A simple mistake

[Mobuck]

I got a call from my "pseudo Son" Cousin in southern Iowa yesterday. After a chat about the typical challenges of harvest, he passed this heart wrenching story to me as a reminder to pay attention.
A middle aged farmer was moving his combine and the typical move involves setting the header on a "header cart/wagon" for transport since most grain heads require endwise transport vs just driving down the road with header on the combine. He loaded the header and backed the combine away before dismounting to secure the header to the cart. As he was kneeling to hook the straps, the combine rolled forward pinning him. No one seemed to know what to do or how to reverse the combine and by the time his Son was called and arrived to move the machine, it was too late.
This is one reason why I/we make a real effort to always have a "safety person" on site and no one gets between a machine and attachment. It seems I'm constantly correcting Grandson about where he stands, how he reaches for things, and how to do things w/o putting hands, feet, or body in a dangerous spot BUT it's better that I hound him about these things vs learning the hard way.
Over the years, I've known several men who have lost body parts or their life to a simple mistake or a minor slip.

 

[Busterswoodshop]

Terrible story. Sorry to hear that.
I have been in construction for just over 50 years.
I have seen more than my share of death and maimed people in the trades. 99% of the time it could have been avoided if common safety practices were used.
Safety should be a main priority . More so than making money.

 

[vito]

Much as in many other aspects of daily life, familiarity leads to careless shortcuts. I've seen careless practices at gun ranges and it seems that the person being careless is one of two types, the total beginner who does not know better, or more likely the very experienced shooter who stops paying attention to the basics of gun safety.

 

[Dave P.]

My entire working life has been around various machines that can injure
or kill you.
Even in my little shop I figure every machine can kill me and they're just
patiently waiting for me to give them the chance, they're always ready,
just biding their time......
Dave

 

[gunzo]

The life of a farmer is packed with dangers & most times the farmer is alone, so an extra amount of caution is needed.

Not a farmer, but enough industrial safety experience to know better, I walked to the side of my new tractor to show my brother how easy it started. He tugged me away from in front of the rear tire & told me that was a no no. He went on to tell that many had been run over that way.

Be carefull out there.

 

[bogus bill]

When I was a boy a neighbor was disking and had his son riding. Son fell off and he ran the disk over him!

 

[blume357]

Farming has got to be one of the most dangerous occupations out there. I grew up on a farm and remember folks getting hurt a lot. Our top hand always wore a pair of lace up boots and my father would get after him to keep the laces on and tight... one day the hand was plowing the back field and my grandfather realized the tractor had stopped... seems something had gotten caught in the plow or such and the hand got off to fix it and the laces on one of his boots got caught in the power take off of the tractor... broke his leg in three places... he managed to crawl to the front and reach up and pull the main wire off the coil and stop the engine and figured someone would then come check on him.

That trip to the hospital was not as bad as when a 'friend' came over to his house one saturday afternoon drunk and they got in an argument and the friend shot him in the stomach .... my father threw him in his Olds Delta 88 and they did 120mph to get to the Augusta Hospital....25 miles away. He lived through that one too...

 

[hittman]

Farming has been a dangerous occupation for a long long time. One brief lapse in judgment can be fatal.

Two years ago I lost my cousin Marilyn (an adult in her 50s!) to a farm accident. She was a farm girl her entire life but for some reason on a cold winter day she wore a scarf around her neck that got tangled in a PTO shaft.

When I was in high school a local elderly farmer wearing bib overalls decided to step over a running PTO shaft; instead of walking around. His clothes got caught and he bled out right there.

Ya gotta always be thinking and that isn't easy at times.

 

[powder smoke]

Work is dangerous, some more than others, thing is a man gotta eat!
Paying attention and following safety rules helps big time.
Funny when I was young I use to go go go bend the rules I was lucky or good.
I'll take either! ps

 

[protoolman]

Yep, I was a cop 20 years and people would ask my wife if she was worried for my safety? She would tell them no, its much safer than farming! And it is by a huge margin.

 

[Jeepnik]

When I started as a fireman an old guy told me a very true thing. Fire "wants" to kill you. Later I figured out that large equipment has the same attitude. Never turn you back on it, figuratively speaking.

 

[OVERLOADDED]

Distant cousin, only son came home late, intoxicated. Dad got him up early sent him out to bush-hog pasture. Son fell off tractor seat, ran over by bush-hog! Please keep your card punched, every day! Overloadded

 

[bogus bill]

I used to hear the lumber industry was the worst.

 

[contender]

I think many of us have stories of such tragedy’s that could have been prevented.

Prayers for that family.

 

[eveled]

A member on a knife board I frequent is a farmer. He carries two small fixed blades one on each side. Because he feels he needs to be ready to cut off his arm if it gets caught up in the machinery. Not knowing which arm will be caught he needs two knives.

That’s a tough job.

Kind of funny how he tells it. His Grandfather Father and Uncles all carried a fixed blade so if they got their arm caught they wouldn’t have to open a folding knife one handed. When he came of age to work on the farm his grandfather took him to the store and bought him a knife, he asked “what do I do if my right arm is the one that’s caught and I can’t teach my knife?”

His Grandfather thought a minute and bought a second knife for everyone on the farm. Tough family.

 

[Mobuck]

Not a life for pansies.
I have relatives who are firefighters, relatives in law enforcement, relatives in military service. Any/all will concede that what I do is as dangerous or more so than any situation they've encountered on the job and every one will confirm that it's often the "ho hum" common things that end up being the most dangerous when we get complacent.

 

[jgt]

I was an electrician all my working life. It doesn't take much lapse in attention to cause catastrophic results. If the unseen electron flow doesn't get you, other aspects of the job can. Some of the worst outcomes were those that survived. Especially high voltage flash burn victims.
Some people scoff at safety measures. These people seem to be gloriously unaware they were put in place after someone paid the price for not having them.

 

[Rick Courtright]

Funny when I was young I use to go go go bend the rules I was lucky or good.
I'll take either! ps

Hi,

They say the Lord looks out for fools and small children! I'm just glad that since I've past one of those stages He's still on duty for the other one... ;)

Rick C

 

[gramps]

My Uncle was killed when his tractor turned over on him while pulling out a stump.
gramps

 

[Jeepnik]

Way back in the dark ages I also started carrying two knives. Back then just about every fireman had a Buck folding hunter on his belt. I would usually transfer it from the pouch to my right hand turnout coat pocket. Came a day when I needed to reach it because my safety line was looped around my shoulder and I was off the ground. No was could it be reached. After the dislocation healed up, I bought another folding hunter and stuck it into the left turnout coat pocket. And yep, you guessed it. I never needed it.

 

[A.J.]

About 14 years ago a good friend of mine and his wife were cleaning up the property of another friend who had just moved away. The husband was atop the large tractor mowing the pasture.

I think this is how it happened. For some reason, he had some problems with the controls. The tractor lurched forward causing him to fall backwards. As he was falling, he caused the tractor to go into reverse. The tractor and mower deck ran him over. He was gone.

His poor wife was a mess for many years. My wife and I are even closer to her now than before AND she found a GREAT guy along the way.