I saw this on the news today. Story 1 "A 30,000-pound excavator overturned at a construction site in Wellesley Tuesday near Kimlo Road. The machine landed on a ledge that overlooks the Wellesley Hills train station and CSX railroad tracks. Police, Fire, Public Works and OSHA officials were all at the accident scene. The machine's operator was removed from the excavator and evaluated. He was not hurt. The excavator remains overturned on the ledge. Officials say the removal process will be difficult. Due to the close proximity to the train tracks, there is a chance that train service to Wellesley may be affected. Wellesley Police are waiting for officials from CSX to arrive to determine the safest way to remove the excavator." Story 2 WELLESLEY, Mass. -- An excavator overturned at a construction site on Tuesday afternoon trapping a worker inside. The incident happened just before 3 p.m. on Kimlo Road in Wellesley. The operator was able to walk away without any serious injury. "He's very fortunate. The cab was crushed down to about half its normal space. So he's very fortunate," said a Wellesley Police officer. It was a man nearby who hear the operators screams and rushed over to help. He was able to break the window of the excavator to pull the worker out. "The excavator rolled over evidently due to some soft soil. The operator did sustain very minor injuries, He's refused further medical treatment. Now you're seeing the recovery effort to get the excavator stabilized so it doesn't go any further down the hill, because the concern is obviously the railroad tracks at the base of the hill," said a Wellesley Police officer. Steel cables were used to pull the excavator upright and stabilize it. Crews worked through the night to lift the 15-ton machine up the hill.
wow was he working on the ledge about him doesnt look like the blade was down
He certainly is very lucky that the machine stopped and didn't roll the rest of the way down the hill!!
Good to hear he's OK.... Here's my guess...maybe... The operator was digging with the blade to the rear... forward and reverse are then opposite.... I dig that way often... for better visiablity.. He's really close to the to the excavation.. dumps last bucket on truck.. forgets pushes the pedals down ,, then over it goes... really fast if the speed is in Rabbit....That's my guess ....
Needs warning label on machine "Cats don't always land on their feet"
Here are some more pics that I found of it. Looks like they had a ramp cut into the hill side going down to a retaining wall at the bottom. Looks like it slipped off. See More Pics here
I hope the operator bought a lottery ticket,he was so lucky.
Zero turn machines are unbalaced any way so it being over a ledge thats why the blades there my opionion operator error
i wonder if his minor injuries were pucker related?
That ramp wasn't wide enough for that machine. Good thing no one was hurt
I agree operator error or lack of experience.... I've seen guys jump on a hoe and do things that it will do..... but they can't getter done. and end up needing their butt saved.. the last one I call the boss told him his backhoe driver needed rescued, boss wasn't happy.. he tore up a pond clay liner trying to move a pump.. it just looked dry.. I think we demo'd one ... It had an what seemed to be an oversized boom and stick.... when they delivered it. the hoe was up against the neck and boom laid out to the back..... I thought the boom looked like it was off a bigger machine .... nice hoe though.
What happened Hey, I live in wellesley and was actually at the site at the top of the hill where it happened for a good 3 hours. The Hill was pretty damn steep and the guy was at the bottom digging to place some huge retaining wall blocks and the ground just went out from under his track and the reason why his booms all the way down is he slowly fell so he spun to stop himself but the machine rolled anyways and there was so cab in sight when they got it up right just a pile of glass on the ground and a hole for a cab.
glad things turned out okay.
I am always frighteningly aware of the fact that ground pressure under each track changes as you swing and cast. Especially when I'm perched up high on the edge of a pile of loose fill. I don't have enough experience to know what the machine is safely capable of yet. But if you stop and think about what can happen it's really easy to see how bad **** can happen unexpectedly. Really glad to hear the operator is ok. He won't make that mistake again.
The opperator is getting the blame but who ever bid the job took the risks.
excavator OUCH dont see that too often I hpfully everbody and the machine is ok If you need another machine I ahve a nive Komatsu PC 128 let me know cheers B
I would have to disagree with that. they are actually more stable and balanced with the tracks then their conventional tail brothers....over the side their capacity is only a few hundred pounds less. If you think about it more operating hours are put on a machines with an unloaded bucket then with an loaded bucket.( due to repositioning grading etc) I have found that zero tail swing machines are actually more stable on side hills due to the undercarriage being oversized. I have spent hundreds of hours on side hills at the tip point with our 135sr's. It is very apparent that the conventional tail machines are designed to have the counter weight do exactly what the name states.....counterweight where as the short radios machines more so rely on geometry to counter react the weight of the bucket. They do this by boom postion on the machine and bigger foot print. I guess my point is that the counter weight on a conventional machine can work against you on a side hill just as much(if not more) as it can work for you. But ya bottom line........propably operator error. Even if there was soft soil he should have got off the machine to look over the conditions. When it comes to operating equipment unless there is equipment malfuntion I am a believer in all accidents are preventable. two good things: one and most importantly,operator was okay and nobody was hurt. two I WOULD BET THE OPERATOR LEARNED A THING OR TWO AND IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN TO HIM AGAIN..... And bidding a job like that does not involve anymore risk then bidding a pipe job on level ground. he could have rolled into a trench just as easy as he rolled off that bank. No matter what it would still be operator error,not paying attention,not making a big enough bench or road, to close to the bank,under cut the the bank he was on...etc.It can all happen no matter what you surroundings are. It is proved every single day that ALL jobs can be done safely.(as long as you use your head)
busch league
I have to agree 100% only you expressed it a darn sight better than I would have done. We all have to learn but some places require a more experienced operator in order to achieve the desired result safely. I did not say better, I said more experienced. Really glad that nobody got seriously injured.
Rob, do you and Reuben build retaining walls in situations similar to what's shown in the rollover picture?
YES I have and and if one comes up again we will probably do it...
No I dont, I run a rubber duck and only work on flat tarmac because they have tyres on and get stuck if I go off road. So if you are wondering if I am qualified to judge :beatsme probably not Now if you are asking if I have any experience in operating tracked excavators on different types of soil conditions in some very unforgiving places, I thing I can safely say yes It is the person in the seat that is ultimately responsible for the machine. No boss, foreman whatever you want to call them has the authority to make an operator go somewhere or do something that the operator feels / knows is unsafe. The operator has to rely on his experience to judge a situation and sometimes we get it wrong.
Looking at the pictures again I would be intrested to know if that was the first time he had been down that ramp. A pint of beer says it wasn't. I suspect that he was on his way down and had done some alteration to the sharp corner, you can see the ground is freshly disturbed and not in a tracks slipping sidesway motion, it has been worked ( for want of a better expression ) I guess he had desended the first part and would then spin the house 180* to then negotiate the second leg, which would have required a little easing with the bucket on the ground to bring the tracks in line with the second leg of the ramp. IF....... the machine was not flat on its tracks, which is highly likely with that corner at that gradient and he spun the house with the arm up in the air ( the way all good exc ops do so they can see where they are going )................... all hypothesis of course, I wasn't there. :duh I've changed my mind, he was tracking down forwards turned to fast with the bucket up too high, as the machine rocked forward on its toes it pivoted right and kept going with the momentum. Probably due to the operator getting taken by suprise as it rocked throwing him forward on the tracking levers/pedals and the rest as they say is history.
I guess this is where our experiences differ. Maybe Reuben's too. We did all the jobs that were bid. Some jobs like the one pictured. Didn't have a choice. For two years we had a green estimator and the boss kept him on. 9 times out of 10 the job had no way of being done the way the estimator bid it. Long story short, seeing that Cat rolled over reminds me we had luck on our side.
Any estimator can bid a job and win it,..............whether it gets done the way and in the time frame he envisaged is another ball game altogether. When a job has been completed and is over budget and over time and the guys who completed it know in their hearts that they all gave it their best shot, they should all walk with their heads held high. It is not their fault if the estimator either got it wrong ( once ) or is a complete A hole and gets it wrong everytime. At some point even the most forgiving boss has to wake up and smell the coffee. I apologise for thinking that you were trying to be a bit smart and were maybe calling me out. :beerchug
No need to apologize Rob. I think sometimes I come across as an Ahole. Maybe I am. Those pics just brought up some buried frustration.:Banghead You should get your tires dirty once in awhile:cool2. I've run some rubber tire Cats and a Liebherr.
I see your point VG.....but my point is very very simple and clear......Dont do it if it cant be done safe,and I believe every job can be done safe. Now that job(314 rollover job) is probably over budget and that job and the rest of that co's job would have went very over budget if the operator and/os someone else got killed. There is no price on safety. But ya sometime's the estimator does not leave enough in the budget to do a job like it needs to be done.
I'd like more info on the project itself. Is it a new project? Or, is a project they have been dealing with for some time. All we can tell by the pics is that it's either a project in the process, or there's been a massive slide, as the trees are gone. You can see the top of some form of retainer wall at the bottom. And at the very top it looks like a wall made of large concrete blocks. I just can't see that form of wall being a permanent solution. That hill is very steep just past where the excavator is planted, and if the material is loose, they're going to have problems keeping it there. To stablize that slope, I would think a terrace of retainer walls held back by tie backs are one of the few permanent solutions. I just don't think concrete blocks stacked up is going to do the job. Just my opinion.
They're building a Keystone wall. Just in front of the blade and stick in the second picture you can see a few rows of dry-stacked blocks . It looks like they're using all 'standard' blocks at 95lbs each. The are also using "geogrid"- a woven mat palced in 8", 12" or 2' lifts depending on the engineering. The grid is sandwhiched between the layers of block and the block is locked together with high tensile fiberglass pins. The grid can cause problems for the opperator because the cut has to be over-excavated for the grid- usaully 1/2 the wall hieght but it's common now to dig back the whole height of the wall. The "large concrete blocks" are 2x2x4 and weigh over 2ton. It's my guess they are being used to build access. Like you said, "temporary". Wish we could see more pics.
I was thinking that was a Keystone wall at the bottom as well, which is fine. I'm just wondering how they're going to address that slope you see in pic 4. That firefighter is standing straight up, gives you perspective on how steep that slope is. If they keep building keystone walls to the top, I'm not sure if the bottom bench and wall can hold that kind of weight and not kick out without some tie backs. But then, I'm the first to admit, I'm no wall builder.
Maybe that slope is not as bad as it looks in the pictures. Could be the sight of that Cat adds to the perspective.
Yeah, it's hard to judge anything by pics. I would like to see how that job progresses. And I wonder if it's the railroad paying for the work. I've worked on many sites just like that operating a drill, that's why I'm curious as to work progress.