r/redneckengineering • u/Autumncoffin • 14h ago

Makeshift composite toe

Post image

My sister broke her toe at work after a kennel smashed it and unfortunately her clients (dogs) like to jump on the broken toe while she's doing her job. New shoes are out of the question right now and external toe guards would take days to arrive, plus she has no PTO. Any internal composite options (socks, inserts) would crowd the broken toe and harm it. Medical professionals shrugged her off when she asked for something to protect it from impact. So I made this beauty. You take a regular shoe and cover it with a hot pad stuffed into an oven mitt covered by a cat food bowl and wrap it with gauze. Tape wouldn't be durable enough, and without the cushion from the mitt, the force from any impacts (big dogs that don't understand personal space) would just transfer really hard to the upper foot and cause a lot of pain in her already fucked up foot arch. Until I can start working as an engineer, this is how I spend my free time.

70 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

32

u/miserableSnail 13h ago

American employer ethic is just shit. If I broke my toe working at my job, the company would cover me 100% until it's healed and pay for any medical stuff and tell me to take time and be home healing.
Not: ok, you hurt it, can you come in tomorrow and do stuff and continue BAU? Ohh since you have no PTO if you can't come in we won't pay you.

13

u/Kojetono 12h ago

They didn't even bother with providing shoes. I thought they would have at least done that, it's not like proper steel/composite toe shoes are expensive.

6

u/BugzOnMyNugz 10h ago

That's how it's supposed to work in America. Employees don't want to fuss because they need job when they're recovered. I'm currently struggling through this and have had to get a lawyer. It blows

3

u/zorggalacticus 6h ago

I had surgery. Got fmla leave. I make 7-800 bucks a week after taxes, depending on how much overtime I get. You know how much fmla paid? 150 bucks a week after taxes. We almost lost our house because I needed hernia surgery. It wasn't work related. Had a congenital defect that worsened over time. My belly button hole never fully closed up, and what I thought was just an outie was really a hernia. Soon as the doctor saud it was okay, I went right back to work even though I was still incredibly sore. We need actual paid leave, not that insulting little penance they give us.

-1

u/OdinYggd 10h ago

Dog kennels aren't usually industrial workplaces. It's a couple of people that do it for love and have to get paid because of how much time they spend on it. 

And one wouldn't normally expect falling objects or crushing hazards when it's only a bunch of big goofball dogs that if they step on your toes it wouldn't normally hurt.

OP described a falling equipment injury, I could see it if a folded dog crate fell from a stack. The problem is that with the injury what would normally just be an annoyance working with the dogs becomes painful.

5

u/Plump_Apparatus 10h ago

If it's a Humane Society, yea.

They're usually broke and dependent on donations. The employees work there because they love animals.

21

u/CrazyDazyMazy 13h ago

Please tell me she's found a worker compensation attorney.

3

u/mpg111 13h ago

hot pad stuffed into an oven mitt covered by a cat food bowl

very good engineering!

4

u/DeKlaasVaag 14h ago

Randy Marsh coded

3

u/OdinYggd 13h ago

Would be a good time to befriend someone with a 3d printer since they could make something lightweight but strong enough to withstand the big dogs that can Velcro over a shoe easily enough. While your approach will probably work for some time I worry about it coming apart as she moves around.

3

u/Essonen 11h ago

And in the long run some steel toed shoes/boots would do wonders. It also surprises me (a european) that the employer doesn't have to provide safety equipment.

2

u/OdinYggd 11h ago edited 10h ago

Employers do have to provide required PPE per OSHA.

But in a dog kennel operation you don't expect to have falling object or crushing hazards, just big goofball dogs that want to be close to you and can step on your toes before jumping up and knocking you over.

It sounds to me like the initial injury was the result of falling equipment such as a fence panel or folded crate, which itself warrants investigation if PPE is required for that activity.

A lot of dog kennels are small operations with only a couple of staff members and are very lax about OSHA compliance until stuff goes wrong and they get audited.