker in London, England was taken to hospital after her hair was caught in the blades of a desk fan, causing lacerations to her scalp and severe blood loss.
Secretary Emily Hutnyk, aged 24, who works at a multinational telecoms company in central London, used the fan to try and cope with the record-breaking heatweave that recently struck the United Kingdom . Thermometers in the capital city rose to as high as 35 Centigrade (95 F) on July 1st, which meant if you worked in an office in London the conditions could become rather unbearable.
As many of us frequently do during the summer, Miss Hutnyk decided to use a desk fan while she worked to try and keep cool. Since desk fans are notoriously innefficient at cooling in very high temperatures, she repeatedly moved the appliance closer to her face. However her long hair, swept around by the wind caused by the fan, swept in between the grilles and got caught in its whirling blades.
Only a few seconds later a clump of the victim’s long blonde hair had been caught by the blades and forcefully pulled out of her scalp, together with a significant amount of skin. “It was over really fast actually”, said Miss Hutnyk, “in fact I think it was worse for my co-workers to watch - personally I passed out within seconds so I barely remember it. The others in the office later said there was blood everywhere - they were more traumatised than me I think.” An ambulance was called and she was rushed to hospital, where she required 12 stitches on her scalp. Doctors are said to be considering hair implants to repair the damaged scalp once the wound has healed fully.
An official from the telecommunications firm later called the incident “an unfortunate accident, which we are taking steps to ensure never happens again by reviewing the cooling needs of the office. We will be fitting each office with a ceiling fan and banning the use of desk fans to prevent these kinds of incidents in the future.” Office and general workers trade union GMB scoffed at this response from the company, calling it “far short of the mark”.
“The root cause of such disasters is that we don’t have equipment or laws in place in workplaces to help us cope with hot weather - ceiling fans aren’t enough. We are demanding that every office in the UK be fitted with proper air conditioners both to help people concentrate on their work and ensure this kind of tragedy never happens again.”
Miss Hutnyk, at the unions advice, is currently considering whether to pursue legal action against the company, which could be a landmark case in health and safety and employment law.
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