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Dumbest thing I have heard of yet

Silveroddo

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 23, 2010
Messages
293
Location
Northern MN
I worked at ASV one winter putting hours on Pre-Production skidsteers at their test track. Terex owned them at the time, one day we were told to stay away from half the facility for the afternoon. Turned out they were getting sued for pretty much that exact thing. A guy had taken the door off of an RC-30 and hardwired the safety switches and managed to get his legs pinched between the loader and frame. There were 2 techs, 4 engineers, about a dozen lawyers, going over an RC-30 all afternoon, I never heard what the outcome of the law suit was.
 

DMiller

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2010
Messages
16,559
Location
Hermann, Missouri
Occupation
Cheap "old" Geezer
Saw a old man working at Mack in STL with a number of busted up, not quite right parts, arm, hand, leg, he explained to any who would listen get ANYWHERE near to a brake lathe, engine lathe, drill press or mill, tuck in your shirt, make sure your belt is fastened and do NOT let sleeves dangle or wear cuffed gloves. He managed to survive ALL three machines over a year's time.
 

Tones

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 15, 2009
Messages
3,078
Location
Ubique
Occupation
Ex land clearing contractor, part-time retired
Same applies to PTO driven ag equipment. I reckon there's more people mamed or killed with that stuff than anything else. It's been that way ever since I can remember and still DF's don't learn.
 

OzDozer

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2007
Messages
2,207
Location
Perth, Western Australia.
Occupation
Semi-Retired ..
Who can recall the incredible Caterpillar forklift lawsuit incident many years ago? (STR it was late 80's/early 90's?).
A forklift operator had rolled his forklift, doing something stupid with (turning fast with mast raised, possibly uneven ground). As the forklift rolled, the operator got flung out (no seatbelt), some part of the forklift (probably cabin leg), landed on top of him, he lost both his legs.
He took Caterpillar to court over the basic instability of the Caterpillar forklift design (hey, I thought all forklifts with a raised mast become unstable, but let's not ruin a good lawyers story).
Caterpillar got into top gear with their best lawyers and company experts, they were going to laugh this case out of court.
One senior Cat manager was so enthusiastic about getting the defence right, he even took the same model forklift for a drive, and carried out the same foolish manoeuvre to prove up the forklifts great stability!
Guess what? The forklift rolled, the Cat manager got flung out, the same forklift component landed on him, and the manager lost both his legs!!
Caterpillar dropped their forklift instability defence, and settled the lawsuit out of court.
The Cat managers accident was never revealed outside Cat, but like everything, the incident became known amongst certain people in the industry.
 

Willie B

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2016
Messages
4,060
Location
Mount Tabor VT
Occupation
Electrician
Who can recall the incredible Caterpillar forklift lawsuit incident many years ago? (STR it was late 80's/early 90's?).
A forklift operator had rolled his forklift, doing something stupid with (turning fast with mast raised, possibly uneven ground). As the forklift rolled, the operator got flung out (no seatbelt), some part of the forklift (probably cabin leg), landed on top of him, he lost both his legs.
He took Caterpillar to court over the basic instability of the Caterpillar forklift design (hey, I thought all forklifts with a raised mast become unstable, but let's not ruin a good lawyers story).
Caterpillar got into top gear with their best lawyers and company experts, they were going to laugh this case out of court.
One senior Cat manager was so enthusiastic about getting the defence right, he even took the same model forklift for a drive, and carried out the same foolish manoeuvre to prove up the forklifts great stability!
Guess what? The forklift rolled, the Cat manager got flung out, the same forklift component landed on him, and the manager lost both his legs!!
Caterpillar dropped their forklift instability defence, and settled the lawsuit out of court.
The Cat managers accident was never revealed outside Cat, but like everything, the incident became known amongst certain people in the industry.
There are forklift operators much like shellfish, hatched without a brain.
I know a facility, they open the overhead doors just enough. In winter, it's very cold. they have 900,000 BTU boiler & 140,000 BTU of radiator. Nobody wants to open the door all the way. A few times a winter, somebody roars out the door at 15 MPH with the mast too high for the half open door. Upper panels are quite dirty, bottom two are always shiny new.
 
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