This accident occurred about 130 miles to south east of us in Showlo AZ. Apparently the operator was backfilling the ditch at a high rate of speed and forgot about his bucket height. Thus the rollover. He is extremely lucky do to the fact he was not wearing his seat belt. After the crash he landed between the rops and the track of the 330 excavator. Basically the machine pitched him out of the cab. One can only reflect on how lucky this guy was that the machine landed on the track of the 330. We have done joint ventures with this outfit and do a lot of their heavy hauling so we have a long history with these folks. They are all good guys for what its worth.
very lucky operator indeed
sounds like someone who needs to go back to a shovel
time for some chlorine in the gene pool.
I'm sorry but these just seem pretty broad based comments. I'd like for just one person on here to be able to prove that they have never done anything either stupid or just plain retarded sometimes that has either bent or busted a machine. Or ended in physical harm to themselves even though they knew better. There's no way to know exactly what happened as I don't think that anyone here was actually on the job and watched it happen. There's also no telling what was going on in his mind at the time, unless this guy has a tendency to do stuff like this I don't see where anyone can bash this fellow for flipping a machine on its side. After all this is why they call them accidents. :my2c Like you said Redline, A VERY LUCKY operator indeed.
i have stuck, rolled and burnt iron. i am not infallible. i didn't say a fatal dose of chlorine, just enough to clean house.
yes i know its easy to look at a picture and say what that person should have done,but theres no reason to be going that fast and "forgetting" about the height of the loaded bucket that your staring at the back of. theres a difference in working quickly and working like an *******, he's lucky there wasnt anyone near him when he rolled.all i meant was maybe he needs to be on a shovel so he as some respect for the machine i'm not saying i'm the best operater in the world, i am far from it. i'm 27 been doing this since i was 16 , i done stupid stuff myself,but i have NEVER rolled any piece of equipment or damaged it more than a scratch in the paint. some people have it and others don't and never will:beatsme
I think the expression is " There but for the grace of God go I " As stated, a very lucky operator. BUT, as I have said time and time again ( not neccessaily here ) you forget just how easy it is to get it wrong, until you get it wrong. As for seat belts.......... many years ago a work collegue got killed when he was ejected from a 988 and crushed in the articulation joint after he dropped a back wheel over the edge of a batter and subsequently rolled the machine. Personally I was lucky when I leapt clear of a cab less D8K ( no ROPS either )as it came off the side of a step frame trailer as the trailer was trying to escape into the wilderness off a steeply slopeing hot sticky bitumen covered road. If the machine had rolled rather than landing on its side and staying there I would not be here now............ Dam I wish I`d had a photo of that, it had a wide low angle blade on it for pipeline backfill and I swear it defide gravity to let me live. Jimmyjack, take care my friend, I hope you NEVER have to eat those words.
me too
My Purpose For This Photo. I apologize for not including why I posted this picture the other day. My purpose was to show how important (as we all know) seat belts are. This guy was lucky. I use this term "this guy" loosely because I do know him and have worked with him in the past. Your are correct 95zIV, I was not on the job at the time of the accident. My information comes from a long term friend who is the blade-man on the job. If there was only a photo taken when I rolled a mini-x in the front yard of our local Cat dealer one day. This accident happened because of my hard headiness and what I would like to blame most of it on was the rainstorm we were having. I was trying to load the machine (301.5 Cat)with one track on a fold down ramp of a backhoe trailer and the other side just up in the air using the bucket trying to crab the machine on sideways. Long story short I slipped off sideways and rolled. Was I wearing my seatbelt???? NO. My question is, what does it take to make a guy (myself included) wear a seatbelt? We talk about wearing our seat belts daily at every safety meeting every day. Monday morning will come around and I will bet I can find at least three guys who are not wearing. What gives??
I wouldnt wear a seatbelt while operating most machines. I have seen plenty of people bail out of excavators shortly before they tumbled down a mountain or off a bridge.
This is the third post I need to start my own new thread. <---Newbie
wow where have you been working?
Very lucky operator.Sometimes people make stupid mistakes,all it takes is just a quick lapse in concentration,and its too late. Looking at the picture it looks like a good sized puddle of 15w40 on the ground,I cant imagine the amount of water that oil will contaminate.
We all try to do things right to avoid these situations, but human are not perfect and this stuff does happen. Glad no one was injured and the operator has respect for the machine now!