Confession is good for the soul...

[pigpen60]

a fella i worked with told a story like that, said the carpenters would go to the basement and crap. well after repeted request not to they continued, so upon theyre leaving for lunch he opens theyre job box scoops about half the tools out and craps throwin the tools back in. when they got back one fella came up and said theyd do anything he wanted just dont crap in theyre box again!

 

[pigpen60]

then a recent oops, i was hookin up to a trailer and didnt like the looks/feel so i was cranking the landing gear down to lower the trailer and then release the fifth wheel to rehitch. evidently didnt get the tractor brakes locked and while crankin i hear some noise, so i turn to see the tractor rolling down the drive towards the wharehouse! just as i get to the running board the wife had jumped over the stick and hit the brake saving the day and my job! and yes i thanked her repeatedly. and yes my gut was right on the hookup feelin/lookin off! and yes im more careful!

 

[Deerehauler]

We had an old T-600 at the tire shop getting a flat fixed. My boss sent me down there to get the truck out of the tire shop's way, since it had been sitting there all morning. I hop in, fire up the engine, and release the brakes. I put my foot on the service brake and was fumbling around for the button to air up the seat, because the normal driver of the truck was 6'4 and I am only 5'8. I hear and feel a slight crash just as I find the elusive seat button. I look up and see that I coasted our truck into the side of a tire repair truck which started out about 20' ahead of my previous position.

Apparently I had not been pushing on the brake pedal hard enough while in quest of the seat button and the truck rolled ahead. After reading my incident report the next day my boss suggested that I get everything set how I wanted it BEFORE I released the brakes.

 

[KW318]

My confession...

When I was about 16, I was driving a straight truck delivering fruit and produce for a small company in Ct. As I was headed down Main St in my home town, there was a local cop standing right on the center line with his back facing me. I wasn't going more than 5 mph, as the traffic light had just changed from red to green. Well the west coast mirror on the drivers side whacked the poor guy in the back of his head - pretty good whack I might add. I kinda stopped and looked down at him, and I could tell he was seeing little birdies flying around his head, he looked mad but those birdies had the best of him . I gave it some quick thought, and realized I better be gone - before those birdies stopped flying. Being it was a small town, I would see him on the street every now and then, he never did figure out it was me:beatsme, and... he never did look quite right, but I never saw him standing on that white line again.

 

[Arabhacks]

Accident to be avoided.

Hello.

What we need is an understanding for an emergency stop signal.
I was working as a driver in the Austin Texas area when a flatbed driver was getting cornered.
Another driver jumped on the flatbed and tried to signal a stop, nothing.
There was a binder tool on the flatbed so he threw this into the oncoming dozers door.
Only at this point did the operator stop, and he STILL wanted to move the machine!
That day only an operator was hurt, a bit of glass and no more.
The operator was a Mexican national not legally in the US, we found that bit out when the contractor called the police.
But language should not be an issue, the traffic stop sign is universal, even if you can not read it you know what it means.
The operator saw me and even made a gesture, so that was not the issue.
And it is getting worse, people are hiring off the street and putting them on the equipment, Texas has no requirements whatsoever for operator, the , number of accidents in Texas bare witness to this.
But, some minimum standard of training should be required, not just of operators but of everyone.
The CDL is the response to the troubles in the trucking industry, big brother at work.
We have things like the AGC that could help formulate training materials much like the ATA and JJ Keller do now.
And, speaking of Keller, I have seen most of the material they produce, good and to the point.
The last operator film I saw was "Shake hands with danger".
Do not get me wrong, I do NOT want to see more government regulations.
I want private industry to take the lead on this and make my jobsite a safer one for all, me the operator as well as everyone around me.
Rules of the road for construction if you will.

 

[volvobl]

ok i have something to say i was taking a 20 ton excavator which was on hire at the time driving down to the next town picked up my girlfriend who was coming back to mine any way driving down the town you get all the people lokking at you going as you do truck with eminox exhaust stack make it go.

at the end of town there was a bridge id been under it before with machines on the back kept going and bang snapped the main dipper pin damaged the ram broke a couple of pipes you guessed it id hit the bridge for six what a bang or what i panicked out i came row of cars in front of me row of cars behind me all on stand still jumped in the machine to drop the arm down a bit soon as i started the machine put pressure on the boom oil came out everywhere naw id contaminated the streets with oil. I reversed the truck back past the traffic answered everything to the cops delayed the trains above the bridge cleared all the oil of the road what a night fareplay the girlfriend helped me though. Could bee worse i could of dealt with all that myself i was luckyof her.


worst of all had to tell the block of his 3 year old machine had been damaged

 

[truecountry]

some of you probly heard of the trailer dumps where you back your trailer on and unhook truck pull up and it picks trailer up almost straight up to dump saw dust and wood chips.. well we had one at my last employer it ha a hydralic leak .. call me out to fix it and it was directly under the cement slab that picks up trailers so i think mmmmmmm this aint good i call the big boss in to tell him i got to block up the dump hig enough to get under and dig thou 10 years of dust to find leak.....he says hell no ill show you ... cranks motor to pick up dump and stands it straight up in air and cuts engine off and says start digging well i say hell no it pissing hydralic fluid out the ground from pressure,,, he yells u are fired its shut off valves in cylinders and proceded to show me by takeing a wrench to crake a hose and hose blew off 2 inch stream of hydralic fliud hitting him and cement slab coming down fast i grab him and pull him out as his sons pull up ............. i didnt get fired i quit

 

[Dozerboy]

I got in trouble today we got rained out. I left the job fast to though the mud off my tires so I wasn't flinging off for a mile down the road. The job super was right there and got pissed off that I was "Hotrodding".

 

[Heavy Highway]

This is a good thread....its therapudic to get some things out some time.

I guess I've been lucky to an extent, I never had any significant injuries in 6+ years as a foreman/superintendant running jobs. I preached safety pretty hard because it was my company. I messed up my back pretty good once trying to pick up a CMP pie full of mud, though.

Long ago I was working summers for the family company and running a Euc at the crusher plant. I came barrelling down a hill toward the crusher going to fast, no brakes and had 3 choices....I ended up hammering a tandem on road dump in the rear end. The crusher foreman handed me a shovel and a hard hat and pointed to the crusher.

Whilst I was running jobs in the field about 7 years ago I got a goofy little project and was pretty undermanned. We were doing emergency flood repair on a structure over the Frio River. We had to dig a massive toe ditch and sink panels we cast on the side but there were a few knots in there that had to be busted out. The only available rig with a wet kit was the old school JCB backhoe and it was a pile of crap, to be honest. I was short handed so I ran it myself. I set up parallel to the trench, put my outriggers and front bucket down and swung the boom over. I got up on the hammer point and when I left off, the hydraulics pushed into the boom and swung the ass end over the trench rather violently and so there I am, balancing on the hoe ram chisel and the front bucket. Pretty spooky. I hated that machine. You knew you had pissed someone off when that thing rolled up on the lowboy.

 

[Grader4me]

Welcome to the forum Heavy Highway..good stories! I like this thread as well because no one is perfect and things happen..sometimes hilarious things. Not only can we laugh at some of the crazy things that happen to us..we can also learn from them. Thanks for sharing...

 

[Tiny]

Well this one is not on me but An operator I worked with until he retired.

We had a job that needed a crane and a clam bucket...........At a sewage treatment plant

It seems that this concrete tank had an auger in the bottom the broke and the "Stuff" in the tank had gotten thick.Burnt two electric pumps up and the diesel motor backups wouldn't pump the "stuff" either.

So we move the crane in and get the clam bucket hooked up then the city said they didn't want to transfer to another tank,It had to be hauled to a different site.

They lined up end dumps to come haul the "stuff" off. The Drivers were up set at their payload.

Well in the middle of cleaning the tank out, a part filled truck left. Guess he was tired of that "stuff " The operator swung around and nobody was there.In all my years I have never seen a water tight clam bucket and this one was no different.The op decided to swing back and put the "stuff " back.

But the whole deal of the driver leaving upset the op.And I think the crane had a 100' feet of boom in it.so instead of lowering the bucket he just cut it loose and let the "stuff " drop.

I Froze...........Next thing I heard Was

KABLOOP

I ducked behind a truck and a dozen guys took off running That "stuff" looked like a brown explosion!!! from my vantage point I saw the operator shut the door and wait.

It was bad,Everyone was mad. Some people were being washed with fire hoses.

Oh I forgot mention that there was an inspector and a spotter on a cat walk on that tank......

I just got in my truck and left.

 

[qball]

i was clamming treated waste at the world's largest treatment plant in mc cook il. i was running a northwest #25 with a big clam. we were loading out trucks, it was 95 degrees out, and i got off the closing brake a little too quickly.
the, uh, "poop" hit the fan, so to speak.
there was an outline of me on the back of the cab because i had the window open.
one hospital trip and 7 shots later, i was fine and much wiser.

 

[trouble007]

my boss was going around a tight s bend corner on of the main roads here with a load of horse stalls lying on a hay wagon not strapped down and i guess he took the corner a little too fast well 3 of the 300 # plus horse stalls went flying off the wagon thankfully one of my co workers was tailing him and they were able to reload the wagon and make it home without any major problems.

 

[monster truck]

Well I guess it's time I admit to a couple as well...

A few years ago I spent an interesting summer working for a logging company in the beautiful redwood forests that im lucky enough to live next to. This company did not have what I would call "pristine" equipment, in fact most of it was down right scary.

One particular dump truck that was later named "the devil truck" would become my nemises. It was a 1966 Kenworth that was only used off road out in the woods, it had a 6x4 tranny, no front brakes and no power steering. One more little issue the devil truck had was the fact that for some reason when you released the brakes it took just a hair over a minute for them to actually release. I was told by the bossman that it had been that way for years so I better learn to deal with it. It was so bad that if you just wanted to get out for a minute (to grab your lunch, water a tree, tell the loader man he's #1 etc.) the best option was to shut it off, put it in first gear and leave the brakes released. Well one fine morning after about a week on the job and a few minor incedents (losing brakes, snapping steering shaft at 40 mph, etc.) I show up bright and early ready to uphold the bossman's good impression of me. After warming up the devil truck I push the brake valve in and wait for it to start rolling down the hill so I can slip it in to gear and avoid the clutch (another small issue). After sitting for a while the bossman pulls up to chat with me about our big plans for the day. Of course I get out of the truck to greet him and we begin to talk. In the middle of our conversation I see his eyes widen so far I thought they were going to pop out of his head! I turn around expecting to see a bear or mountain lion coming up behind me, (actually a VERY common occurance out there) nope, no such luck! I turned around just in time to witness the devil truck truck roll about 30 yards down the hill and head on my boss's 3 week old super duty shoving it backwards into a ditch!

The result: One totaled superduty, a new grill and bumper for the devil truck, an overhaul of the brake system on said devil truck, and me being :ban from truck driving and "demoted" to running the new rented cat 330. Apperantly the bossman hates excavators and thought that it would be punishment.... :beatsme

 

[Grader4me]

Ha! looks good on the boss in my opinon. At least he got the brakes fixed before someone got killed..and..gave you a promotion.. not a demotion..lol

Keep the stories coming guys..

 

[JDOFMEMI]

I was digging in a nice muddy hole once with a 700 Hitachi excavator with a 7cy bucket. One pass I came into a particularly soupy part of the wet hole a bit too fast and the muddy slop followed the curl of the bucket around and sent a tidal wave of mud out the top of the bucket straight into the cab, which of course had the front window open.
At least it was not cold outside.

Another job, on a 330 Cat excavator I was fine grading a ditch and parkway near a new road. It was early morning in the desert, and cold, but I had the front window open so I could see the grades without the glare of the sun on the window. The water wagon came by to wet things down for me, and he had a brand new water cannon. He turned the cannon on, and went to rotate it left, away from where I was, but the controls were backwards from the last one he had operated. The cannon stopped lined up with the open cab window, and I was soaked. Door was shut, so I had no place to go. I could see the operator panick, and start flipping switches to shut it off, but he couldn't seem to find the right one. after a few seconds, he reached down and pulled it into gear and drove off.
I couldn't get any water the rest of the day, as he was afraid if he got close enough to me before I calmed down I would fire him.
I froze my ss off that morning, but after I warmed up, I got calmed back down. I could tell by the look on his face it was an accident, and if that wasn't the case, heis fears would have been well founded. As it was, we both laugh about it now.

 

[mitch504]

I can picture that poor water wagon operator perfectly.:falldownlaugh:falldownlaugh:falldownlaugh:falldownlaugh:falldownlaugh:falldownlaugh




okay, I'm all better now:waving

 

[mitch504]

The hurtingest thing I've done with equip. (so far) is: Little 3400 ford loader tractor moving big round hay bales into a pasture, one stupid, contrary cow that was more interested in going through the gate than eating. I finally told her "you bleeep, I'm going to stab these forks right through you", then shoved the tractor in sixth gear to cut her off before she could get out in the road. I went to go through an 18" deep very smoothly sloped ditch crossing, with my forks a foot off the ground and stabbed them into the opposite ditchbank at about 12mph, came out of the seat and stopped myself by burying the steering wheel in my stomach. I honestly thought I was hurt hospital bad for a few minutes.

Thought of another: Old ford 4500 backhoe no ROPS cleaning up after a hurricane, backed into a patch of 2" diameter 10' tall pines, I didn't notice one hooked on an outrigger, until it bent past double and then slipped free, hitting me right across my lower back. That definitely brought tears to my eyes.

 

[Grader4me]

Jerry, I can just imagine the horror your poor operator was feeling when he was hosing you down....eyes as big as frisbees..lol. Great story!


mitch504..glad you escaped without to serious of an injury. I suppose the cow just walked away slowly...skaking its head...

 

[spitzair]

A long time ago, in my teenage years when I knew everything, I was being cocky and backed our old 732 bobcat into the shop but being 16 years old and knowing it all I just sat on the loader arms and looked out the back window... When it was where I wanted it I reached down and lowered the arms with my hand on the pedal... That's when my right heel got caught between the loader arms and the frame... Luckily I just pinched it in there and bruised it up really good, no major harm done, but since that day, I NEVER operated ANYTHING from anywhere other than the operator's seat again! To this day I kick myself for being so stupid.

And another to go with the water theme that seems to be going on here... A few years ago I was using a friend's 200 John Deere to do some emergency dyke building as one of my neighbours was getting flooded. She had a huge cottonwood tree laying there and wanted it moved a few hundred feet out of the way. It was a pretty warm day, the front window was open and the ground was covered with about 6 to 10 inches of water where I happened to be at the moment. The tree had been down for a while and was slippery as anything. So the following seems to happen in slow motion: I'm walking along this path. I see the log, about 3 feet in diameter and 16 feet or so long start to slip out from between the bucket and the thumb. I immediately curl the bucket in to try to stop it, but it keeps sliding and now I'm adding rearward momentum to it. As the log departs the bucket, about 4 feet off the ground I start to swing the machine in anticipation of what comes next but it only swings a few degrees before the log hits the water. The Tsunami hits me at full force and I opened my eyes when the wave ended to see about 3 inches of water in the bottom of the cab against the lower window and a very surprised little frog looking up at me... I opened the door and said frog departs along with the water on the floor... Not one thing in the cab was dry... After closing the window and door and sucessfully moving the log out of the way I decided to call it a day, stuck some heaters in the cab to dry it out and went home for some dry clothes...