Does anyone know of any injuries from wire ropes snapping?

[Matthew Burton]

I've heard of 2 incidents of steel cables on steam ploughing engines snapping. One of these was within the last 10 years. Bearing in mind this cable is probably about an inch diameter, thats either some serious forces involved or a fair old bit of damage to the cable.

 

Stay safe guys!

[treequip]

I saw a cable snap and take out half a dozen hazel stems of about 50mm diameter, if the last couple hadn't stopped the cable it would have hit a group of people and that would have been unpleasant.

[Pumpy]

A steel hawser went on the Royal Yacht in the mid 1980's when it was leaving harbour, the Bosun heard it going and rugby tackled Princess Ann to get her out the way! It was on the BBC news at the time.

 

We were taught to listen for the cable "singing" or the block "complaining" for signs of impending doom.

[Treewolf]

My dad served a fleet carrier not long after the war and told me that he once saw a seaman decapitated by an arrester wire breaking during landing operations. I suspect that this was actually not so much a clean cut, as the wire whipping round the unfortunate seaman's neck and ripping his head off.

 

The Mythbusters episode was convincing and suggests that it is very unlikely that a breaking wire rope would be thin/sharp enough to cut a person in half or result in any major transection. If there is enough stretch in the rope and it wrappped round you, it could easily rip bits off you. It is also very possible that the impact injuries will kill you even if it doesn't cut you in pieces. If there is a shackle (or a NATO hook) on the end of the whipping rope it will definitely kill you.

 

I have seen people at rallies standing inches away from steam ploughing sets at work. These people have no clue about the risk they are taking! I don't understand how the rally organisers can allow this now, crazy. One year at the Dorset Steam Fare I actually saw a member of the public step over the hauling cable of a ploughing set! Evolution I suppose.

 

Remember that any rope of cable which can stretch is dangerous under tension, because it is the stretch releasing which causes the whip. Rope used of SRT, ropes for capstan winches, etc are low stretch and won't whip. Ropes for fall arrest, KERR (lethal - the army only allows KERR to be used on armoured vehicles), any nylon rope, and most wire ropes need to be treated with respect.

 

In 99 cases out of 100 it is bad rigging which causes a rope to fail, or the anchor point fails not the rope.

[Mike Hill]

I beleive you could be cut in half by a Wire Rope.If it was heavy or moving fast enough.I do not believe a small diameter winchline could do it,but a heavy Cable could.

[Treewolf]

I beleive you could be cut in half by a Wire Rope.If it was heavy or moving fast enough.I do not believe a small diameter winchline could do it,but a heavy Cable could.

 

To be honest I doubt that this could actually happen (and the testing on Mythbusters also tends to suggest it is unlikely).

 

In effect hitting a body with a wire rope is going to be much the same as hitting a body with a steel bar of the same diameter with the same energy. I reckon that however hard you hit a body with a bar, you are unlikely to cut the body in half. You could undoubtedly inflict massive and fatal injuries, but the diameter of the bar or wire rope would be simply too big to cut the body. A thick bar or heavy wire rope is more likely to send the body flying, possibly with fatal impact trauma, but I would think is very unlikely to cut it.

 

A much thinner wire could cut (like a cheesewire) but wouldn't have the same energy when it breaks.

 

I would actually expect a very thin wire breaking under tension to be more likely to inflict serious cuts (or even sever a limb) than a thick wire, but I would expect a thick wire to be more likely to inflict severe possibly fatal trauma.

 

Returning to the original poster's question, "does anyone know of any injuries from wire ropes snapping", I think the answer is a definite "yes", a wire rope under tension has the capability to inflict massive and sometimes fatal injuries. If the question had been the Mythbusters' question "can a wire rope snapping cut a body in half" then I have to say that I think the answer is that it is very unlikely to except under freak conditions.

 

However best advice is to treat all ropes under tension with respect and as though they do want to kill you.

[mikecotterill]

The reason I asks d originally was because I go off reading and people seem to think your the anti Christ sometimes turning up with a steel cable. (well slight exaggeration there!)

The only videos I found on YouTube were one of an anchor failing and the second was an army recovery which seems to have an obvious flaw in the rope before recovery.

 

I reckon presuming the cables in good nick it's the least of your worries in a recovery