The following is a spanish letter from a bricklayer to Social Security. I took the time to translate it, but although I'm not happy with the translation, and I'm sure it gets the point across.
Letter from a bricklayer to Social Security
In response to your request of additional information, I declare:
In item Nº1, about my participation in the events I mentioned, trying to execute the task and without help, so we have to have it in mind as the cause of the accident.
You ask me in your letter that I read a detailed statement, so I hope that what follows clears up once and for all all of your doubts, there goes the statement:
I'm a bricklayer since 10 years ago, the day of the accident I was working without help, placing the bricks in the 6th floor of the building in construction of this city, Pontevedra. Once finished, I verified there were aproximately 250kg of bricks that hadn't been used. Instead of taking them by hand from the sixth floor to the first floor, I decided to put them inside an empty cask and lower them with the help of a pole that was happily hanging from the roof of the sixth floor.
I went down to the first floor, that is, you can't go up to the first floor, effectively, and tied the cask with a rope and with the help of the pulley I got it up to the 6th floor, tying the end of the rope in a column of the first floor.
Here starts the matter of the accident. I went down to the first floor, untied the rope and grabbed it firmly so that the 250kg of bricks came down gently and slowly. I must say that in the Nº1 item of my statement I stated my bodyweight is 80kg, surprisingly my feet separated from the floor and I started to ascend quickly, dragged by the rope. Due to the scare I lost my presence of mind, that is, I was left unconscious, reflexively I grabbed the rope even tighter while I was ascending at great speed. In the vicinities of the 3rd floor I found the cask, which was going down at a speed approximately the same of my ascent. And at this point, in the 3rd floor, it was impossible for me to avoid the crash, which is where I believe I got the skull fracture.
Well, I continued grabbing the rope until my fingers got stuck inside the pulley, which instantly stopped my ascent, and also produced the multiple fractures that I have in my fingers and wrist.
At this point, I had already gained back my presence of mind, and though still inflicted by the pain, I continued grabbing to the rope, but it was in that instant when the cask hit the ground, broke and all the bricks lay on the floor, that is, if we apply logic, without the bricks, the cask weighed approximately 25kg, and due to a very simple principle I started descending quickly to the first floor. Approximately and again, while passing through the 3rd floor I found the empty cask that was going up, in the crash that followed I'm almost sure the fractures of ankles and the nose were produced. Except that happily, we have to say, the crash diminished the speed of my fall so that when I landed on the mountain of bricks, I only broke three vertebrae.
I regret to tell you, however, that when I found myself atop the bricks with unbereable pain and without being able to move and seeing upon me the cask, I lost once more my presence of mind and sure, I let go off the rope. Due to the cask weighing more than the rope, it descended quickly and fell in my legs, breaking both tibia.
And hoping to have cleared definitely the causes and the development of the accident, I kindly bid farewell.
👍
Language warning.
