Logging Accidents: And They Walked Away.........

[skadill]

Volvo

Someone flopped one of mine over.It will survive,engine cyls filled with oil while sitting,but has been purged,just banging stuff back together now.

 

[LoggerSS]

You know what happens next and what I really love? Someone from the government who has never worked in the bush shows up to tell everyone what they were doing wrong.

But more importantly, there is a new ideological shift in thinking in the industry today. Governments, who have become the handmaidens of industry, claim that "all accidents are preventable". In other words, there is a shift of responsibly for accidents from the companies, industry, and government to the worker.

Hindsight is perfect, but if we had to assess everything we do, nothing would get done. And if we had to stop to ensure there was no danger at all in anything we do, we wouldn't even get out of bed in the morning for fear of stubbing our toe.

This thinking is ideologically driven and is utter rubbish. We need to stop it in its tracks.

 

[camptramp]

Oz N. , Not sure where this happened .

 

[HDX]

Looper 100 Just as you start in Roseander Mainline you turn left and go up the hill. Luke Weber was driving Coming out loaded real sharp right hand corner and the road let go. For a big guy he got pretty beat up in there but he came right back. This was one of the "Super Trucks" V12 Cat She went to the International Dealership in Nanaimo and was fixed up and put right back into service. When Luke retired the decision was made to have her rebuilt and updated to become the new Franklin Low Bed truck Luke handed her over to Gary Cathers (another very capable and good driver) She was lowbedded down to Nanaimo to Inland Kenworth and came back almost as a new truck It was unbelievable what those mechanics could do down there. Carl Breidenbach was the Lowbed driver up till he retired (same time as luke) and his H92 became a spare truck and was taken out from under the lowbed. Gary went on pulling the lowbed for a number of years then went into the dispatch shack as our dispatcher. Not long after this things fell apart and the whole outfit was sold to Hayes Forest Services from Duncan. They wanted nothing to do with the three Queens and they were dumped onto the market like they were junk. If you knew how cheap these trucks were unloaded for you would fall down It was then we lost track of them till Hank found them at Coast Powertrain Sad ending for 3 old girls. But when you think about it the whole forest industry now is like that. We have a member on here "Weber" whos dad is Luke. He shared photos of old H94 on here also Also of note This truck is up in northern Alberta now DiamondT guy shared a couple pics of her up there. A fellow in Washington state has H92 and H93 so all three are still around I think H92 is a residue truck for now and H93 is back on the road being used as a heavy equipment mover in Washington and Alaska.

 

[fixou812]

Love that Old School Stuff! Keep up the Good stuff!

 

[Vigilant]

Please excuse the dumb question. What outfit did Hayes Forest Services buy out?

 

[HDX]

The Franklin River Division Operation. We were always a MacMillan & Bloedel Camp (Operation) Started in 1934 -- In 2001 MacMillan & Bloedel was taken over by Weyerhaeuser Management and shareholders. It was a hostile take over that completely caught everybody off guard. All were told DONT WORRY WE WONT CHANGE ANYTHING FOR THREE YEARS. Then right to the day in year four we were sold. There was a huge amount of animosity from the M&B staff and employees. It was not just the Franklin Crew that this happened to-- it was ALL M&B plants and Operations. This was the beginning of the disassembly of the BC Forest Industry as we all knew it While this was happening to us at M&B it was also happening to BCFP/CrownZ that had become Fletcher Challenge. Now the big three were no more and the race to the bottom started. It did not have to happen like it did. Sorry for the rant Vigilant but that is who and what and why. We were lucky because the Franklin survivors (crew) ended up with a darn good owner after HFS were dismissed. In their defence HFS was a good outfit to work for. Their equipment was probably the best you could find or operate in the bush at that time and if you did your job you were left alone. They treated me very well and really took a shine to H17 so it was all good I guess. One thing I did was to prevent management from ever putting a weyco decal on the doors of H17. That is why in some earlier pictures of her when she was red and white there is NO DECAL on the door. The shop was instructed to remove ALL M&B logos from ALL equipment post haste. All M&B material was to be thrown out and or burned IT WAS NO MORE and we had better embrace the future !!

 

[diamondtguy]

To be direct......That **** just makes me cringe..

 

[075]

Dodging a Pothole

 

[mitch504]

That must have been some pothole

 

[camptramp]

Toby Hird , Sooke River Logging , 1963 . Toby H. as a relatively new and inexperienced Log Truck Driver was sent out to the woods with a truck he wasn't familiar with . The B61 Mack was equipped with a "Lear (electric) Retarder" and was not set up with water on the brakes . The reason the regular driver was away is because he was having issues with the Lear Retarder , and wouldn't drive it until the retarder was fixed . When things went wrong Toby Bailed out of it . The Sooke River M/L had a hill and switch back that was well known , I've never been down it , but I've heard of it . By the time I worked in the area , it had been by passed .

 

[HDX]

075 Sure looks 850'ish Was it the trailer that took her in?? mitch504 Soft shoulders and if you try to dodge a series of pot holes it is very easy to get pulled off the beaten track. It happens so fast you usually don't have time to think about it. The hardest part of that is actually having to call the dispatcher and tell him that you might have a problem!

 

[HD Mech]

Good time to grease it though

 

[075]

849. HDX it was one pot hole with a rock in it , and he missed it. He has quit driving after this incident (Monday by the way ) 68 years old, and he's just not into it any more after selling the trucks .

 

[camptramp]

With 15-16 foot bunks damage to truck is probably minimal . Damage to pride and pulled muscle's far greater , helluva way to end a driving career . A month ago one could probably have been able to move over to edge of road shoulder , with all the rain we've had lately , its gotten pretty soft . When things go wrong , it happens in a hurry .

 

[HDX]

Im sorry to hear he pulled the pin Ray Not the way for a driver to leave. I can see his point about just not being into it anymore. Industry is doing it to itself and he is just another statistic. There was a time and we all remember it when you threw the load off pulled the truck out reloaded it and got on with the job of hauling logs NOW we must investigate and come up with findings that will explain what the problem was that caused such a horrific accident and just who was to blame. Well we need more suits to investigate, and those people with the shiny new Hi vis vests and shiny hard hats that are always around incidents like this taking pictures with their digital camera's and pressed pants all talking in hushed tones. Remember when on the top of an accident investigation form it said "Cause and Remedy" NOT "Blame" HHMMM wonder what ever happened to them. When you cross paths with him next time Ray Tell him Thank You for all his years of service in the industry.

 

[HDX]

OH by the way I did notice a rather large oil pan in the tranny area LOL

 

[075]

Smitty will be just fine he really didn't want to be there any how. They just kept dragging him out of semi retirement to drive just for a day or two. And I threw that last picture in just to see if you were paying attention. And you were lol

 

[Blk prince]

075,did you spend today on lowbed and picking up the 849?

 

[075]

No just ran the rubber tired 075 down to it had it back on its wheels in a 1/2 hour and they they towed it out of the way. Our low bed trucks are both down one with a dead V12 71. And the other just has been rebuilt .But can't get the new wheel wedges for the 125 rears. Must be custom made