Workplace accidents

[TurfGuyTX]

How many of you have seen, known of or been involved in a workplace accident? (From lawn care) Hopefully not very many. Those who share their experiences could help prevent some. Thanks for your input.

[TurfGuyTX]

I should have started this with one I witnessed. An ex employee was trimming some shrubs. Without any obvious reason, he switched hands and cut off part of his finger. He didn't know what caused him to grab it that way.

[mdb landscaping]

i saw a guy mowing a steep hill with a hydro walkbehind, and he lost control, and the mower went into the woods below. i have no idea how they got it out.

[geogunn]

I'm not too ashamed to admit that I habe had a bunch of "accidents" since I got in the biz.

for example the need for several stitches to repair the cut from a brush axe on my shin.

had to use shoe goo to repair the cut to my boot from the chain saw.

I damaged my truck with my trailer...don't ask!

I went boxwood hunting with the lesco one day. bagged a "nice" boxwood.

the handlebars have beat me balck and blue.

but most important...wear your glasses or safety glasses. I'd be blind by now if not for mine.

worke safe.

GEO

[Gravely_Man]

I have seen several chainsaw accidents. Most people don't have a small chainsaw accident. The most common cause is trying to rush. Always think and pay attention! You only get one chance at life!

[Evan528]

Last October I was neeled down cutting a stump lower to the ground and somehow the saw slipped and went into my thigh. :cry:
I rapped it up and worked 7 more hours at the job site before going and getting 15 stitches.....yeah that wasnt smart....Maybe Im a little to devoted to my work;)

[thfireman]

I was trimming shrubs with a single side trimmer. I was holding the rubber hadle mounted on the blade when it came off and the trimmer fell across my thigh. It cut through my jeans and into my leg. Luckly it pinched more than cut because I was able to let off the gas in time. I should have had at least a couple of stitches but I put a butterfly bandage on it and let it go.

I have also hit holes in lawns or a stump and it throws me into the handle bars of the mower. Bruised ribs on several occations.

Oh yea! The notorious Monkey attack!! I wasnt cutting but had stopped for a sandwich in a shopping center. A lady was walking a chimp (She's a trainer) across the lot so I stopped to talk to her. When I was ready to leave the chimp jumped up and slapped me in the face and then jumped again and clawed my arm. This all happened in the blink of an eye. Funny now but I was pi**ed at the time. He had all his shots so I didnt get any monkey sick stuff. The guys at the station still laugh about that one. I still have scares to show!
:alien: :cry:

[rkbrown]

Note to self...take hedge trimmers to shopping centers and make sure they are running when lady with monkey around :)

[thfireman]

I just stay the heck away from monkeys now. Went to the Zoo a few weeks ago and sent my wife into the gorilla exhibit to make sure they were behind glass!!

:D :) ;) :o :cool:

[Santa]

This past June we had our first mishap. One of my most experienced workers (8 yrs.) rolled a 60" lazer down a hill into a river, and it landed upside down ontop of him. An E.M.T. happened to be driving by and stopped to help. My employee spent the day in the hospital, bruised and shook up. He also missed three weeks of work, and cost me a comp. claim, and the loss of my vacation. (Did I mention my wife and I were just leaving on vacation that same day? )and a 75.00 bill for a tow truck. My employee's and myself were reminded that day NEVER to take safety for granted. This was a first accident for us in 23 years , and I know I should be thankful that it wasn't worse (and I am) but with common sense and concentration, it should have never happened in the first place.


D.L.

[TurfGuyTX]

Originally posted by thfireman
I was trimming shrubs with a single side trimmer. I was holding the rubber hadle mounted on the blade when it came off and the trimmer fell across my thigh. It cut through my jeans and into my leg. Luckly it pinched more than cut because I was able to let off the gas in time. I should have had at least a couple of stitches but I put a butterfly bandage on it and let it go.

I have also hit holes in lawns or a stump and it throws me into the handle bars of the mower. Bruised ribs on several occations.

Oh yea! The notorious Monkey attack!! I wasnt cutting but had stopped for a sandwich in a shopping center. A lady was walking a chimp (She's a trainer) across the lot so I stopped to talk to her. When I was ready to leave the chimp jumped up and slapped me in the face and then jumped again and clawed my arm. This all happened in the blink of an eye. Funny now but I was pi**ed at the time. He had all his shots so I didnt get any monkey sick stuff. The guys at the station still laugh about that one. I still have scares to show!
:alien: :cry:

[TurfGuyTX]

I'd probably start hunting monkeys if that would've happened to me. :gunsfirin

[dlandscaping]

Lets see no monkeys here yet. My younger brother (employee) somehow dropped a pair of stihls hs45 onto his arm 6 stitches. I have been over the handle bars a few times on walkbehinds. Been crushed up between mower and building forgot the thing was in reverse, slipped and fell on wet grass under mower with opc overridden meaning blades still on. If it werent for a size 13 boot i wouldnt have any toes.
Ive seen one guy with hedgetrimmers at his leg on and not knowingly cut his leg wide open. Seen one guy take a 65 foot drop too from a tree and guess what he is doing now, after two years he is back in the trees. what a nut!

[GreginAlaska]

My Dad ( Rest his soul) told me he survived WW2 because he always tried to picture where the "Line of fire" was going to be and doing his best to stay out of it. He said he later applied that to his 40 years in the oilfields and never had an accident. I've used that same philosophy in my work in the oilfeilds and landscaping and have never been hurt. (knock on wood)

Oh ya, I guess this works better with non-violent occupations seeing as he did receive 3 purple hearts. :-)
Greg

[Scag48]

I was mowing a hill with my 21" on an account a couple of years ago. The mower got away from me and had the OPC bar thing stapped so that it wouldn't go all the way down. You could get it off by just pushing it along the bar, but it took a little bit. Little freaky, no lost body parts. Almost my foot... My dad suggests wiring my OPC handles on my exmark down. I told him that was stupid and that if he ever told me to do that again I'd smack him. I'll do it on 21's, but not a 500 pound w/b that is very expensive.

[TurfGuyTX]

A friend of mine's worker cut his leg yesterday with some hedge trimmers. Not deep, but will leave a zig zag scar.

[thfireman]

Sounds Like Me!!:(

[1stclasslawns]

I went over the handelbars of my W/B a couple weeks ago burnt my hand on the muffler. and I nicked my leg with hedge trimmers, but nothing major.

My buddy though was pulling a push mower and got his toes under it a few stiches later he was fine.

Jim

[TurfGuyTX]

I'm glad not many of you have stories to post here. Stay safe.

[GreginAlaska]

I'll tell you one that could have been a bad accident but just ended up being kinda funny. My wife and I were hydro-seeding a city park and had to do the backside of a hill with the hose. She was going to run the machine and I was going to do the hosing. She took the tower gun off the pump discharge pipe but forgot to hook up the hose that goes over to the hose reel. She has a bad habit of revving up the engine some before she engages the pump (Hard on everything but she won't quit doing it) She engaged the pump and a 2 inch column of green slime went about 75-100 feet in the air and came down all over her! She was Covered! Mulch, seed, fertilizer, tackifier - Yuck! I tell ya what, she was one mad little blonde and it didn't help that I was literally laying on the ground laughing like a wild man. Anyways, our hydro-seeder has a 46 HP kubota diesel and a centrifugal pump, if she had been hit directly with the column it might have hurt her...she might not listen about being nice to the equipment, but I guess she has listened about staying "out of the line of fire"

[awm]

most of my accidents,and they are legion[lets see where did i hear that term],come from not having my mind on right there, right now. solving some problem i kinow is coming up.
a little common sense and presents of mind would avoid most. now if i could just
take my own advice ,id be alrite.
its why i opted not to be an electrician.
i knew sooner or later that bad habit would get me killed. mans got to know his limitations.:) wheres my 357magnum at:D

[thfireman]

Word to the wise....If wife wants you to wear that wedding band while you work, put it on when you leave the house but take it off and leave it in the truck once your out. Those things will rip the skin right off the bone. Happened to a fellow firefighter yesterday at my station. He caught it on a chain link fence. He is going to be off work a while.

:cry: :dizzy:

[crawdad]

Last year, first mowing(of my own lawn) of the season, I had my Scag WB a little too close to the edge of the lawn. It was slippery, full of those little green blades with white centers, the ones that make the little white flowers in early spring. There had been some erosion through the winter, and I shouldn't have been so close to the edge, about a five foot drop-off. The mower starts to slip, so I turn it facing the bank and try to back up. No go. She's going down! I slap the PTO button, stopping the blades, and the mower goes over the side. I went with it, doing a dive-off-the-hill-forward roll to the left of where the machine landed. I stand up, brush off the dust, and I'm fixing to check out the machine for damage, when I look across the yard and notice that my wife saw the whole thing! Of course she screams, "Is this what I have to worry about all day every day when you're working?" I try to tell her that my present undamaged condition is proof that she doesn't have to worry, but of course she disagrees. Wives are funny like that.
Crawdad

[thfireman]

lol:D I can just picture that!! Ha Ha!!

Good fast thinking to turn the blades off, glad you were not hurt.

:rolleyes:

[thfireman]

That reminds me....

When I was first starting out I had a Ferris 36" WB with a one wheel Velke. I tried to go up a steep hill in the front of a house. I got about half way and the mower started sliding back. The Velke twisted and dug into the hill. The weight of the Ferris pole valted on the arm of the Velke and the front end came up in the air. It tipped over backwards as I ran for my life. I could hear the blades chopping air behind me and then it all stopped. Mower was blades up and oil and gass spilling in the mans yard not to mention the ruts from the Velke and handlebars digging in the lawn..... I almost quit that day. The man that lived there talked me out of quitting. That was about 12 years ago!:D

[crawdad]

Originally posted by thfireman
That reminds me....

............ It tipped over backwards as I ran for my life. I could hear the blades chopping air behind me and then it all stopped. Mower was blades up and oil and gass spilling in the mans yard not to mention the ruts from the Velke and handlebars digging in the lawn..... I almost quit that day..............."

How do we survive ourselves sometimes? :confused:
At least your wife didn't see it. :drinkup:

The day I was jumping backwards off the Gravely my wife didnt see, so that don't count. Who said man cannot fly, shucks, I can fly backwards, and land gracefully on my tailbone.
Crawdad

[thfireman]

Yea I think I was supposed to be dead a couple of times already but I think I just wasn't paying attention and the oportunity passed me by! Thank God for daydreaming. My wife was riding with us on the Fire Truck one day and we had a car fire. A tire blew out and she thought I was being blown up. Then when she saw I was OK and still fighting the fire she said that I did that just to scare her to death. All I was doing was my job and somehow I got blamed! I stopped trying to figure them out a long time ago.:D

[dlandscaping]

Last job of the day after 6 rushed hours of work before supposed rain to come, my own bushes (5) need minimal trimming.
Start up the stihl hedgetrimmers 1 ,2 ,3,4 and ouch.
I somehow went off to the side of the bush catching my arm. It went straight through my shirt into my arm and i just got back from the ER.
Ps these are the same trimmers my bro was cut by.
Anyone want to buy cursed hs45 hedgetrimmers?

[thfireman]

Whats the discount on blood stained trimmers?:D

[regnort]

A guy at my fire station was out cutting with a borrowed 21"mower, I believe it was a Toro. He said his blades had to be engaged and this one evidently didn't. Anyway after grabbing the deck to raise it he pulled back a couple less fingers than he started with. Its kinda funny now cause he takesa good ribbing about it. We call him "Special Ed", also he complains that he can no longer pick his nose because of the blunt end on his pickin' finger. I pointed out to him that the one next to it looks like it went through a pencil sharpener and it should work better than the original picker.

:confused: :dizzy:

[TurfGuyTX]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by regnort
[B]A guy at my fire station was out cutting with a borrowed 21"mower, I believe it was a Toro. He said his blades had to be engaged and this one evidently didn't. Anyway after grabbing the deck to raise it he pulled back a couple less fingers than he started with. QUOTE]

Ouch:eek:

[Albemarle Lawn]

I thought it was cool to see how far they would go.

One day I was working near a lake and decided to drive three balls at once with the John Deere walk behind.

One went straght into my shin, so now I must live without a 1/2 deep section of bone that was removed....

Older and wiser now.

KB

[thfireman]

One went straght into my shin, so now I must live without a 1/2 deep section of bone that was removed....


Ouchie!!

Hey!! Maybe Dent Wizard can help you!

:D :D :D

[GarPA]

well like many of you I run sod cutters,stump grinders, chain saws, ZTR's, etc etc....but the one machine that I am MOST CAREFUL with is that damn echo hedge trimmer...years ago I lost a piece of my finger due to stupidity..since then its bitten my legs more than a few times....now I hold it with a death grip...not afraid to admit that little machine scares me....I put it at the top of the list for "Equipment That Wants To Bite You"

believe it or not, the insurance claim data supports the fact that overall we are a careful class of operators. While we work around dangerous equip in all kinds of weather, our loss experience is not bad as an industry...we're not the boneheads we sometimes think we are...lol

[thfireman]

we're not the boneheads we sometimes think we are...lol

Hey...Speak for yourself! LOL You havent read many of my post have you. I am a certified BONEHEAD!

:D :D :D :alien:

[TurfGuyTX]

Does everyone think that hedge trimmers lead the pack in injuries?

[thfireman]

I have been hurt by almost every piece of my equipment in some way. I think As far as drawing blood that the hedge trimmers lead the pack. :(

[marley]

One time I was getting ready to leave an account, had the truck and trailer in reverse but was barely moving,decided to make some notes in the work log, then I FELL ASLEEP!!! Jack knived the trailer and broke a tie down hoop. Good thing I was not going any faster.

[bubble boy]

Originally posted by marley
One time I was getting ready to leave an account, had the truck and trailer in reverse but was barely moving,decided to make some notes in the work log, then I FELL ASLEEP!!! Jack knived the trailer and broke a tie down hoop. Good thing I was not going any faster.

Wow!:D :eek:

[thfireman]

Don't they have medicine for that? You work way too hard is you fell asleep while you were writing!!

:D

[TurfGuyTX]

Originally posted by marley
One time I was getting ready to leave an account, had the truck and trailer in reverse but was barely moving,decided to make some notes in the work log, then I FELL ASLEEP!!! Jack knived the trailer and broke a tie down hoop. Good thing I was not going any faster.

Fell asleep? Is that what they're calling it?:drinkup: :drinkup:
Just kidding. :D

[LawnLad]

Injuries to myself? Or to the employees of the company?

Often being aware of your surroundings will cut down on a ton of accidents. Particularly when you're working in and around others - you have to watch what others are doing at all times. How many times has something been thrown from their equipment to hit you? Too many times for me to recall.

1) Worker walked backwards during fall clean ups with back back blower on, walked back into a 52" walk behind and fell back wards into the engine. He put his hand down to brace his fall and he placed it right on the muffler of that Briggs 18 hp V-twin. Burned his palm pretty bad. Watch where you're going!

2) Dirt in the eyes from using back pack blowers (we require safety glasses for line trimmers and edgers). Often while in tight quarters during fall clean ups and often from the guy blowing next to you.

3) Pruners, folding saws and dead heading scissors have been cause for several trips for stiches. No matter how many times you tell 'em - they still move too fast for their own good.

4) Had a worker (temporary labor hired through labor hall) die while weeding on a property. Never knew he was allergic to bees - and they swarmed him.

5) One guy years back slipped on a trailer gate while walking across it in slick shoes (dew on grass) at an angle across the gate while carrying sand stone. When he fell it pinched/crushed his hand between the gate and the stone. We remedied this by allowing work boots only and talking about slick conditions.

There are more... but these stick out in my mind.

[TurfGuyTX]

I once took a good spill on our gate. Morning dew can be more dangerous than most realize.:(

[thfireman]

Bad day today! OK, I was mowing an area that I never had to mow in this lawn today. They decided to extend the yard about 5 feet towards the creek.

I walked the area to make sure there were no rocks or bottles, sticks and things. I got to work and zappo!!! Yellow jackets attacked me! Got hit 3 times in the shoulders and 2 times in the right arm. I turned loose of the Scag and ran like H***! When the attack was over I went back to get the mower. The darned thing stopped right over the nest! They were still swarming the mower and I could not get to it to get it out of the way.

I did the only thing I knew to do....I sprayed the whole mower with wasp & Hornet spray and put some on my arms and made a sudden and deliberate rescue of my mower.

Got stung 4 more times but I got my mower back. I then made a massive attack on the hole to the nest and left for the day.

I HATE YELLOW JACKETS and I am still in pain..... Ouchie!:mad:

:angry:

[TurfGuyTX]

I'm sorry to hear about that. Can you go back tonight and make sure you finish them off? I've been lucky so far, only chased by them.

[thfireman]

The property owner said he would go out tonight with a light and take care of them. I left a can of spray for him to use. I was afraid he would use gasoline if I didnt give him some spray.;)

[marley]

I hear ya. About a month ago my helper was hedging and ran into a wasp's nest. He only got stung two times but his his face and hand swelled pretty bad, got light headed too. I thought he might need to go to the hospital but he said he did not think so. I offered to the home owner that I could spray it or take out the nest with a louisville slugger but he opted for a pest control co. Probably the wiser move. I hear ya though, I think we all hate bees. I like how you came back for the massive attack later,#@^%$%$ing bees! It is habbit for me now to look up at the eves of houses and in thier shrubs for nests.

[TurfGuyTX]

Yeah, I always keep some spray with me just in case. I haven't seen any killer bees yet, but they have been reportedly not too far away. That's a nest I won't mess with.

[thfireman]

I don't worry too much about the honey bees around here. It is the Hornets and Yellow Jackets that tear me up.

I heard you cant really tell if a hive of bees are Honey bees or Killer bees untill you disturb them. If thats the case I would keep my distance from all of them. The bad thing is they might be up in a tree and you may not see them till its too late.

A friend of mine that is a firefighter in Arizona says that they spray killer bees nests with Light Water (A firefighting foam) to kill them. It is small enough molecules in the foam to saok into the breathing holes on the sides of bees and they souficate.
:eek:

[StayStihl]

A buddy of mine was bushhoggin one day, he ran into a wasp's nest, got stung numerous times, he had been stung before, but never thought anything about it, til this day, His dad found him later, passed out in the field. Luckily his dad was a State Trooper, he rushed him to the hospital, only to hear the news that his son might not make it! How crazy can ya get, a wasp sting??? come on! Welll, he did make it, had to stay in the hospital for awhile, but he's ok now, he just has to carry a certain vaccine with him, I do believe it's an injectable. As far as workplace accidents, Hmm... I have saw a few, at my mining job, amputations, falls, recently one of our Lowboy operators met a Motorcycle in a curve head on, who ya think won that bout? Terrible....he is still disturbed by that, I would be too. I reckon he got out of the truck, and saw the poor fella up under the truck, though the man was already "pain free" if ya get my drift...Sad... Mowing... only thing we have had happen SO FAR! is, we run Stihl FS 85 trimmers, and I alway use the start lock on the throttle, and leave it revving while I am putting on my gloves, getting a drink, whatever... I forgot about it once, and walked right into the path of .095 Echo Crossfire.. hurt like a buggar.... minor lacerations, no biggie...

[TurfGuyTX]

Today, one of my guys thought spraying a water bottle on a yellowjacket's nest would take care of them. The dummy was lucky they only got him 5 times.