Had a machine run away today. The machine is Fuchs 350, it is a wheeled crane with a magnet . The operator fired it up and let it warm up and then could not get the parking brake to release. Every thing worked on the machine but it would not move. HE put the out riggers out and down and lifted the wheels off the ground and sure enough no go. He asked me if I knew any thing about the break or any problems from the weekend and I told home no. So I took off in my machine and started to work and he went back and put the out riggers up and left t the machine. He left it idling and took the other magnet crane we have. Well about an hour later in the day light one of out guys asked who flipped the magnet upside down and pushed the dumpster up aghast the side of the machine. I went up to look and sure enough it took off with no one in it. It traveled about 100 feet. Like I said it flipped the magnet up side down and smashed a dumpster wiped out a work shanty and ran over 3 bottles of oxygen and a 100 pound propane tank and managed to smash a few smaller hoppers. What a mess it made. So for what it is worth the best thing I can say to anyone is if you cant get a piece of equipment to move don’t leave it running and walk away. :spaz :nono Shut it off and then walk away. The only reason the crane stopped was because it ran its self up against a fully loaded roll off box.:yup
Well, at least nobody got hurt.
seems like there's a lot of "crash and burns" where you work.....run for your life dude, odds are against ya!!!
Yeah I here ya. That is one of the reasons I gave up driving for this company full time. The drivers are in a big hurry to go no where and are paid by the hour just like the crane men. If these guys would just slow down and take an extra minute or 2 and think, and not expect someone else to think for them. The whole thing is no body cares. I look out for # 1 and that is me, then #2 the other person. The whole accident could have been avoided if 1 of 2 things were done. 1 turn the machine off or 2 the operator should have engaged the safety. My big complaint about this piece of equipment is no one but me will engage the safety when they exit the cab. The big problem is they are to lazy to lift the whole arm up. In these machines you have to lift up the whole arm rest assembly and joy stick to engage the safety.
the machine should have been disabled so it couldn't move, period. not your fault, it's your safety director's fault
Even if there was a reason to leave it running, it should of been chocked at bare minimum. Definately lucky nobody got hurt as that sounded like a pretty bad incident.
That sucks, I guess he should have left the stabalizers down, turned it off. Atleast no one was injured or worse killed.
I know this is an old subject but I agree with your post: Safety Director should have been replaced if this company has had mishaps and including this one with a crane. Bottom line is you have to have a comprehensive safety program because as we all know safety takes a back seat even in discussions of importance. Yet safety is written blood so to speak, and when we enter the operator’s seat we see safety notes, cautions and warnings and references to check if we have questions. Punishment for that mishap is simple fire the operator for the damage done. Then you close the company down for a day and have a safety stand down and yes it cost money but it is cheaper than a major lawsuit. As mentioned all the operators are paid by the hour so the deal is do it right the first time and go on your way. Safety is the pain in everyone's butt and we all know it and we can quote the safety message so it is our responsibility to act like grown ups and do the job right. I am reminded that if I don't do my job correctly I'll live with the knowledge I might have injured someone and I'll live with that for as long as I'm alive. That is a big burden to carry over stupidity.
The company that I presently work for has a straight forward safety check list before/after operating any equipment! Period. This could, or would be a termination offense. The company that I work for would demand that you "Lock out/Tag out" till this piece of equipment was repairded. I'm glad to hear noone was hurt. Speeking of Stand Downs... we had one on Tuesday of this week, another quarry that the company owns had a yard operator hit a dump truck last week, so everyone had to go over safety procedures as a precaution. Glad to say noone was hurt.
Thanks for the advice..... Glad no one was hurt.