post hole diggers

[virgil]

My Wifes' boss was caught in a post hole digger this weekend. It did not kill him but he will hurt for a long time. ($$$$$) He allowed himself to get his shirt caught in the auger and it yanked him in.
The hospital here in weatherford has admitted a total of 3 people this year who have allowed themselves to get into the digger. It killed the first two.
The most important and least used safty feature of any machine is your brain.... use it.

[Henro]

Any more details on how it happened?

Sorry to hear of the guys bad experience!

He obviously was not in the tractor seat was he? [img]/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

Can't imagine how any part of my body or clothing could reach the auger from my tractor seat...

Hope the man recovers fully.

[virgil]

how did it happen?
The daddy was attempting to dig post hole in the hard packed, sun baked ground... You know, the kind of dirt that if you hit the dirt with a shovel, it rings like a bell....
The daddy got his son in law to operate the tractor while the dad was leaning on the digger. BIG MISTAKE!!!

[Hambone]

Not good, hope he will recover and learn from his mistake!

[slowrev]

that is why we had a sleeve welded onto the yoke of a PHD. We could insert a long pipe and really put some down pressure on the sucker and it keeps you out of harms way.

[Taylortractornut]

Slowrev I had a friend that had alot of hard clay post holes to dig so we went to the shop. We took his 3 week old PHD and the shaft that holds the gear box and takes the place of the 3rd arm we cut it short. I had a 2 3/8th inch barreled hydraulic ram off a car hauler the end was machine out of solid stock and had a tight fit into the now cut off upper arm on the PHD boom. We just hooked it up into his remote and it works great it will pick the tractors rearend up off the ground.

[virgil]

well, the gentleman that hurt himself on the digger got out of the hospital yeasterday.
Countless stiches and a double handfull of staples. drugs, lost work, $$$$$$$$$ Many weeks, maby months before he gets back on his feet, and other problems will follow him the rest of his life.
Cold hard steel does not care what it tears into... Please be careful.
His wife told me that after he gets going again, she will kill him!!!! (joke)

[Bird]

Glad to hear he's going to make it. It just reminds everyone again that a split second of bad judgment can mean a lifetime of misery or a shortened lifetime. One of my brothers told me a few years ago of seeing a fellow in our area running a post hole digger; no one on the tractor, the post hole digger running, and the guy was back there on it trying to push it down more. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img] That's a scary thought.

[virgil]

My little brother has a good job, he works for a pipeline company that is owned buy one of the biggest oil companies in the world.
Saftey is their #1 thing... They have a saying (policy) there:
"One is none and two is one."
That means that no one person is allowed to do anything at all. Everything that must be done in the field requires at least 2 people. Just in case something bad happens.. There will be someone left to tell the story.

[Bird]

Good policy.