What not to do on the job

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I saw this as it happened. I was training another driver, and told him that this guy was leaning too far, AND HE WAS!!!!



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The new driver about ***** his pants
 
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Sure he just didn't let the clutch out a little too fast ??



Scary stuff. I bet he doesn't get to keep this job very long... ...



Merrick Cummings Jr
 
MCummings, he was not moving , just raising the bed. I have seen three of these things go over and every time it is like the first time seeing it. Awe, exhilaration, and fear all rolled into one.



The load was too far foward in the bed, and he counted on it breaking loose.



Just for the record, they had just got this unit back from the last rollover. It had a brand new cab on it.



The driver now drives a roller/compactor.
 
Re: here is another one turned over

I used to run a single axle dump around the job site. When we would excavate for townhouses, we used to move large amounts of dirt. They would load me, I would back up this pile until I was at the top, then dump. After while the dozer would have to go up the pile to compact the dirt.



One time I was up there about 30 foot up on this pile, just backed a little over the top so the dirt would roll down the other side, turned on the PTO, released the tail gate and put the dump up. I would start to move forward to help remove the complete load, and the tail gate had stuck closed and the full load was sitting high on the bed, when I started to roll forward the cab of the truck stood straight up in the air until the tail gate was sitting on the pile! I looked out the window and could see nothing but the ground about 40 feet below. Scared the (you know what) out of me! Before I knew what was happening, the tail gate broke free, letting the dirt out and the cab slowly came back to earth. that was the last load of dirt I moved that day :(
 
A couple of monthes ago, there was a guy hauling a near new rear engine Cat crawler that had a loader on it (953?, don't recall). There was mud on the trailer it was being hauled on. The driver went around the corner to fast and the chains broke. It slid side-ways and fell off the trailer onto its side. Took a couple of cranes to get it back upright. My dad said it made one heck off a noise when it went.
 
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Tragic story.

Last week at a Little Rock, AR dump site, a truck trailer turned over while dumping, as in the first photo the load didn't slip.



Tragic part was a man, his son and brother had just pulled a 16' trailer of tree trimmings in to unload next to the big truck trailer and it totally flattened the Suburban they were driving. Killed the 17 year old and his dad. From the local news footage, looked like a steam roller ran over their rig. Only reason the brother survived, he was outside the Chev when the accident happened.
 
I saw a guy do the same thing in a CO brick factory. He got lucky and the trailer frame twisted leaving the tractor upright with no damage?!!
 
Re: Re: here is another one turned over

Originally posted by TowPro

Scared the (you know what) out of me! that was the last load of dirt I moved that day :(



I hauled fly ash with a dump trailer already. The coal burner plant would mix a little water with it to minimize the dust so it was merely insidious. It paid to take notice of the wind direction because a little gust would put you over if it stuck.



Another good move for dumps is having the body raise at a rather inconvienient time. I know of one incident where a raised dump took out a small steel railroad bridge that fell and killed the hapless driver.
 
Re: Re: Re: here is another one turned over

Originally posted by QRTRHRS

Another good move for dumps is having the body raise at a rather inconvienient time. I know of one incident where a raised dump took out a small steel railroad bridge that fell and killed the hapless driver.



A week or so back they had the same thing happen on I-35 in Austin. Dump trailer raised while he was running down the interstate. Made some kind of mess outta the metal sign bridge over the road. Took quite a bit of untangling to get that one apart.
 
I worked an accident for the ELectric Company a couple of years ago where this rock truck driver drove off with his bed up. No problem, except he was in a residential zone and hit the overhead power lines. It was our main feeder line for that part of town. Burnt that new truck and trailer to the ground. His brand new radials caught fire right off. Worse part of the accident was he was still in the burning truck afraid to get out when I got there. It took me several minutes of yelling to talk him out of the burning cab. The feeder breaker had allready tripped several times and was in lock out when I got there. He was refusing to get out because the breaker had reclosed back three times before lock out and he was afraid it was going try again. Even tho I climbed onto the steps ofthe rig several times he wouldn't get out. Tires on fire the whole time. And we all know what a tire fire lookes like. About the time I got him out the fire dept showed up. Fire station, 3 blocks away. Seemed their power was out and their Generator was broke. So the stations phones and radios weren't working. I coughed tire smoke for three days. I can still see his eyes wide as saucers with fear. He tried to lower the bed but the valves and everything were welded together.



It was funny afterward.



CJ
 
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A couple of the guys and the instructor in my CDL class had one lay it over in front of them this morning. Guy comes around the corner on a downhill grade and found traffic stopped dead. He was local so he should have known better. He tried to go to the right of the stopped cars since the guys in the truck were coming at him. Only problem was a bank which laid him over. His cab protector flattened the passenger side of one car. One lucky but shook up and bruised driver walked out of it. The guys pulled the dump truck driver out through a broken window.
 
Wish I could print a pictur out of my mind. We ran a dump truck roll-over some years ago. We drive up to see the driver standing on the bottom door as he finishes his beer.
 
One of our drivers picked up our brand new Cat excavator to take to the job site. Out of the yard up on the freeway and bang. 15'8" boom under a 14' bridge. Totaled the trailer because the excavator tried to bend it in the middle. Close to 1 million dollars damage to the bridge. 100 gallon oil spill. 6 months later and the machine is still at Cat being rebuilt.
 
A friend of mine used to work for a Massey dealer. His boss was hauling a Deere 9500 combine to the shop to be worked on. He hit a low bridge and pretty much totaled out the combine. Don't know how the bridge turned out.
 
ouch, i drive a dump trailer for a living. . i know plenty of stories . . i've been lucky myself as i've never had a problem... . you just need to make sure your level!. . and a bed liner helps ALOT!... watch the bed as it lifts off the trailer frame, if it shifts to one side that low watch out . . either drop it and move the truck/ trailer again till its level or go really slow up... . if the piston stays centered in the doghouse past the first two stages your probably OK, also watch your rear body over the mud flaps if one side shifts closer to a tire as its dumping then its leaning. . etc. . also watch out for the clouds in the sky on some days with fast moving clouds in the sky you'll be dumping and see a cloud drift by in the back ground as your watching the body go up and you'll nearly crap your self thinking the trailer is going over ha. . but don't get overconfident. . most of the guys i know who have flipped a truck have been drivers that had many many years under there belts... . always be careful. . your life or someone elses depends on it... i have heard people say the day your not scared/ or alert when your in the truck if the day you'll get hurt ,or its the day you should stop driving... . its dangerous and needs respect. Also never stop learning or start being cocky you never know it all . . new experiences happen every day...

stay away from hollw trunnion bars on centerpoint suspensions too . . bad news if your lucky it will break pulling out of a gravel bank or quarry and not on the hi way. . its not worth the weight savings over a solid trunnion bar.

i know a guy who have his pto engage in his truck while driving on the highway ( he had a old r model mack with a "live" stick pto) any how his body went up and he hit a overpass at 65-70 mph. . ripped the cab right off the truck frame he ended up being thrown under the dash. . he lived to tell about and still drives his own dump trailer. .

we also just had a local dump trailer driver roll his truck over on the highway when he supposedly had brake problems and drove around a car waiting to turn, his truck over turned into a creek half on the road and half in the water. . took 3 hour to cut him out of the cab. . he died on the way to the hospital... if was a new driver just got into a dump trailer 2 days prior. . before that he ran triaxle dump trucks . . sad story he was in his early 20's...

be safe out there

later

deo

\x/ hillfolk!
 
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Never saw either, but I heard of several guys who were hauling ag lime. While they were dumping in a field, the ground sank on one side more than the other. Over she went. I think they were both 40' frameless trailers too. Didn't sound like anyone was hurt.
 
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