The names and faces have been changed to protect the nimrods...

[bulldoglover]

Not to say that this does not happen around the country everyday, but it was a good show. (This is not a tree company as you can see from the pics.) The flag pole its self was fiberglass, but the concrete was a different story. First they tried wiggling it, then pulling up, the pulling up with no one in the bucket. At that point the strap slid up and they could almost not get the bucket back down. Then they put him back in the bucket with a waist strap, and yes the lanyard and the pull strap are both attached to the same safety clip. No hard hats, cutting concrete with no eye protection that I could see. At one point the upper boom was so flexed that we all took a few more steps back. Finally after a few hours they took the loader that was there the whole time and used that to pull up and used the bucket to support the top and then let the pole down. I know the lifts are rated for some lbs, but when that thing flexed I thought that it was over for that guy. But they all got "good jobs" from the foreman.

 

[TimberMcPherson]

I normally sharpen the end with my ms200 then bang it into the ground using the bucket with a couple of fat chicks in there.

Buckets have lots of uses, Firewood scoop, fruit tree shaker, engine lifter, light vehicle jack, hunting stand, crane, tree pusher, logging skyline, stump puller, post remover, wrecking ball, boat lifter, fishing stand, diving board, butchering hanger, pool emptying scoop.....the uses are endless I tell you! But do you know whats crazy? No one will give me one to borrow.

 

[fishercat]

no big surprise.

they look like town clowns to me.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

must have been a muni crew.

 

[murphy4trees]

seriously

There was a case here a few years ago... my log loader knew the guy and the company...

Man in bucket pulling fenceposts... no lanyard..

post pops out of the ground... and you can guess the rest..

man gets shot out of the bucket like a pea from a spoon and lands on his head 15' below.. breaks neck and dies..

24 years old... wife and kids... Family grows up without him... Enough to make you cry! All for lack of a lanyard...

That is why I think buckets are really dangerous... They have a tendency to get you to do things with them, that you wouldn;t do otherwise... (ie like reach for a cut or cut above you etc)..

I think PPE and lanyard are so crucial in a bucket for just this reason...

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Man in bucket pulling fenceposts...

I think PPE and lanyard are so crucial in a bucket for just this reason...

Or just not misusing equipment.

 

[bulldoglover]

You guys are correct, it was a city crew.

 

[prentice110]

this is what scares me the most about used equipment, (buckets). No one really knows what the idiot that ran the thing before you got a hold of it did when he had it. A newbie to the industry was picking my brain one day and volunteered the fact that while waiting for his truck to be painted, p mainka let him have an old asplunhd altec. Well, he put the basket on the ground cuz he could (over center unit) to get out and told his groundie to put it away. Said the groundie hit the wrong lever and lifted the whole front of the truck off the ground, tires and stabilizers.

 

[prentice110]

My first year in this BS biz of ours, I saw a guy who was a legendary jackass in my area rope a 1000 pound or so log the wrong way and it went over the part of the boom where the basket is attached on an old 72' Skyworker. I dont remember exactly how we got it down but I remember it was a scary few minutes. That stick boom was curved like a bow!!! I thought for sure that it was going to snap and kill ol' dinger! I should start a thread about "dinger",.

 

[fishercat]

wasn't hard to figure out.

You guys are correct, it was a city crew.

i think even an Obama supporter could have come to the conclusion in a couple days.

 

[gr8scott72]

When I went to Houston after Ike last year grinding stumps, I came across a tree company trying to move a LARGE stump to the road. They had some old Rayco 3 wheeled grinder that wasn't near large enough and they couldn't reach it with their grapple truck. When I drove by, they were pulling on it with the boom of their bucket truck. This was a large pine stump. It was probably just over 3' across where it was cut and the root ball was very large also.

I stopped and told them that they were going to get someone hurt or break their truck and I could grind it for $150 and do it in 45 minutes. He I guess didn't believe me as he told his guy to try to pull it one more time. It still didn't move. lol

I ground it up and then got to do stumps for 4 more neighbors that were all watching.

 

[prentice110]

I saw some asplunhd guys tie a block to the boom of a hi-ranger to pull a trunk over last year. All I could think was why the hell not the hitch? :jawdrop:

 

[outofmytree]

this is what scares me the most about used equipment, (buckets). No one really knows what the idiot that ran the thing before you got a hold of it did when he had it. A newbie to the industry was picking my brain one day and volunteered the fact that while waiting for his truck to be painted, p mainka let him have an old asplunhd altec. Well, he put the basket on the ground cuz he could (over center unit) to get out and told his groundie to put it away. Said the groundie hit the wrong lever and lifted the whole front of the truck off the ground, tires and stabilizers.

Exactly my own fear. I would really like to invest in a picker but at $65k upwards for a new version of what I like the used sounds attractive. Untill you read this sort of story.

Do you guys have compulsory equipment inspections with full dissassembly and welds xrayed after 10 years in use?

 

[04superduty]

guess when they say "maintained by the city" does not always mean a good thing.