Two injured seriously by farm tractor

[cqaigy2]

I've got 1 acre and a compact little machine. But I worked around airplane propellers, jet engines, and fuel farms for 6 years, and high speed printing presses, conveyors and other machinery in a printing plant for 30 years. Just broke my first bone and got my first stitches 2 months ago.... partially due to complacency on my part, and faulty equipment on my employer's part.

I sit on my machine to start it. Probably because the key is on the right and the throttle and choke are on the left. But I get in all my vehicles before I start them. Never reach in the window to crank them. Why? Because I was raised on cars with stick shifts and no safety interlocks. I've seen a couple times people try and start a car in gear and have it lurch forward or backward because it was in gear. It's just a good practice and procedure to do things the correct way each and every time.

Heck, I even use turn signals and look both ways even when no one is around, just to keep it a good habit. :laughing:

That's a good point, about practicing safe habits all the time, to make it a habit. Those habits keep you safer if your mind wonders.

 

[Diggin It]

We talk about habit, doing the same thing the same way every time for years. We point fingers when somebody misses a step.

I fluffed one of those today. Pulled into a parking spot, foot on the brake, opened the door, hit the button to put the windows up, turned the key off and it wouldn't come out of the ignition. Took me a second or three to realize the car was still in gear. I hadn't put it in Park.

 

[Mace Canute]

I've got 1 acre and a compact little machine. But I worked around airplane propellers, jet engines, and fuel farms for 6 years, and high speed printing presses, conveyors and other machinery in a printing plant for 30 years. Just broke my first bone and got my first stitches 2 months ago.... partially due to complacency on my part, and faulty equipment on my employer's part.

I sit on my machine to start it. Probably because the key is on the right and the throttle and choke are on the left. But I get in all my vehicles before I start them. Never reach in the window to crank them. Why? Because I was raised on cars with stick shifts and no safety interlocks. I've seen a couple times people try and start a car in gear and have it lurch forward or backward because it was in gear. It's just a good practice and procedure to do things the correct way each and every time.

Heck, I even use turn signals and look both ways even when no one is around, just to keep it a good habit. :laughing:

Years ago back in 1976 when I was a Second Year Apprentice Lineman we were working on a job out of town early one winter that required us to stay the week in a small town hotel. Early one morning before we started that day's work I was getting my gear out of the back of one work truck in preparation to stow it in a different truck and leaning over the tailgate to reach my stuff when another guy decided to start that truck and to warm it up so instead of walking around to the driver's side and getting in to start it, he opened the passenger's door and leaned in, jiggled the gear shift to make sure it was in neutral and proceeded to turn the ignition key. It was in neutral already and all he managed to do was put it into reverse and because there were no safety interlocks, the starter engaged. The truck backed up and since there was just a couple of feet between the back bumper of that truck and the front bumper of the truck it was parked in front of, I was pushed backwards screaming at him all the way until the two bumpers met and the starter quit turning the engine over.

I was pinned between the two trucks and screaming at him to move the truck forwards. He of course had no clue why I wanted him to move it so he casually walked back to see what all the commotion was about. THEN he realized I was pinned so he went back around to the driver's side got in and tried to start it but of course it wouldn't start because it was cold and with a carburetor needed choking and some throttle applied. I actually had to yell at him to put it in gear and use the starter to move the truck ahead.

I was extremely lucky in that instance because the work trucks had utility bins on them and also custom heavy duty bumpers that looked like this one.

The bumper of the truck I was behind was built to take a bolt on pintle hook like this

I was standing dead center behind the truck and there was just barely enough room for each leg to fit into the space on each side of the pintle hook. I didn't get my legs broken and I didn't have them crushed but both calves were VERY bruised and they HURT!

If it had been a truck set up for trailer balls, it would have had a heavy steel plate welded in at the bottom of that V for the balls to mount on and both my legs would absolutely have been cut off just below my knees....all because an assshole was too lazy to walk halfway around a truck. He KNEW I was there too because we had been talking.

Now, remember that small town hotel I mentioned earlier? It was owned by Les "Metro" Pavelick who sadly passed away almost 7 years ago. It's really hard to describe the man but maybe you will enjoy (hopefully) some of his comedy work here Metro - Eleven Days From Christmas - YouTube

 

[shooterdon]

Learned something from this thread.

I have been starting my tractor from the ground when I need to adjust the position of the pallet forks with the FEL joystick. Since mounting a front camera, I do it much less often but I still do it to adjust the height of what I am lifting.

The tractor is new, so I assume all the interlocks work. It has a HST and it will start "in gear" (as I normally leave it in 2nd range). The parking brake is always on when I exit the tractor.

The safe way is to modify my habit and start from the seat. Realistically I will likely not do that...sheer laziness. I will now insure the range selector is in neutral when starting from the ground.

 

[MossRoad]

YIKES!!!

 

[MossRoad]

My girlfriend (now my wife) and I went to a motorcycle shop to get some parts for my drag bike. When we were leaving, she wanted to drive home. She'd only driven stick a few times. I said sure. She hops in the driver's seat and hits the key. The car was in gear and she hadn't put the clutch in. The car lurched forward right towards a row of nice, new motorcycles. For some reason, I instinctively grabbed the parking brake with my left hand and yanked it up while yelling STOP STOP STOP! hahahahaha Fortunately, she let go of the key and the parking brake on that car actually worked. It was an early 80's toyota tercel. Had we been in our Nova, there's no parking brake hand lever, it's a foot brake, and we'd have taken out some nice new bikes. Yikes! :laughing:

So I took the opportunity to explain what happened to her. We laughed it off and she drove home. But man, I just pictured something like this....

 

[Shaneard]

I've seen a guy after he got off his running tractor with the PTO still engaged, he got ran over and sucked into the round hay baler, he didn't make it. It was rough.

I was standing behind an older tractor one day and an older guy said "listen to how good it runs" he reached over and hit the starter button and she lit, started going forward, I reached up and cut it off. He was in shock.

A friend of mine did the same thing, he had to be air lifted, he's okay now.

Another friend did the same thing, messed his ankle up.

Another dear friend turned his tractor over while mowing, he was air lifted, he didn't make it.

These were all people who grew up around tractors and knew the dangers yet didn't think at the time.

Just a couple weeks ago my cousin almost got killed. He and his dad have their own logging business, have for many years. He was in a Bell 3 wheeled tree feller, it's hydrostatic drive. He stopped, got out to get his chainsaw. He put the saw in the door and the bar hit the pedal making it start creeping backwards. The chain cleat on the tire pinned his foot, the door knocked him on his back and started crushing his ribs. The machine stopped, sit there for a minute and started moving forward and he crawled out of the way. Broke 2 toes and bruised his ribs real bad. God wasn't ready for him is all he can figure as to why it stopped and went forward.

We never know, we have to respect our machines and not take anything for granted.

 

[LD48750]

I've seen a guy after he got off his running tractor with the PTO still engaged, he got ran over and sucked into the round hay baler, he didn't make it. It was rough.

I was standing behind an older tractor one day and an older guy said "listen to how good it runs" he reached over and hit the starter button and she lit, started going forward, I reached up and cut it off. He was in shock.

A friend of mine did the same thing, he had to be air lifted, he's okay now.

Another friend did the same thing, messed his ankle up.

Another dear friend turned his tractor over while mowing, he was air lifted, he didn't make it.

These were all people who grew up around tractors and knew the dangers yet didn't think at the time.

Just a couple weeks ago my cousin almost got killed. He and his dad have their own logging business, have for many years. He was in a Bell 3 wheeled tree feller, it's hydrostatic drive. He stopped, got out to get his chainsaw. He put the saw in the door and the bar hit the pedal making it start creeping backwards. The chain cleat on the tire pinned his foot, the door knocked him on his back and started crushing his ribs. The machine stopped, sit there for a minute and started moving forward and he crawled out of the way. Broke 2 toes and bruised his ribs real bad. God wasn't ready for him is all he can figure as to why it stopped and went forward.

We never know, we have to respect our machines and not take anything for granted.

Knowing you seems to be dangerous, I hope we never meet.

 

[Shaneard]

Knowing you seems to be dangerous, I hope we never meet.

Forgot to mention I almost killed my best friend in a PTO driven auger once, thank God I heard him scream and stopped the PTO and shut the tractor off when I did. Had to cut his shirt off to get him out of it. Now that you mention it, it may be me