Dumbest thing I have heard of yet

YIKES!!!!

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.

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.

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.

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.

OzDozer said: 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. Click to expand... 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.

If I open a door partially in winter, for that reason, I only open it about 4 feet so no fork lift will even attempt this stunt.

If I had a dollar for every door frame or door that I've seen hit with a raised forklift mast (even when the door was fully open!), I'd have enough to buy myself a decent forklift.