How'd it go today?

[woodworkingboy]

Bad day ....removing and toping a bunch of oaks around a vacation home.

Three or four trees into the job, the crane operator swings the jib into place, then brings the boom low to the ground to do the alterations required with the cable and electrical connections.....forgets (DAMN!) to insert the locking pin that keeps the jib swung in place. I ride up and cable off the tree, another guy is doing the cut half way up the tree. The top gets lifted over the house and the jib contacts some other limbs, swings free and comes crashing down into the boom, and the tree falls with it and takes out the edge of the roof, royal!!

I couldn't believe it as it was happening, had about one second to realize something wasn't right before CRASH .....my first thought was that I didn't lock off the cable, but then I saw the jib, and the crane operator gets out and says, "No pin, I forgot".

The insurance company came right out, and we put a tarp over the busted up roof. The crane boom suffered damage as well.

It could have been a lot worse, had the tree been directly over the center of the house when the jib let go, instead of off to the edge, and nobody below, very fortunately

Two elderly folks were in house...what can you do except to offer apologies and assurances that all damage will be responsibly repaired, and tell yourself never again...at least I'm sure that's what our crane guy was telling himself. He's an extremely conscientious operator, but had a bad flu going that day, just wasn't himself. I know he's being very hard on himself
tonight. As I said, we came away fortunate. Man, be careful out there Treehousers.

A few pics of the incident.

Jay

 

[MasterBlaster]

Man, that's a wack mistake. Is the crane company gonna make restitution?

 

[woodworkingboy]

Yep, bad mistake. Insurance will cover the costs, not sure if there is a deductable. The crane co. is responsible.

 

[Awsomeclimber]

Sorry to hear that Jay, must of been quite a scare

 

[No_Bivy]

HOLY SHAT!! least it didn't come off when you were riding up!

I started getting worried bout situations like that, I always check for myself before setting sail. I have even sarted using a pad lock on the ball, replacing the clevis pin. I worry about brush pulling it off...lock is much mo betta'

 

[woodworkingboy]

Yeah, scary for everyone for sure. There was just this real strange moment of silence for about a minute after the crash, nobody said anything and the crane operator looked like he was frozen in the cab. After the incident, the thought of that happening when I was getting pulled up did run through my brain. Even without the lock pin though, the jib isn't likely to swing away from the boom unless it contacts some pretty strong resistance, like heavy branches. I was only getting lifted straight up through the crown ...but still it's no fun to think about the possibilities.

You can see in the photo that the limbs are pretty thick in the area over the road, the crane had a real problem bringing down the tops through all of that. Also, there were some electrical lines here and there. The operator just got ahead of himself, I think.

It's a good lesson, I'm positive of that, and even though it shouldn't be my concern, I'll be peeking over the operators shoulder from now on when he should be putting in the pin. A little back up check in secret can't hurt.

 

[squisher]

spent the day in an arborist apprenticeship meeting, analyzing the occupational analysis and beginning to develope the program outline. Sigh, I hate sitting in offices all day. For free.

Any talk yet on fees or getting grandfathered in? If there's fees involved..........I'm gonna be choked!

 

[lumberjack]

It's really cool though that the little crane has a luffing jib.

Glad you didn't go for a ride, Jay!

I like having my lite lift, the biggest question on most jobs is, "Can I get it to the tree." Never broken any concrete or bricks with it. It's nice to pull the lift onto their brick patio and set up on it.

 

[woodworkingboy]

Yea Carl, I prefer going down slow while enjoying the scenery .

Having the jib on the 24 ton comes in very handy. He bought that crane used for about 90k, and it's seen a lot of use. Without the jib, we'd be hard pressed to do a lot of jobs.

 

[Al Smith]

Biggest concern usually is hot pavement.

--To add to that ,I've seen the outriggers on cranes and bucket trucks etc go right through soft asphault because no pads were used .

 

[Che]

Glad YOU weren't hurt, Jay!

 

[sotc]

wow, glad it wasnt worse!

 

[woodworkingboy]

Thanks guys, everybody came away unhurt, but sure thinking to themselves. Just another example that inexcusable mistakes can happen.

 

[TC3]

Yeah, Jay... what they all said. Wow.
I could feel that silent, "oh shit" moment you wrote about. It's in those 5 seconds that your brain registers nobody is screaming or dead.

 

[woodworkingboy]

My first thought after, "Oh crap, was this my fault?", was to go run and check on the people inside the house, like maybe the tree went through the roof indoors. It could just have easily done so. It wasn't a real big one, but those oak trees are heavy. Anyway, tomorrow's another day

 

[Stumper]

Any responsible person in any culture would be feeling very bad in the crane operator's place right now. Being that you are in Japan... is this going to particularly hard for the operator?

 

[stehansen]

Haven't you guys learned anything? When stuff like this happens you are supposed to run, like the guys in Florida. Glad no one was hurt.

 

[woodworkingboy]

No Stump, I doubt he is going to hang himself by his necktie, like is sometimes done by people who cause traffic accidents here. He is a top notch operator, and after the thing happened, he took care of what he had to in a very expedient and professional way....called the person who had set up the job and knew the homeowners, had them soon out there to assure the people of the situation being completely taken care of, also his insurance guy was there in forty minutes. I didn't see him whimping out or feeling sorry for himself in the slightest. Pretty solid guy. Still, as I mentioned, I know that he's very disappointed in himself.

Before heading home, he apologized to me and the other guy in the crew, for the extra work and worry from his error. I told him no way he should even think about that. We're all pretty tight.

It will be interesting though, how the incident gets discussed in future conversations at lunch.....if he should bring it up .

 

[Paul B]

Any talk yet on fees or getting grandfathered in? If there's fees involved..........I'm gonna be choked!

Nope, not at that stage yet. Why would you be choked if there is a cost to take a grandfather or C of Q test? Examiners dont work for free!

Its just us on the steering committee and such that volunteer . The researchers and other folks are all getting paid to be involved.

 

[JIML]

Tried to flip the bucket truck over, Pulled over into a small ditch and was going to work off the side. I walked it first but it was only solid on top, mush down below. The fuel tank on the passenger side was touching the ground. Tried to raise one side up with the outrigger but the ground was too soft. Buried several logs under it and still kept pushing. Had to get the tractor and winch it sideways back onto the road.

Drizzled rain all day, windy too boot.

 

[SkwerI]

Ain't it the truth, Jim. The bucket truck never gets stuck until it's stuck. It seems easy enough to jack it up with the outriggers and crib under the tires but in reality it takes a lot of time and effort. I've about worn myself out getting mine out of a couple soft spots. Thankfully never stuck in a ditch (yet). I think I'd be mighty nervous attempting to work under a 28K lb truck leaning heavily like that.

 

[JIML]

Oh it was leaning lol, outside dual on the road was ~6" off the ground. My ass puckered for a second. lol.

I stacked 5 outrigger pads under the rigger and it still buried them.

Worst part was I was right on a main highway... Tons of traffic.

 

[lumberjack]

I figured the worse part was getting the 5 pads back from China?

3 weeks ago:

Today:

For a cool $2266.97. Need to get some wheels on it, I think all I want is plain jane stock wheels but I haven't found any yet at a reasonable price (aint paying $380 a wheel for one new OEM wheel). Guess I could call the junk yard and see what they have.

 

[SkwerI]

They didn't replace the pinstriping? I know it doesn't seem like much but it helps add some distinction to an otherwise bland shape.

 

[lumberjack]

I had them remove the pin striping down that side, I had already removed it from the driver's side.

If you notice, I have 2 new headlights as well, they did me up right.

Not a pin stripe fan. I'll put a big assed bi or tri wing on the trunk to help give the body some character.