Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Personal Reminder

 I have been running lawn and landscaping crews for decades. When you do the same thing for years and years you develop a feel for what to expect from a piece of equipment. If you don't see what you are expecting from the operator of that equipment then you need to train that crew member to function more efficiently. Its all about a calm approach to the situation.
 On one particular afternoon while doing leaf cleanup, my brother was running a tractor with a leaf blower mounted to the front of it. He was working on a slope and having some difficulty with the machine. He said the hill was too steep for this rig and was concerned it may tip over.
 This would be a good time for that calm approach to the situation. A chance for everyone to learn without any yelling. Instead I called him a pussy and told him to get out of my way.
 Well as it turns out my brother who has as much experience as I do, was correct. The hill was too steep. The low side tire of the tractor fell in a hole and that was enough for the tractor to flip. It rolled a few times and stopped short of hitting the water.  I was able to hop off without getting hurt.

The machine was upside down but we were able to roll it over to try to stop the fuel from leaking out.
The neighbor brought over a bucket to help put out the fire. It was way too late by then.
 The gas powered leaf blower mounted on the front started leaking fuel. There were some magnificent flames and it didn't take long for all the rubber parts to start burning and all the plastic pieces to melt. The 13 hp honda powered blower was a total loss. The front of the $12,000 diesel tractor suffered a lot of damage. Luckily we were a dealer for this brand of mower so we had most of the needed parts on the shelf back at the shop.

 So I look at these pictures every now and again just to keep myself in check. Hey, we all make mistakes but I was kinda an asshole in this situation. This was a turning point for me. A real game changer.
 Oh, I can still be and ass, but I'm a lot more cautious on slopes.

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