Mower safety

   / Mower safety #1  

AlanB

Elite Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2004
Messages
2,541
Location
Clarksville, TN, USA
Tractor
NH 1925
Hmmmm,, not sure how to term this one, but I guess I will call it a "fortunate Close call"

First off, my DW runs a mowing, landscaping, hardscaping business.

We lost a couple of employees for some other pursuits, and we have 2 new employees working. They are a brother and a sister.

So the brother is trying to get the sisters attention. Brother weedeating, sister on an Exmark 60" ZTR. He walks towards her, on the left / discharge side.

She has the gaurd up. He gets right up too her, and gets his foot under the discharge chute.

He is wearing steel toed boots (not our requirement) What I believe happened (in the blink of an eye) is that as the blade struck the steel toe, it lifted his foot, the blade passed below the steel toe, and above the sole, seperating the boot at the stitches.

It cut off a slice off the bottom of his big toe. Fairly serious cut, but in the context of what could have been, nothing.

So, what went wrong.

Inexperience.
Hot, tired, sweaty working conditions
Gaurd up (One level of safety defeated)
Approached from the side, instead of the front.

That was a too close for comfort hit, but all in all, they are back out at it again today and that one could have been much worse.

Thought I would share, so a bunch of safety folks can jump all over about how there should be more guards / training etc. etc. :D
And some folks will take it as a little reminder, and maybe mention it to someone that will think about it for just a second before walking up too someone on a running mower.
 
   / Mower safety #2  
What went wrong?

The guy that walked up and stuck his foot under the mower is an idiot.

We all got them though.

I got a young (adult) guy working for me that pulled his motor cycle into a gas station at dusk one night and then used his cig lighter to provide light to see how much gas was in his tank.

It of course flashed on him burning his face and hair off... Another gas station patron apparently put him and his motor cycle out with a fire extinguisher.. etc.. No serious harm to him .. though I've not seen the bike lately.

I think FWJ has a sig line that says something like " some people can learn from reading a book. but the others have to pee on the electric fence'.. or something to that effect.

I chalk it up to evoloution/darwinism in effect... Some people are just right on the edge of being stupid enough so as to get themselves killed right quick.. Only hope is that they don't pass on any of those genes..

Soundguy
 
   / Mower safety
  • Thread Starter
#3  
I guess I disagree on this one, maybe it is just semantics though.

I think he is a smart guy that made a stupid move, and there were several factors that contributed to that.

Whoopie Goldberg does an entire routine about the worst word in the English language is "stupid".

I guess I try my best to not throw the rocks too far nor too hard, lest I find the glass walls shattering around me.

We were talking about close calls at work this morning. I walked in front of a ground taxing (sp) OH-58 (bell jet Ranger) one day, only thing that saved me was an alert pilot that was a freind of mine.

I made a very stupid move that day, and came real close to paying with my life, and potentially effecting several others as well. But I would not consider myself "stupid" in a broad sense.
 
   / Mower safety #4  
AlanB said:
I guess I disagree on this one, maybe it is just semantics though.

I think he is a smart guy that made a stupid move, and there were several factors that contributed to that.

Whoopie Goldberg does an entire routine about the worst word in the English language is "stupid".

I guess I try my best to not throw the rocks too far nor too hard, lest I find the glass walls shattering around me.

We were talking about close calls at work this morning. I walked in front of a ground taxing (sp) OH-58 (bell jet Ranger) one day, only thing that saved me was an alert pilot that was a freind of mine.

I made a very stupid move that day, and came real close to paying with my life, and potentially effecting several others as well. But I would not consider myself "stupid" in a broad sense.

I'm inclined to agree with most of what you had to say. It wasn't exactly a golden moment of Einstien-ism that caused the accident, but it isn't proof of the guy being an idiot. (Although that isn't out of the realm of possibility) It was just an accident.

Some people are more proned to accidents than others. Some are very carefull. It's an individual assessment as to which group you fall in. If you (or anyone else) is in the accident proned group, you need to pick and choose carreers, hobbies, and everyday events VERY carefully. If you're in the group that ISN'T accident proned, you ALREADY choose carefully more than likely.

As an employer, we have to be observant for employees who push the saftey envelope. As an employee, we have to help protect our livelyhood by observing other employees that are dangerous, or proned to do dangerous things. Not only could they injure themselves or someone else, they could do great financial harm to our "bread and butter".

There's a good reason why every conceivable piece of equipment made comes equipped with gaurds, shields, warning labels, disclaimers, and saftey switches. SOMETIMES we ALL make mistakes. We're human. It happens. It can happen to anyone. We should TRY to eliminate the possibilities of accidents, but we'll NEVER totally eliminate them.

All things being equal, don't stick your toe under a running lawn mower.
 
   / Mower safety #5  
I have to side with Soundguy here..

When heavy machinery is involved, there is no room for semantics. I am fanatical about being safe on our ranch, I expound the dangers of every possible aspect of what could go wrong to anyone operating the equipment.
In an environment like a working horse ranch there are literally hundreds of ways to get seriously injured or even killed on a day to day basis.

On my equipment there is no room for error. And if someone thinks that telling me "oh, well, durr, i wasn't paying attention" is a sufficient excuse, well lets just say they had better start headin home right at that point! Some words of wisdom come to mind, "stupid is as stupid does". If I personally put myself in the place of your worker, I would never have that experience, not ever. Why? becasue I just plain don't waltz up to any equipment when an operator is running it! Alarm bells would be sounding off in my head if I were to even think about doing such a thing! If i need to get someones attention on the working equpiment, I wave, yell, or just wait.. as there is nothing that is so important that I need give up a limb or two just to get the message across.

I have a zero tolerance policy for stupid, I get enough just driving round town, i don't need it when i get to work....

I like my limbs where they are.
 
   / Mower safety #6  
If I'm reading what you're saying, ANYONE who's EVER had even the slightest accident of ANY description is an idiot. Not happenin'.

I don't know that anyone would go with a person who constantly makes excuses for making serious mistakes. No arguement there. But EVERYONE makes a slip up now and then. I've been around long enough to know there's NO ONE who doesn't make mistakes. It's the person who REPEATEDLY makes bone-headed errors that there's no place for.

I farmed for more than 35 years. I've also been involved with a large general contractor in one capacity or another for even longer. I've spent a LOT of time around dangerous equipment and jobs. In that time, I've managed to avoid any serious injuries or accidents myself. In that time, I've also had the opportunity (if you want to call it that) to see some of the most careful people on earth be involved in ACCIDENTS. They aren't always just because someone wasn't careful. They just happened. Call it bad timing, being in the wrong place at the wrong time, whatever it is, they just happen.

Granted, sticking a toe under a running lawn mower isn't the brightest thing a person can do, but one mistake shouldn't condemn a person to "idiot" for the rest of their days. IDIOT would be a title given to the person who did that TWICE.
 
   / Mower safety #7  
You have a good point there, and I won't disagree that even the most carefull of people can have accidents. As I have managed to survive thus far with all my libs intact notwithstanding, abiding by simple rules of conduct when in dangerous situations, we use our heads. What i'm saying is in this instance, I am judging this "worker" harshly as needed to the severity of the situation as he clearly was not using his grey matter, and endangerd both himself, his sister and the employer. If it were me that had done so, I would be outright telling everyone i'm "stupid". As any business owner would attest, I have watch out for my hiney as much as my worker and his/her legal rights to persue my wallet after a "preventable" accident. And in the big bad world we live in today there are no second chances as I see it. I don't make those rules, but I sure gotta live by em despite what I think.

I don't pretend to be the be all end all source of information on the subject, not in the least. But i do hold my opinion on the matter, and I was just stating it. I was not directing any personal insutls to anyone, re-reading my own post it might seem as I was attacking what you said personally Farmwithjunk, or even worse calling you stupid. I assure you that was not my intention. You are entitled to your opinion (which i respect) as much as anyone. There was no insult intended, just a difference of opinion...
 
   / Mower safety #8  
Jae said:
You have a good point there, and I won't disagree that even the most carefull of people can have accidents. As I have managed to survive thus far with all my libs intact notwithstanding, abiding by simple rules of conduct when in dangerous situations, we use our heads. What i'm saying is in this instance, I am judging this "worker" harshly as needed to the severity of the situation as he clearly was not using his grey matter, and endangerd both himself, his sister and the employer. If it were me that had done so, I would be outright telling everyone i'm "stupid". As any business owner would attest, I have watch out for my hiney as much as my worker and his/her legal rights to persue my wallet after a "preventable" accident. And in the big bad world we live in today there are no second chances as I see it. I don't make those rules, but I sure gotta live by em despite what I think.

I don't pretend to be the be all end all source of information on the subject, not in the least. But i do hold my opinion on the matter, and I was just stating it. I was not directing any personal insutls to anyone, re-reading my own post it might seem as I was attacking what you said personally Farmwithjunk, or even worse calling you stupid. I assure you that was not my intention. You are entitled to your opinion (which i respect) as much as anyone. There was no insult intended, just a difference of opinion...

Well ACTUALLY....I didn't see your comments directed at me in the first place. I thought they were directed at anyone who may have had a simular accident as the one mentioned. I know someone who had a simular event. They aren't what you would consider a wreckless person. It just happened.

I'm trying to see past my initial reaction to accidents like this. I used to judge people harshly when things like this happen. Years have taken the edge off. After seeing how otherwise careful folks have bad things happen at random, just the same as careLESS people, I try to wait until I see if a person has a tendency for dangerous behavior before I hang that label on them.

There's STUPID, and then there's DIDN'T KNOW ANY BETTER.

Not everyone has been exposed to what can go wrong. I spend a LOT of time at work around what I can't help but refer to as "city boys" who never spent much time around machinery, or work in general until they reached adulthood. They're a little behind on the learning curve. SOme catch up quickly, some don't. Once they've had an opportunity to learn, what they do with the new-found knowledge is what determines my opinion from there on.

The longer I live, the less harsh I am in judging what people do. When I was a tough critic, not many people could pass muster. What's so funny, once I decided to go easier on people, there STILL aren't many who pass with flying colors.
 
   / Mower safety #9  
I think FWJ hit on a good point here.. safety labels. As we all know and have probably seen.. there are labels depecting feet and hands near mower guards.. those labels are for people just like in post # 1.

On a not so funny note.. I'm one of those people that actually enjoy reading the operating manual on a piece of equipment BEFORE I touch it.. so that i am familiar with allit's parts and warnings.

Most manuals I see today have a section on safety right in back.. some even depict all the warning labels you will see and give a brief explanation...

Just a though?.. but has this guy had a workplace safety training course or meeting?

That's one of the hats i have to wear at work... safety coordinator / drug free workplace coord. I got a whole crew of guys.. many of which may or may not have a high school education... some of them.. are sharp as tacks.. and some of them are the ones the use an open flame to peer down into a fuel tank... unfortunately I havn't found a good corelation between academics and common sense.. I've seen plenty of 'smart' un-safe people.. etc..

If the guy had been walking, tripped and his foot shot undernetath the mower.. I'd have chalke dthat up to bad accident..

However.. he placed himself in danger by approaching a piece of equipment. To be fair.. the mower operator probably should have killed the mower when she saw someone get within touch distance... I'd say there was an error on judgement by more than one person here ..

soundguy
 
   / Mower safety
  • Thread Starter
#10  
No, we are not at the point where we run safety meetings and training. I wear several of those hats as well at my regular job so am very familiar with it. No, he was not a "Fully Trained" operator at that point.

I am not sure, I was not there for the incident, but I do not believe the operator was aware of his presence until the incident had occured.

I will say that we were fortunate she did not jerk left steer and run him over when suprised. That couple thousand pound mower would eat a person up if it grabbed hold.

I guess I can identify with how it happened.

If you two (soundguy and Jae) want to say that anyone that has an accident like that is stupid, well, I guess I would have to wear that shirt. However, you both would be pretty impressive folks if you have never had accidents and stupid moments.

And if I fired every employee that did "stupid" acts, we would not have much of an employee base (not that it is that great now).
 
 
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