Blade backed over a grade checker

[DPete]

here on a freeway job last week. The grade checker was bent over picking up some steel pieces that were mixed in the fill. Blade operator did'nt see him and backed over him, DOA at the hospital. You can not be to careful out there !

 

[Squizzy246B]

Sounds all too familiar:

https://www.heavyequipmentforums.com/Forum/showthread.php?t=1458

 

[Buckethead]

here on a freeway job last week. The grade checker was bent over picking up some steel pieces that were mixed in the fill. Blade operator did'nt see him and backed over him, DOA at the hospital. You can not be to careful out there !

That is terrible! My condolences to the man's family.

 

[AtlasRob]

Stunned !

I cant use words on here to describe how I feel at this moment.

My condolonces to the mans family.

My thoughts are also with the machine operator.

 

[bill5362]

That makes a person feel ill. I can't image how the machine operator must feel. I too wish the family my best wishes

 

[Bully]

Thats a horrible shame. No one can ever say sorry enough to that fellas family as the one who accidentally kills a man.

Things to be aware of before you go out in the field:

Is your reverse alarm working before you leave the line up? If not document it and try to have it fixed. Make people aware of the problem, from the super on down to the laborer.

Is your strobe working? same as above.

Are you aware of the amount of ground personel you will be working with? How many?(laborers, craft foremen,supers, ironworkers, plumbers, engineers....)

How many small pieces of equipment are on the job? (pickups, skidsteers, telehandlers, manlifts....) Where are they working and traveling to and from?

How close are you to pedestrians and roadway when you manuver your machine? Is the work area properly barricaded and marked?

Try to get a decent nights sleep. A entire pot of coffee will not substitute for good sleep, and a hangover will make a long day longer.

If you are sick, stay home. Drinking a bottle of Nyquil and trying to hack it out is just asking for trouble.

If you have to leave the machine, put the bucket down, parking brake on, and key off. Everytime. When you return, make a 360 walk-around to make certain no one is leaning on your iron or walking around into a blind spot before you fire up.

BE AWARE ALWAYS!!!!

My biggest fear has always been hurting or killing someone. Never if my grade was good, or my work was fast. Always make sure I was safe, and was everyone around me safe. We get paid by the hour, and whats 5 minutes extra for a lifetime of guilt?

Lives can never be replaced and limbs get replaced with second-rate aftermarket parts.

A hundred atta-boys get wiped out for one foul-up.

Be safe brothers.

 

[Tanstaafl]

Man, that's horrible.

Like Bully said, there is no such thing as being to careful.

Job I'm on had a major scare last week, that reminded us all just how dangerous construction work really is. Sitting in the office and all of a sudden we heard over the radio "Crew boat's been hit! Crew boat just got hit by a barge and is capsized!" This was at 5:15 which is normally when the boat is pulling the crews off the water. Thankfully the pilot had just dropped off a crew and was heading back out to pick up another group. She made it out just fine. No official word on what happened yet. We've got our theories though

Prior to that I'd never given riding on the crew boat a second thought. Now though I'm looking up and down river whenever I'm out in the boat.

 

[tonka]

here on a freeway job last week. The grade checker was bent over picking up some steel pieces that were mixed in the fill. Blade operator did'nt see him and backed over him, DOA at the hospital. You can not be to careful out there !

Hey Dpete what Co. did the guy work for PM me please!

 

[Komatsu 150]

Unfortunately, on any kind of job with a few machines there are so many backup alarms going that everybody just starts ignoring them all.

 

[Hendrik]

Development is under way for directional speakers that put sound out in a narrow beam, this may help to overcome the problem with loads of machines beeping away.
Another factor is that you hear the beeping noise all day and you become used to it.
On that other thread it was highlighted that a variable decible system could be used.
This may be possible with directional speakers that are able to be very loud in the area directly behind a machine, to such an extend that it would unbearable for anyone within a radius of 10 meters directly behind the machine.
Another system with merit is the obstruction detection system mentioned in the other thread but perhaps linking this with the brakes might be the go. Thus if the system detects an unknown object it will stop the machine until the operator tells the system it is safe to proceed.
One thing that is clear is that the current safety systems are not working 100% because there is always the human element and any good safety system must eliminate the human element as much as possible.

 

[Dirtman2007]

Sorry to hear that.

Makes me want to go and plug all the back up beapers back in.

 

[willie59]

One thing that is clear is that the current safety systems are not working 100% because there is always the human element and any good safety system must eliminate the human element as much as possible.

Construction equipment safety always remind me of the very first thing they tell you when your working in the coal mines "the haul trucks ALWAYS have right of way...". Over my years of working so many different construction sites has taught me this rule applies to all equipment. Whether were working on the ground or sitting in a pick-up truck, we have to be aware of the machines working around us...and yield. It's sad what happened to this fellow. He was probably aware the machine was there but maybe had his back to it and misjudged what he "thought" the machine was doing. Unfortunately, he's the one who paid the price for the mistake. All the safety devices in the world are great, but it still comes down to all of us to work safely and not endanger ourselves or someone else's life. You know you've had a good day at work when your sitting at home eating supper.

 

[Cat287B]

What Bully said, plus 2.
Always park so your first move is forward.
I used to tell my ground people to pretend they were invisible and the operators could not see them.
Told the operators to always keep a head count on ground people, don't move if you don't see one.
My thoughts and prayers are with both families.
Pete

 

[Hendrik]

Over my years of working so many different construction sites has taught me this rule applies to all equipment. Whether were working on the ground or sitting in a pick-up truck, we have to be aware of the machines working around us...and yield.

One of the problems is that familiarity breeds contempt.
Then there is corner cutting, which seems to be the case here, to get more done because of time pressures. People must realize that in the long run good safety is cheaper than cutting corners, as that work site would have come to a standstill until the investigation has run it's course, plus now they have to find another person to do the job, perhaps 2 as the grader driver may not want to work in the foreseeable future.
I think it is best to approach safety from the angle that everyone else on the job site is an idiot until proven otherwise. As an operator you have a lot of potential to hurt others and assuming that everyone else around knows what they are doing may end in disaster.
It's like you are operating a crane and someone you don't know is slinging the load, do you trust them to be able to secure properly or do you get off the machine and check to see that they know what they are doing. Sure the person slinging might be annoyed that you don't trust them but the person lifting the load is responsible for the load.

BTW here are a couple of links to that directional sound stuff I was talking about earlier for those who are interested
http://www.atcsd.com/site/content/view/15/29/
http://www.holosonics.com/technology.html