A Personal Story

Here is the story of what happened to a friend of mine. We hope others can avoid the suffering Tom and his family went through because of his mistakes.

Safety it Matters to ME!
By Tom R.
There are very few employees out in the work force that have experienced the many things that go through your mind when you fear that death is close. I have been there and would like to share my thoughts and what I learned.

As a Facility Manager of a VPP site, I have always stressed to my employees to take a moment to think about what dangers or risks can be ahead of you when you take on any type of task. I was filling in for one of my employees at a one man facility, loading trucks, watering the roads, etc. By lunch time the daily activities were completed so I decided to move several 40’ sections of conveyor out of the high grass, where they had been stored for several years. We had found use for these conveyor sections at another facility and were preparing them for transport.

I was using a Cat 980C loader with an OSHA-approved sling attached to the bucket for this task; the contour of the area was fairly flat. The process was quit simple; I would drive up to the sections with the bucket in the air, apply the parking brake on the loader, get out and attach a chain on each side of the conveyor. Once back in the loader, pick the sections up and move them to an area where they would be easy to get at. I had moved several sections with no problems.

After lining up the loader to pick the next section, I noticed there was a very small downward slope; I applied the hand brake and got out of the loader to hook the chains to the conveyor as in previous moves. While hooking the chain to the one side I heard the sound of dry grass cracking, and before I could turn to see what the sound was, I was hit in the back with the left front tire of the loader. It pinned me between the tire and the conveyor section. I stood there for several seconds and wondered how this could happen to me; what did I do wrong?

I tried to move, but couldn’t. I was stuck!

(This facility was located in a fairly remote area where there is very little activity). I yelled for help, but every time I did -- the loader pushed tighter, not allowing my lungs to take in any air, by the fourth try I was out of air. I thought to myself is this it…is this the way it will end for me?.

I must have passed out at this time and remember that many different images flashed through my mind while I stood there helpless. Most of these images were things from my past (me growing up; my children when they were young, etc.). Then, all of a sudden, I heard a man yelling several times, ‘where are you?’ I was able to wiggle the lifting chain enough that he had heard it. He asked what he should do, with a whispering voice and some hand signals I got it across to him to get in the loader and pull back the lever located on the left side of the steering column (shift lever). As he did that, I remember falling to the ground and must have passed out again. When I woke up I was laying along side the loader with a man and women kneeling next to me, telling me not to move. Soon the paramedics arrived and transported me to the hospital.

As I look back at this accident there were several amazing things that happened which told me it was not my time to go yet. First of all, the man that came to my aid first, worked at a malting plant several hundred feet away from where the accident happened. Normally he never comes out the back door of the building on his break, but on this day he did, and happened to hear me call for help. Second, the women who had been kneeling at my side worked two blocks away on the third floor of a three story building. Normally she would have the air conditioner running in her office, but because the weather was so nice out, she had shut off her air conditioner and opened her window. Therefore, she also heard my calls for help. And finally, the loader was at a slight angle to the conveyor when it hit me, which meant that the outside of the tire ran up against the conveyor about the same time it pinned me against the conveyor. Had the loader come straight at me it would have cut me it half.

Lessons Learned

Rushing and Complacency played a roll it this accident! This caused me to make some poor choices:
1. MAINTAIN YOUR FOCUS! This was a two-man task that I should not have been doing alone, I knew better, but was so focused on getting the job done I forgot about safety.

2. MIND ON TASK! Things were going so well, I let my guard down and failed to recognize that the loader was parked on a slight slope when I exited the cab. I was focused on getting these last few conveyors moved. Yes, I set the hand brake (as a matter of habit) but never really considered that the loader might actually move!

3. STAY OUT OF THE LINE OF FIRE! I put myself in the line of fire resulting by walking in front of the 980. It would have been just as easy for me to walk around to the other side of the conveyor to hook the chains, thus I would have seen the loader moving towards the conveyor (EYES ON TASK), and been out of the way.

4. A SIMPLE MISTAKE…an assumption was made!
The emergency brake was out of adjustment and failed to keep the machine from rolling. The brake had not been tested for adjustment recently. It was always parked in a level area, and never moved once the brake was applied. This time the machine was parked on a slight slope and it did not hold.

The Take Away
If you get nothing else out of this story, know this: Injuries can happen to anyone, don’t think they can’t happen to you! I spent over 40 years in the construction industry without an injury; the first one darn near killed me. Don’t let it happen to you!

I am very fortunate to be alive, but some of these injuries will affect me for the rest of my life. Let me tell you something, Safety matters to me, and it should matter to YOU!