Paintball Tragedy

[shiningstar]

Originally Posted by Gaelen

Recently in Ohio a man brought his daughter to a hockey game to celebrate her 14th birthday. during the game while she sat in the stands with her father she was killed by a flying puck.

During my last rotaion in the hospital we cared for a teenager who had broken his led, macerated his femerol artery and had a fistula which resulted in them having to cut open most of his leg and leave it open right down to the bone he will have to recieve skin graphs and go through years of rehab and his leg will always have this deep valley running the whole length of his leg all because his gym teacher had the students hop on one leg and this students knee happend to buckle in the wrong direction.

Trampolines are known to cause many broken legs, thats why your supposed to use the high netting around them.
Cords that raise your blinds have killed by strangulation hundreds of babies whose cribs were place too close to the window

Somethings are crazy flukes, but with others there is a pattern, I hope they dont wait till hundreds of people are killed this way before they come up with some safety measures.
Now that we are all depreseed...

(((((((((GAELEN))))))))))) I understand what you are saying.
I also understand how difficult your job must be. I'm
keeping you in my prayers.

[Dawg]

An update:

From the Sacramento Bee's original 2/18/04 story:

https://www.sacbee.com/content/news/s...-9217275c.html

No charges will be filed against the 16-year-old boy whose paintball gun malfunctioned, House said.

Bob McGuire, president of the American Paintball League and the Paintball Training Institute, said there is a test typically conducted on paintball guns, which are called "markers." The "valve twist test" is intended to keep accidents with the gas cartridges from occurring, he said.

"If the valve is not securely fastened, (the cartridge) could screw off from the valve instead of from the marker," McGuire said during a phone call from the training institute's Tennessee headquarters.

McGuire said paintball facilities are required to meet standards set by the American Society of Testing and Materials in order to qualify for insurance. However, he said, paintball facilities are not required to carry insurance, and the standards are voluntary otherwise.

McGuire also said he has not heard of other fatal accidents.

"It's a very unfortunate circumstance, but I don't see that it will change the procedures that are currently in place at paintball facilities," McGuire said.

From "Paintball News" (post date unknown):

https://apg.cfw2.com/page.asp?content_id=2509

CO2 TANK UNSCREWS: HITS & KILLS PERSON

A tragic death occurred a few days ago at a recreational paintball field in northern California. According to reports, the player began to unscrew the tank from his marker after the games were over. The tank and its valve should have remained attached to each other, as a unit. Instead, the tank was unscrewed from the tank valve, while the tank valve remained screwed into the ASA of the marker. The tank flew a few feet, and struck a woman in the head. She died instantly.

Our sympathy goes out to the family and friends of Colette Leia Contois.

There is a Memorial Fund for Colette Contois. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Rescue the Kids Foundation, at the Rescue Credit Union, 4282 Golden Center Dr., Placerville, CA 95667; or any of the school's credit union branches (Schools Financial Credit Union, P.O. Box 526001, Sacramento, CA 95852; information (800) 962-0990).

This Safety Alert is for EVERY person involved with paintball.

The valve must stay in the tank when the tank is unscrewed from the marker.

From the Modesto Bee, March 3, 2004

https://www.modbee.com/sports/story/8...-9068137c.html

No charges were filed, House said. He added the malfunction was with the brass fitting, or pin valve, which is supposed to hold the pressure in the CO2 tank. It's not supposed to come off -- he said it usually takes a vice to unscrew -- but on this tragic instance, it didn't work properly.

Bob McGuire, president of the American Paintball League and Paintball Training Institute, said "valve-twist tests" are typically done on paintball markers to prevent certain failures with gas cartridges from happening.

"I've talked with many, many people nationwide, and this is the first or second time this has ever happened," said House. "It was an absolute freak of an accident."

In fact, research from a study of sports injuries in the United States in 2002, conducted by American Sports Data, Inc. (ASD), a Hartsdale, N.Y.-based firm specializing in sports and fitness research, supports how safe paintball is.

They assessed the risk potential of each sport by measuring injuries per 1,000 athletic exposures to the sport. Paintball was the safest of the extreme sports, at .2 injuries per 1,000 exposures -- safer than mountain biking (1.2), surfing (1.8), and even mainstream sports such as basketball (1.9), softball (2.2) and soccer (2.4).

The reason? If played the right way and with a protective face mask, the paint pellets shot by the compressed-air guns in paintball don't hurt very much.

"It feels like someone flicked you with a rubber band," said Craig Stott, former longtime tournament player.

From PaintBall.com (2/22/04)

https://paintball.com/features/story....14&clickon=FSS



Note where he is pointing - the tank failed while the 16 year old was disassembling it.

This was a tragic, freak accident. According to the news reports, there will be no suit against the paintball facility or the poor kid whose rented equipment failed. I've seen nothing, though, about the age, condition, or manufacturer of the tank, so the jury's probably still out, as they say.

Terrible thing.

Thought y'all would like a bit more info.

I am
Dawg

[braxiss]

thanks dawg