accident today

[Taylortractornut]

I have a friend that had his wife call me to go pick up his truck in the morning. He works for a farm spraying service and was putting a wleder in the back of his service truck and had an operator on a tractor with a large 3 point boom. They had set the welder on its mounts and my friend was taking the chain loose from the welders lifting eye. he had the chain wadded in his hand feeding it through when the tractor operator just took off. It pulled his hand through the eye and it pulled the welder off its mount. The operator was on his cell facing forward. When the welder jammed it pulled the truck a bit and the driver looked around to see what was going on. My friend then noticed the way he acted whne he asked the driver to call 911.

Later the owners had both drug tested, and the tractor operator was zonked out on zanex. My friends hand is broken in 3 places. He told his boss not to worry about being sued just wants it made right. The man driving the tractor was fired right then.

 

[DiskDoctr]

Ouch! We'll be praying here for your friend's quick recovery and also say one of thanks it wasn't much worse!

You often are careful and expect a piece of equipment can fail at any time, or that an operator can make an error. Can't say as I've considered the possibility that the operator would just take off, oblivious to what was going on around him.

- JC

 

[Treemonkey1000]

Wow that has to hurt. I am glad he isn't losing his hand or something. Sounds like the owner was smart enough to get that drug testing done.

 

[Ford Fan]

Glad to hear he's going to recover. I don't know which is more dangerous.........drugs or cell phones.

 

[timswi]

Glad to hear he's going to recover. I don't know which is more dangerous.........drugs or cell phones.

Amen to that.

 

[Thomas]

Dang,speedy recovery wishes to your friend...hope charges will be brought on operator.

 

[bstrom]

Great recipe for disaster - drugs and a cell phone while operating heavy equipment. Glad your friend did not lose his hand. Hope his medical expenses will be covered.

 

[devildog1]

Sorry to hear about your friend, hope all turns out OK for him. You never can be too safe working around tractors or PTO's. They are very UN-forgiven, you have to constantly try to think a-head and try to anticipate your or the operator's next move.But that being said sometimes accidents still happen.
DevilDog

 

[Mousefield]

Sorry to hear about the accident. Things happen so quickly sometimes, to bad as it was preventable. Hope he has a speedy recovery and no long term problems.

 

[CurlyDave]

He told his boss not to worry about being sued just wants it made right....

Your friend may want to re-think that statement. Fortunately, I don't think it has much legal weight.

"made right" can easily mean vastly different things to different people.

At a very minimum, your friend should have all medical expenses covered, full salary while he is recovering and his old position back, with no loss of seniority, when he is healed.

What if there is permanent loss of function?

He really needs to at least consult with a lawyer to see what his rights might be.