Bobcat arms fall accident

[skata]

A reminder to not skip on safety.

 

[mitch504]

Wow! Wonder if either one survived?

 

[.RC.]

What drugs were those people on?

Removed the rams that lift up the bucket and then put a pathetic weak prop under the bucket that promptly fell out.

Yea, great move there.

 

[willie59]

Stupidity has no bounds. Not that it would likely have made a difference in this case, but I've worked on Bobcat machines for years. One of the very first things I do if I'm going to work on them with the loader arms elevated, even when using the OEM safety prop, is to TAKE THE DAMN BUCKET OFF! It's a quick attach for Pete's sake, get it off of there and get it out of the way.

 

[KSSS]

That is hard to watch.

 

[Welder Dave]

Wow! What are they doing trying to lift the bucket and arms by hand. Also interesting is the guy walking over with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. Guessing he didn't do much.

 

[GaryHoff]

At the Case dealer I worked at, it was company policy to remove all attachments from skid steers before propping up the loader arms. Of course, the policy came after a bucket fell on someone.

There’s a lot of wrong happening in the video. They must not have been very experienced. Any good foreman or supervisor would not have allowed this setup to happen.

 

[Tyler d4c]

This happens way too much if skid loaders where designed today they would never be produced

 

[Vetech63]

YIKES!!! That is similar to what happened to a CAT field mechanic here a little over a year ago. He had the boom up on a 966 (no safety prop) and started removing lines off the main control valve. The boom came down on him, he spent a week in the hospital until he succumbed to his organs shutting down. Very sad situation and proves you can never be too careful in this industry.

 

[BigWrench55]

I hate seeing videos like that. I have been doing this for 20 plus years. I DO NOT TAKE SHORTCUTS! Never assume that it will hold, even for one second. I worked with risk takers my whole career and now I get pretty belligerent about safety. No job is worth risking life and limb for. Few years back I was fired for refusing to do a job that wasn’t safe. The company I worked for had a concrete mixer truck that needed a new clutch. Rather than getting a tow truck and bringing it to the shop I was asked to do the repair in the field. They gave me a transmission jack and a 1/4” sheet of plywood to work with. When I called the boss told him that I would do the job just not with the plywood and that I would need something better like steel plate. He cusses me out and said that they done numerous clutch jobs that way with no problems. After having many cussing matches with him and not wanting to have another I simply hung up the phone and then proceeded to do other work. Long story short I was fired and removing my tools from their truck by the end of the day. It was the ugliest firing I had and things got pretty heated, but that’s a story for another time. Stay safe out there and stand your ground when you think something isn’t safe. Like I said. No job is worth risking life and limb for.

 

[Welder Dave]

You have a right as an employee to refuse any job you feel isn't safe. That doesn't mean you can refuse a job just because you don't want to do it. Worked in a tank shop and a welder was fired for not wanting to go in and back weld a head on a 36" dia. tank. I think he wanted to get fired though.

 

[kshansen]

You have a right as an employee to refuse any job you feel isn't safe.

In theory that is true. But it does not mean keeping your job will be possible. Sure you maybe able to get a lawyer and fight it but how many can pay their bills during the time it could take to win the case and what kind of environment will you be working under after you do win?

It might be different in some places, maybe union shops, but in many places that would be a tough one to deal with.

All that said I think 90+% of the time the dangerous conditions are caused by the jerk doing the stupid stuff and not by a boss telling them what to do as it was in Paul's case.

And in my opinion the boss asking one to do that job with poor tools was just costing himself money because the job would be done faster and better with a simple plate of steel!

 

[Tim Burke]

Not a skid steer, but I had a close call today with a developmental light weight crane. We have a radar that sits about 12’ off the ground in the nose of an acft. It weighs about 150lbs and costs about $1M. After testing the hoist for usability by removing and installing the radar twice, it needed to be pushed back to the hangar. Myself and the program loggie walked along as the engineers that designed it pushed it. About half way to the hangar, the hook fell off. I picked up the pieces and realized the nylock that they used to secure the hook shank was too tall and the nylon had never engaged the threads. We were a thread or two from seriously hurting a couple of people and doing >$1M in damage to the radar and acft. Anyhow, redesign includes a castellated nut and cotter pin, and an additional pre-use inspection point was added.

/bullet dodged.

 

[Welder Dave]

I should have mentioned the theory is you don't have to do a job you deem dangerous. A friend of mine from school worked at a shop that built small vessels. He had to go inside one to do some welding and the shop didn't have a proper air supply and respirator for him to use. Not wanting to wait for the proper PPE he decided to improvise and hooked up an oxygen line for breathing instead of a fresh air line. BAD BAD idea. As soon as he struck an arc had an implosion. Dr's. said he was lucky he was wearing glasses as it prevented his eyes from being sucked into his head. He told me after the fact that he smelled like a burnt chicken. It was his own fault but he made sure the shop always kept stock of the proper respirators and approved fresh air supply PPE. He got lucky but should have refused the job until they had the proper PPE.

 

[Tim Burke]

he decided to improvise and hooked up an oxygen line for breathing instead of a fresh air line.

Back in the day, the Air Force used to show us some seriously gruesome training films on oxygen rich environments and LOX. People are too sensitive these days, so those films are long gone. My dad new Gus Grissom, one of the Apollo 1 astronauts. One of the few things he warned me about when I enlisted was oxygen. Well, that and don’t go to Korea.

 

[Muffler Bearing]

Holy crap! thanks for showing that. I need those reminders every once in a while.

 

[kshansen]

Holy crap! thanks for showing that. I need those reminders every once in a while.

I know it has been posted before but this seems like a good time and place to post one that was a favorite of the safety guy at the company back in the day:

 

[DirtyHoe]

Years ago I was at an auction and the auctioneer was hobbling around on crutches. He was moving around equipment with a skid steer getting ready for a sale and got out of the cab with the bucket elevated. Clothing caught the lever, crashing down pinching his calf between the frame an loader. Broken bones, nerve, and muscle damage. Had a medical halo for months. The doctors were not sure if they would still need to amputate it or not. Gruesome injury.

Steve