Press Date: 02/09/2010

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Well some people are tackling the mounting snow from the driveway to the walkway by revving up snow blowers. The machines are convenience that require caution and safety first.

It is truly a sound of the snowy season. Snow blowers and the people pushing them trying to stay ahead of the mounting snowfall; scenes similar to this one in Grandview Heights on Tuesday afternoon played out across the region for the past three days. For some, the work of clearing led to catastrophe when they were injured by the blade.

"They just kept coming through the weekend, one after another. Fortunately we didn't get them all at one time."

Dr. Lar Lubbers operated on six out of the at least nine people who stuck their hands into snow blowers.

"They think they can just reach down and flick that little bit of ice or snow of it and it will get it out quickly enough, but it's so fast that it just happens in an instant."

"It's a machine that will take control so fast."

Dave M. of Gooddall Park Hardware says they hear countless stories of people getting stuck trying to get ice unstuck.

"They put their hand in there, it grabs the coat and you're going like this and then you actually have your whole arm in here."

The bottom line, hands and feet are no match for the blades on a snow blower, instead keep at stick handy.

If someone you know suffers a partial or complete amputation from a snow blower, doctors at OhioHealth say you should wrap the injured body part in a damp cloth, stick it in a bag and then put that bag on ice. You want to apply pressure to the wound and call 911.