Construction Bandages: Whatever Stops the Bleeding

 

If you've never worked construction, you probably think every jobsite has a fully stocked first aid kit sitting ten feet away at all times.

That's cute.

In reality, when you get cut on a jobsite, the first question isn't, "Do we have a bandage?"

The first question is, "What do I have in my pockets?"

After years in construction, I've learned that almost anything can become a bandage if you're motivated enough to stop leaking on the customer's floor.

I've used electrical tape. Blue painter's tape. Tyvek tape. Duct tape. Masking tape. One time I seriously considered using a zip tie before common sense showed up.

Tyvek tape might actually be one of the best medical products ever accidentally invented. If it can keep wind and water out of a house, it'll probably keep a carpenter together until lunch.

Then there's the emergency McDonald's napkin.

Every construction truck in America has at least three mystery napkins floating around. They could be from this morning's breakfast or from a road trip three months ago. Doesn't matter. If you're bleeding, suddenly that crumpled napkin becomes premium medical equipment.

You wrap it around the cut, throw some tape over it, and tell yourself you're basically a field surgeon.

I've seen guys use paper towels, shop rags, old T-shirts, clean socks, and whatever happened to be sitting closest when skin met something sharp.

The funny thing is most of us don't even stop working.

You look down and see blood.

You think, "Well, that's inconvenient."

Then you spend thirty seconds creating what can only be described as a construction-grade mummy wrap and get right back to work.

Meanwhile, somebody always has advice.

"You should probably get stitches."

"Yeah."

"You gonna?"

"No."

Five minutes later you're carrying lumber like nothing happened.

Now before anybody gets excited, serious cuts deserve real medical attention. But every construction worker knows the difference between "I need a Band-Aid" and "I should probably go see somebody."

Most of the time it's just another scratch earned while trying to make a living.

It's funny how adaptable we become. Give a construction worker a problem and they'll find a solution. Give a construction worker a cut and they'll somehow turn a breakfast napkin and a roll of tape into emergency medical care.

It may not be pretty.

It may not be approved by doctors.

But if it stops the bleeding and gets you through the day, it's probably already happened on a jobsite somewhere.

And if you're wondering why there's always a roll of tape within arm's reach of every carpenter, now you know.

Sometimes we're building houses.

Sometimes we're holding ourselves together.

If you are looking for new merchandise to replace that blood soaked shirt. Come check out

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