accident

[tlbuser]

Sunday afternoon was a terrible time. Mistakes happen quite often in this line of work. Sometimes the worst happens. The operator was a young guy with a wife and infant.

For reference, it's a 36" bucket.

 

[RippySkippy]

That poor soul didn't stand a chance....RIP.

 

[jonyyuma]

Now I under stand the big steel cages on the Loaders on" Swamp Loggers"..Never thought of a tragedy like this one. RIP...Jy.

 

[Bison]

One never knows when the end comes and how it arrives,but this is one of the sneaky ones.

 

[tlbuser]

The related article SoMdNews.com: Area man killed by falling tree

Can't imagine how the family is coping. As an accident scene, nothing can be moved. It's a dead end street and the family has to pass it every time they come and go.

 

[Taylortractornut]

I hate to hear it happened to someone but it further enforces one of the main things your taught in land clearing with a hoe. ALways keep the tree on the opposite side of the boom from the cab. Too many times operators will use the ease of hoes pulling action to bring the tree in instead of pushing out. I lamost lost a friend las year that was doing the same thing. THe end result was the machine and tree parked just like that. He was running an older hoe and had the door off it. HE had presence of mind to fall out the side.

He was running the hoe and had gotten good at pulling the tree down and easing it over and it got his machine. Te bad thing is when the cab crushes in the pilot controls on the hoe will crowd the boom in more.

 

[groundcover]

Wow, that's as bad as I have seen . I think I'll stick with my chain saw !

 

[IronHog]

Now I under stand the big steel cages on the Loaders on" Swamp Loggers"..Never thought of a tragedy like this one. RIP...Jy.

Cabs on logging machines are designed to keep trees off the operator. A tree this size would do nothing to a skidder or processor.

Obviously this cab was little more than a sunshade.

 

[excav8ter]

****, that's sad! I use a similar size excavator for my business, do a fair amount of tree clearing. But a tree that size should NEVER be pulled towards a machine! I only pull stuff that I can handle easily. Otherwise it gets pushed over.
I feel bad for his family.

 

[tlbuser]

****, that's sad! I use a similar size excavator for my business, do a fair amount of tree clearing. But a tree that size should NEVER be pulled towards a machine! I only pull stuff that I can handle easily. Otherwise it gets pushed over.
I feel bad for his family.

According to the witness account, he wasn't pulling. The machine was tracking forward when the tree fell backwards.

The real answers will never be known. After seeing this close up and personal, I don't want to even look at the ex sitting in our parking lot.

 

[excav8ter]

According to the witness account, he wasn't pulling. The machine was tracking forward when the tree fell backwards.

The real answers will never be known. After seeing this close up and personal, I don't want to even look at the ex sitting in our parking lot.

Ohhh, that's sucks. I get nervous when I'm toppling trees, I don't take my eyes off them once I have started working on tipping one over. But accidents do happen. That one will be on my mind for a while......

 

[Bison]

Ohhh, that's sucks. I get nervous when I'm toppling trees, I don't take my eyes off them once I have started working on tipping one over. But accidents do happen. That one will be on my mind for a while......

Makes a guy wanna add some steel to the cab!... doesn't it!!

 

[ray66v]

It looks like the tree caused the backhoe controls to both be pushed back, adding the forces of the backhoe to further crush the cab.

It's chilling to think about a scenario where the operator may have survived the initial impact, only to be slowly crushed by the hoe.