What is the scariest thing that has happened to you on the job?

[MuskTurfKing]

For me it would have to be last week on my lawn tractor I was going down the driveway in reverse and whipped it around forward, I usually push in the clutch in the process and slow down while turning...Well, I guess I timed it all wrong because when I was pushing in the clutch I kept going...turns out I was on 2 wheels... I prefer to not try to be a "lowrider" on the mower...One of those times when the old heart skips a beat.

[Runner]

Probably about the most scariest thing that ever happened to me on a job was when my walk behind caught on fire. I was cutting a small commercial (small restaurant - closed) on a busy corridor, when I noticed the smell of something burning. I stopped the mower, walked around to the front of it, and sure enough, here is some smoldering and even a small flame. Now, this has happened, at times, before and was no big deal. (For those who run the B&S 16 hp twin cylinder I/C engines, make sure you loosen the shrouds up and keep all the chaffe and grease deposit blown out of the fins and elsewhere.) Anyway, many of times, I could just blow the smoldering out, spit on it, or just add a little water. Well, this one grew even before I could do that. I knew it wasn't bad enough for the extinguisher, and I knew I had a water bottle in my truck I had been drinking. I quickly went to my truck to discover that my water bottle was EMPTY. (Oh, THA'ts right!) So, I figured this DOES call for the extinguisher. When I flipped my seat forward to grab it, you can imagine the look of fear and dismay on my face to see that it was not there. Someone had taken it out and not replaced it! At this point, I look back at the mower to see that this was NOT going to go out> Not knowing what else o do, I pushed the mower down onto the parking lot, and away from the truck and trailer. Knowing there was a supermarket across the street, I knew that was my only hope. I sprinted across the busy road, across the parking lot, and into the store. As I ran past all the checkout lanes, entering the store, I loudly asked someone where their water is kept. They pointed toward the BACK of the store. (par for the course) I got back there, and quickly scanned the area near the coolers to find NOTHING that resembled water. The only thing going through my mind then, was something WET! I rushed to the cooler and grabbed a gallon of milk. Yes, milk! I ran to the front of the store, and yelled to the cashier. "I'll be back!" I sprinted across the parking lot, over the road. By this time some cars were slowing down as I could see 2 ft. high flames and smoke. I opened the milk as I ran across the road and said a quick prayer for NOT having an explosion, and as I reached the mower I splurged the milk all over the burning area and engine, and the flames were quickly extinguished. I quickly reache underneath and shut off the fuel valve on the tank. Just then, while walking to the front of the mower to look at the mess, the fuel line on the carb broke open pouring fuel down that remained in the line down. It really made me think, possibly 1 second later, and the whole thing could've blown. So, there I stood, in the middle of this lot, alone, with my milk covered, burned up mower. THEN, I reached a whole different dilemna. How am I gonna get this thing up the gate by myself? I ended up hoohing a chain underneath, and pulling it straight up with another mower. After inspection when I got it home, all I needed to replace was a little electrical, the coil, and the fuel line. This is one of the reasons why I am such an advocate on fire extinguishers today. You just never need one until you need one. Oh yeah, I DID go back into the store afterward and pay for my milk. They knew who I was, so I don't think they were TOO concerned about the payment. :blob2:

[summitgroundskeeping]

I was cutting string at a job for a weed whip with my new Smith & Wesson S.W.A.T. knife I bought at the EXPO in Kentucky. Anyway I was putting a point at the end of the sting so I would have an easier time stringing it. As I was doing this, my girlfriend calls me, so I started to talk to her. I got distracted and felt a lot ,and I mean a LOT, of liquid in my hand. Blood every where, so I hang up on her run to the truck looking for bandaids or something to stop the bleeding in the first aid kit. Empty. Clean away the blood and see half of my index finger on my left hand with a HUGE slice in it. Find a napkin in the truck, wrap the finger, throw everything on the trailer, hop in the truck, and drive like mad home to fix it. Get back to the job and felt so stupid. "Don't mix business with pleasure", from then on I realized a whole new meaning to that phrase.:p

[Southern Lawns]

My wife driving my Lazer Z :p

[lawnboy82]

Scarriest thing ever happened was last year. Cut down a locust tree for a friend. It fell wedged between some other locusts. Started cutting it up into about 10' long sections. Got the first piece out, no problem. Went to the second piece and the saw got stuck. Told my buddy to get his saw and cut me out. Well he went around to the other side and started cutting with his small saw. (tree was about 20" or so in diameter) Anyways, he is cutting, and all of a sudden the tree snapped and hit him square in the chest. It knocked him back about 15 feet.

[lawnboy82]

Well the trunk hit him in the chest sending him back about 15 feet on his behind. It knocked his helmet off of him, and threw his chain saw off to the side. He was unconscious for a couple of seconds. He got up and was hurting, he was limping for several days, and his chest was hurting him. Luckily he was alright. But when this incident happened it was only he any myself at his house.

[Henry]

Got milk?

[Shady Brook]

Friday afternoon, trying to make up for lost time due to worker related problems! I was on a pretty steep embankment along side a pound with my Tiger, and began to make a downward slide. Not a good feeling I will tell ya, the tires just aint what they used to be, in fact I think I am mowing a 1/2 lower then my deck says due to tred loss. In any event, by the Grace of God, I caught traction, and was able to nose my way up the hill, where I retrived the faithful walk behind. Cutting corners can be mighty dangerous!

Jay

[KDJ]

Finished a job for a wonderful little old lady. She wanted me to come in her house to get paid. Well let me just say she had other things on her mind. Makes me think? Twenty years from now this could really be a great job!!!!!

[Mowingman]

A couple of years ago, while still doing lawncare part time, I was asked to take down a big ,dead tree on a large commercial account's property. Sat. was the only day I could do this work. My little Homelite chainsaw was not up to this size job, so early Sat., I go and rent a big Stihl at the local rental house.
Got tree down with no problems, and begin to cut everything into short pieces to load on trailer. As I am slinging chainsaw around here and there, I glance down and see that my jeans leg is cut open at the knee on my right leg. I put the saw down and upon close examination, found my knee was sliced open so I could see the kneecap! I kept my cool, got out the first aid kit, got a big bandage rigged on it, and drove myself to the emergency room. It took 14 stitches to close the wound. I never felt it when I cut it, but it sure scared the heck out of me.
I learned 2 lessons: Don't do this kind of work alone when no one else is around, and, leave the cutting of large trees to the pros. I sub out all of my tree jobs now.:)

[lawnboy82]

Mowingman, while you were injured you should consider yourself lucky. I, a few years back had recieved a couple of pamphlets when I started getting a magazine. They said in this pamphlet that 1 cutter on a chain saw will remove 1/4 an inch of flesh. 600 cutters spin past a given spot on the bar in 1 second. 600 divided by 4 is 150. please raise your hand if you are 12'6" tall. There are things called chain saw chaps, and all kinds of other safety gear to wear when using a chain saw.

[Mowingman]

lawnboy82,
I cut every corner in the book just to try and get this job done. I was stupid and very lucky. I should have known better than to cut corners on safety, because at the time, part of my fulltime job was SAFETY DIRECTOR for one division of a large company.

[hustlers]

my brother dropped my walkbehing down a cliff
and we had to pull it out with chains and
my hustler- got tons of poison ivy

It almost went 150 ft and almost in the lake

[vipermanz]

Originally posted by hustlers
my brother dropped my walkbehind down a cliff
and we had to pull it out with chains and
my hustler- got tons of poison ivy

It almost went 150 ft and almost in the lake
How did it survive??:confused:

[awm]

back about 84 or so i was mowing a brick wall w my snapper
rear engine. i forget how but it got my foot brtween the wall and mower. snatched me over so that by hanging on i was forcing the mower harder against the wall. long wall. come close to losing a foot that day. lesson learned. one other thing always check the homeowner prune jobs. you can impale yourself right quick.

[Eric ELM]

Originally posted by hustlers
It almost went 150 ft and almost in the lake

Do you live or work close to the Mississippi River. The bluffs along the river, is the only place I have seen in Mn. that has anything resembling a cliff. Pretty country along there. ;)

[1145JohnDeere]

Had my one ton Ford w/bumper hitch trailer parked down a steep hill and backed tractor off to grade a yard. The second the tractor hit the ramps the back dual wheels of my truck came off the ground and away we went. The truck rolled down the parking lot until it smashed into an older truck that was parked there. I ended up giving the guy $300 cash on the spot for the damage to his vehicle, luckily he was a body man and the truck was old. I learned a lot of lessons that day

Another time was mowing Shoneys and hit a rock. I saw it sail into the virtually barren parking lot high and far in the sky and lost track of it. Finished mowing and started weedeating Cracker Barrel across the street, who had these 5 foot high split rail fences in their lawn. After 10 minutes or so of weedeating I looked up and saw a BIG, BIG guy who looked like Stone Cold Austin coming toward me. When he got to the fence he effortlessly hopped over it like a deer and I could tell he was mad. I shut the weedeater off and he comes up and tells me that I hit his truck with a rock and chipped the paint. I wait for the inevitable piledriver in the face that he looked as if he was going to give me but thought fast and sweet talked him out of that action. I'm 6'1" 230 and no slouch but believe me this guy was everyones worst nightmare and I was pretty agreeable to whatever he wanted. Ends up I hit his show truck, which would make anyone angry I guess, but we talked for a long time and with his wifes (and John Law's) assistance we calmed him down. I took the $$ to his house personally (I did feel awful bad about it, even had he been 4' tall and 100 pounds) and we became pretty good buddys, I still see him to this day 12 years later.

[Charles]

Originally posted by 1145JohnDeere


sweet talked him out of that action. I'm 6'1" 230 and no slouch but believe me this guy was everyones worst nightmare and I was pretty agreeable to whatever he wanted. Ends up I hit his show truck, which would make anyone angry I guess, but we talked for a long time and with his wifes (and John Law's) assistance we calmed him down. I took the $$ to his house personally (I did feel awful bad about it, even had he been 4' tall and 100 pounds) and we became pretty good buddys, I still see him to this day 12 years later.

So Yall are now dating?:D

[1145JohnDeere]

No, remember this is Kentucky, we only date kin. We leave that other stuff for people in SC.

[rixtag]

Charles, I was thinkin' the same and I have to say that you are cold man, very cold. Funny as heck though.

No offense meant 1145, just a laugh.

Rick:D

[vipermanz]

Originally posted by 1145JohnDeere


I looked up and saw a BIG, BIG guy who looked like Stone Cold Austin coming toward me.

Oh He!! Yeah!!