Excavator rollover

[John C.]

The Hitachi with the cover is not even FOPS rated. The legs on the outside are set to the catwalks which are welded into the side of the curve on the house frame. It's better than nothing and does convey a sense of security to the operator. It will stop small trees and maybe a one man rock falling from a high wall.

As far as the window goes, AtlasRob is correct about the window breaking hammer. All Hitachi excavators came with them from the Dash Five up. Komatsu put zippers in the molding around the rear windows. I think Cat does the same.

I've seen many a log come through the front window and not even slow down. I've also seen machine accidents that were fatal where big trees have flattened the guard, cab and actually bent the bottom of the house frame.

The big thing for me is having qualified operators. The proper move to make before that flip over would have been to swing the bucket down the hill using the bucket to act as a leg.

 

[CascadeScaper]

The big thing for me is having qualified operators. The proper move to make before that flip over would have been to swing the bucket down the hill using the bucket to act as a leg.

I would agree entirely. Hard to imagine myself in that situation and how I'd react, but I feel I could've stopped myself had I been in the seat. This is all assuming I screwed up enough to the point of sending the machine into a slide, rule #1 is to keep track of what's underfoot.

The guy just froze up, though. Bucket hardly left the ground and it didn't appear that much effort was made to stop the machine from sliding down the slope. Inexperienced operator, unfortunately.

 

[heavylift]

WOW ... I looked at the Cat site...NO ROPS... provisions on most for FOPS.... on small one had a TOPS.. I'm guessing tip over...

I been on slick stuff... I couldn't move... I reached about a 1/2" too far... and I pull myself over the break of the slope.... I wiggled a bit but nothing... got out and walked over to get the dozer hand... hooked a cable to the track... swung around... then pulled myself back up the slope

 

[Eddiebackblade]

Finally managed to view the video on a friends computer, I keep getting a pop up covering the actual video?

All I can say that there is surely a lesson or two for us all there.

I sincerely hope the operator was OK, but I wouldn't have wanted to do his laundry!

I am just in disbelief that once she statrted to go he does absolutely nothing to try to stop himself.
The bucket could be dug in either side and the machine would usually pivot around it and end up with the tracks accross the slope.

I still can't believe who quickly it all went so wrong, we have all probably done a few daft things and it's not a bad thing to have that image stored in your memory next time you are pushing the limits a bit.

I would like to see some images of the machine when it was finally recovered.

 

[amtronic]

The hill is a lot steeper than I thnk the video conveys. It looks like he has the bucket turned under the front of the rig to act like a pick. What happens then is it goes over center and folds under, and he surfs down on the backside of the bucket. Just my amateur analysis.

Here is a pic from a European site. FOPS but no ROPS.
And yes I think the painter was having some fun identifying the model (I didn't modify the pic).

 

[Hardline]

You can see the stick get pushed into the machine as it starts to slide downward. You can also hear the machines engine load. I would guess he was "trying" to save it by booming down or crowding out but the machine was already heading over. I'm def. not an operator. But with the time to replay it over and over I think everyone can come up with a better plan. While in the seat I would have been just riding it out. Hopefully he was not injured. Has anyone been able to find any info online about it? JJ

 

[swampdog]

A Spanish language search for excavator rollovers did not help identify this incident. But numerous search results came up for fatalities and injuries from similar accidents in Spain and elsewhere in the Spanish speaking world.

An English language search turned up the following link from an accident in B.C. YouTube - Worker survives excavator rollover

My apologies if this has been posted before. Note that the excavator did have an aftermarket protection package, although it wasn't done properly.

 

[AtlasRob]

Hopefully he was not injured.

Having played it more times than I care to admit I have to come to the conclusion that its very unlikely he survived. If not at the scene then later.

If you listen after the camera drops and a good few seconds after the second roll that is visible, there is a distinct THUD! then cries/screams/shouts from who I take to be the person that was in the cab.

I have to conclude that the machine drops off a ledge of some kind on its third or even 4th roll.

I imagine it would have taken a while to get any serious medical attention to him.

Does anybody else think that is a river at the bottom beyond the tree line.

 

[Wawrecker]

Having played it more times than I care to admit I have to come to the conclusion that its very unlikely he survived. If not at the scene then later.

If you listen after the camera drops and a good few seconds after the second roll that is visible, there is a distinct THUD! then cries/screams/shouts from who I take to be the person that was in the cab.

I have to conclude that the machine drops off a ledge of some kind on its third or even 4th roll.

I imagine it would have taken a while to get any serious medical attention to him.

Does anybody else think that is a river at the bottom beyond the tree line.

There is a slight pause in sound from the machine rolling before the final crash and the operators last gasp. I imagine that pause is the machine going over the edge. Its hard to watch and listen to this.

 

[superiordd]

Its scary !

 

[Colorado Digger]

i found it on you tube - accidentes de excavadoras. the video is longer worth a look.

 

[lgammon]

i slid a 315 with a hammer down a muddy hill a few winters ago. it was hell to stop with just that little bit sticking on to the muddy ground finally snaged a rock and it spun me around about 20 feet before going of the sea wall and hitting the new 50 thousand dollar boat dock. the only damage was a compleatly ruined pair of fuit of the looms

 

[140BLC]

Here are the link for the extended version YouTube - accidente en autopista mexico tuxpam excavadora 330.3gp

 

[cps]

WHOWWWW!!!!!!! That was nasty!

 

[darinray]

Dang that one makes goosebumps... Once in that spot what else could hvae been done. He had to raise his arm to try and get a closer grasp to help push while he drove it back up the hill right????? Of course now I'm sure all involved would have parked the machien there and set up a rescue mission with winches and equipment. What a shame and sure hope he made it.

 

[140BLC]

Sadly the description on Youtube say he diden´t

 

[darinray]

WOW! Thats even worse knowing that I watched a persons last moments.

 

[d4c24a]

sad loss

what a sad loss of life ,can anyone translate what they are saying to each other ,the operator looks very uneasy as he first gets in to the machine

 

[AtlasRob]

what a sad loss of life ,can anyone translate what they are saying to each other ,the operator looks very uneasy as he first gets in to the machine

The original post has a few comments under it like they do on you tub, which is where I found the bit I posted.

Seeing that longer version shows just how inexperienced he was / is ( I sincerely hope he made it but I doubt it ) I originally thought it was clay he was sliding on but that shows it was rock.

I say inexperienced because I dont believe any experienced operator would have tracked forward in the manner he did, holding the machine up on the bucket gave him no feel for a slide and by the time he decided to try and come back up he was too far committed. The way he tried to get back up also points to inexperience / panic.

 

[140BLC]

Video description translation using google spanish to english....
330 excavator accident construction of the highway mexico -
Tuxpam, the operator was Huauchinango died shortly after
accident. if you pay attention you can hear the screams of the operator
to overturn the excavato