(London, UK) A female office worker had to be rushed to hospital when her hair got caught up in the rotating blades of a desk fan, causing lacerations to her scalp and severe blood loss. 24 year old admin assistant Emily Hutnyk, employed by a large tele-communications corporation in the center of London, used the fan to try and cope with the heatwave that recently hit the UK . Thermometers in the captial city rose to as high as 35 Centigrade (95 F) on July 1st, which meant if you worked in an office in London the conditions could become rather unbearable. Ms Hutnyk, like thousands of others, placed a cooling fan on her desk to help her cool down whilst working. However the heat and humidity was so intense that she kept moving the fan closer to her face to try and get the most out of it. However her long hair, swept around by the wind caused by the fan, swept in between the grilles and got caught in its whirling blades. Only a few seconds later a clump of the victim’s long blonde hair had been caught by the blades and forcefully pulled out of her scalp, together with a significant amount of skin. “It was over really fast actually”, said Miss Hutnyk, “in fact I think it was worse for my co-workers to watch – personally I passed out within seconds so I barely remember it. The others in the office later said there was blood everywhere – they were more traumatised than me I think.” Colleagues immediately called an ambulance and she was taken to hospital where doctors stitched her scalp and treated her for blood loss and shock. Doctors are said to be considering hair implants to repair the damaged scalp once the wound has healed fully.

A spokesperson from the company said: “This was a tragic accident and we take full responsibility for not providing proper cooling facilities in the office. We will be fitting each office with a ceiling fan and banning the use of desk fans to prevent these kinds of incidents in the future.” For general workers union GMB, however, this response was completely inadequate. “Essentially the cause of these kinds of problems is that our workplaces in the UK are simply not set up to deal with hot weather – and to be honest a ceiling fan is not enough. We are demanding that every office in the UK be fitted with proper air conditioners both to help people concentrate on their work and ensure this kind of tragedy never happens again.” The union is advising Ms Hutnyk to consider taking legal action against the company for breach of health and safety regulations.