Another tractor fatality...

[trlong]

<font color="blue"> </font><font color="blue" class="small">( While we don't have to worry about the kinds of forces involved in an automobile crash )</font> </font>

CT_Tree_Guy,

You are probably right but, what if something goes seriously wrong (especially in your work, and some of our "hobbiest" work)? What forces might be experienced if a 2-3-4' diam. tree trunk decides to let go at the wrong time, in the wrong direction. Or... a cable snaps and whips the guilty for not checking for any wear, or underestimating the load? Forces could get pretty high.

Don't get me wrong. I don't want to spend my seat time in an enclosed roll cage. Spent two many thousands of hours on motorcycles to be that confined. Point is, I guess, use of reasonable safety equipment and trying to keep focused on what could go wrong, while still trying to enjoy the work at hand. That, and hoping some one is watching over us for the benefit of our families.

Tom

P.S. (Thought you might enjoy the pic from my deck last Fall...makes me feel better when I hear about tragedies. Merry and Safe Christmas to all.)

 

[CT_Tree_Guy]

<font color="blue">While we don't have to worry about the kinds of forces involved in an automobile crash </font>

Tom: I hear you loud and clear about not underestimating the forces that can get generated around a tractor. And I sure do know that trees are heavy and can pack quite a punch. I should have worded that differently. I wrote that sentence while I was weighing the merits of front airbags (really! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif) and had head-on collisions in mind.

And believe it or not, I still have in the back of my mind the notion that side-impact airbags on either side of my head, activated when the tractor reaches say 60 degrees, wouldn't be the stupidest thing I could add to a roll-cage. You could get them for next to nothing out of Katrina-soaked write-off.

And I have a feeling that if I went any farther with safety features, I'd have to add an asbestos liner to deal with all the "heat" I'd take. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

Maybe i should have bought a Volvo - do they make CUT's? /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

And I agree, the world is too beautiful, as that great photo illustrates, to leave it any sooner than we have to.

 

[slowzuki]

FOPS won't stop a tree, I've seen pics of a harvester cab fops crushed by a big dead tree falling on it.

 

[CT_Tree_Guy]

<font color="blue"> FOPS won't stop a tree</font>

Ken -

Trees come in all sizes. Some will crush my FOPS and kill me, some won't. But better to have a FOPS than not. You can never eliminate all danger, all you can do is try to eliminate it as much as possible.

 

[RedRocker]

Mine will stop anything I have on my property.

 

[Soundguy]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Maybe i should have bought a Volvo - do they make CUT's? )</font>

Well.. they do make some heavy equipment.. The GC I work for used to have a volvo loader.. it was the most usless piece of effluent that we ever drug home on a trailer.

The only thing more useless that I can think of would be a solar powered flashlight..

We called it 'lilly'... Sold it at auction as fast as we could...

Soundguy

 

[slowzuki]

True, something is better than nothing, just don't do things that require the FOPS to hold. Some people get silly when they think they can't be hurt and try to knock old trees over etc.

I'm guilty too as I don't wear my seat belt in my cabbed tractor. It gives me the impression I wouldn't be thrown in a roll over even though every piece of tempered glass in the thing would shatter half way through a roll /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( <font color="blue"> FOPS won't stop a tree</font>

Ken -

Trees come in all sizes. Some will crush my FOPS and kill me, some won't. But better to have a FOPS than not. You can never eliminate all danger, all you can do is try to eliminate it as much as possible. )</font>

 

[rk246]

I have wondered about the tractor rolling and the fops protecting you only to be speared by some sharp log/stick etc...

 

[CT_Tree_Guy]

<font color="blue">I have wondered about the tractor rolling and the fops protecting you only to be speared by some sharp log/stick etc... </font>

Ryan - That is just about my biggest concern, and is why I think there's a serious FOPS/rollcage in my future. There are so many ways to "get it" on a tractor, the only thing you can do is take as many variables out of the equation as you can, or think are necessary for your situation.

The funny (?) thing is, you can take all the precautions in the world and they can fail to protect you, or even end up killing you. I can imagine myself in an enclosed FOPS with a 4-point harness holding me in, then tumbling down an embankment into water, the door jamming shut, and me drowning.

I still plan on building one though - it's all about percentages and probabilities, ask any actuary.

Let's be careful out there, John

 

[Roger2561]

Last year I retired as a volenteer emergency medical technician after 16 years of service for my town. One Saturday morning we had a call for an emergency trauma call for a tractor roll over. Arriving on the scene we found the tractor flipped over with an elderly gentleman pinned under it. The steering wheel crushing hi into the ground. It was obvious that there was nothing we could do to save him. The crushing injuries were too great. It appeared that he was being the kind of neighbor that NH people are famous for and helping his neighbor by moving a large pile of gravel with the FEL. This tractor was an older model without ROPS or seatbelts. The work being performed was on a bank that had a 10 foot drop. From what we could gather is that this kind man was backing up with a full FEL and for some reason the rear tire fell into a hole causing the tractor to flip completely over, crushing the poor guy under the full weight of the tractor. The most difficult part of the job was dealing with the loved ones who lost their father, husband, neighbor, etc..., not the dead man. And the guilt the neighbor experienced was heartwrenching. This gentleman was an experienced tractor operator. It took only a moment of loss of concentration that cost him his life. Everytime I get on my JD4500 my thoughts immediately go to that day and the loss those kind people experienced, hoping that I do not put my family through the same thing.