Accidents

Only one accident occurred during the season and this was of a minor nature. Returning to the Miers hut after working in the Miers stream Richard Hawks burnt the backs of both his hands on the steam from a billy. His hands were both wet and cold and obviously he did not feel the "heat" of the steam. Luckily a helicopter was expected the next day bringing a visitor, and one of the Base staff was going to use the spare seat. It was therefore possible for Wendy Strid (the summer medic) to visit our camp and bring extra medical supplies.

For two weeks Richard's hands had to be bandaged. While this was a big limitation on what he could do he was still able to write. The work programme was therefore able to be maintained. There was an early suggestion that Richard should go back to McMurdo for treatment but this idea was dismissed once Wendy had seen the injury and it became obvious that we could still function as an independent unit.