shineyrachel

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has extensive webpages for bites, stings, and poisonous plants including identification and prevention. Loads of good info for cachers. Also, your local poison help center may be able to send a rep out to your local event cache for free if you can get together at least 30-40 people to attend. UTMB runs the local Poison Help Center in the Houston area. I've already had them out to talk to my fellow employees twice and the rep has an interest in geocaching, so I have been planning an event around this very topic. One of my favorite bits of insect safety info is the Schmidt Sting Pain Index. The descriptions are funny, but very accurate. I have been stung by everything from 1.2 to 3.0 on that list and I know of a cacher that got hit by a Tarantula Wasp (4.0) while caching with a similar description came from him. I have encountered those on numerous occasions without incident, but mannnn those suckers are freakin' scarey. Oh man, that thing makes me feel faint. How I love my safe and boring UK where wasps are normal and spiders don't kill you.

Don't apologize. Helping others recognize a hazard through your personal experience is a very good thing. What you've basically done is file a near miss report and those are very useful to people like me. A long time ago the was a thread called something like, "DON'T PUT YOUR HAND IN THERE." A guy posted pics of his thumb becoming necrotic (in stages) after reaching into a hole to get a cache and getting bitten by a brown recluse spider. The picture link didn't work anymore last time I checked. The pics themselves were not for the squeamish. I carry gloves and several types of mirrors and probes for cache hunting as a result. I've encountered black widows and the occasional brown recluse, but I've never been bitten and partially due to the awareness of that one cacher's bad experience. I'm a safety professional for a really big oil company and I've often considered posting some caching safety topics. I'm mostly concerned about people entering confined spaces and electrical safety though. Most falls and other hazard exposures in the geocaching context go under the common sense and Darwinism catagory, but after going through extensive training on confined spaces and and electrical safety, I'm amazed that there hasn't been any injuries or fatalities in the 10 years of caching. I am an industrial chemist, so know where you are coming from. Lets hope caching stays safe for all !

Yes we made a note on that particular cache

Went for a lovely day caching in Chester today but it almost ended in disaster. When searching for a cache in one of the parks I was millimeters from grabbing hold of a used syringe, luckily the barrel end caught my eye at the last minute. The hint for the cache was under pine needles so I was happily sifting through piles of needles. After I had screamed to my buddy Shineydave to stop putting his hands in things I had a good look round - used needles, empty lighters, tin foil, broken glass all hidden in the undergrowth. So this made me think of 3 things 1) warn others through this forum to be aware of this particular hazard (gloves wont help, a needle would go right through) 3) in future have a good look round before delving 3) when placing a cache please consider this aspect, it may not be immediately obvious but have a look. Sorry for a gloomy message, but I am Mrs Health & Safety and really felt I should pass this on.