#skid steer

The TYPHON TERROR X STORM Mini Excavator brings compact strength to small construction, landscaping, farming, gardening, and trenching jobs. 🚜

Our skid steerer at work is leaking coolant under the foot pedals (apparently there's a heat exchanger under em...something that surprised our mechanic). It was neat to see her all opened up like this. Figure folks that wanna do forklifts/skik steerer characters for the WOC might be able to use these pics.

A very young person died at work in what was most likely a preventable occupational incident in Grimshaw Alberta, a town that carries a small population of 2700 people in remote Northern Alberta. The only details release so far is that the victim was trapped underneath the bucket of a skid steer while him and the operator were attempting to add gravel to fence post holes, a project that was intended to install chain link fences at a business that sells farm seeds and chemicals. 

OHS was forced to place a stop work order and Alberta Labour spokesperson said “Not the entire site [was placed under stop work order], just the equipment that was part of the incident”. Based on these details its clear the bucket disconnected from the lift arms and fell onto the worker, whether due to poorly maintained skid steer hydraulics or because the operator failed to connect it properly. Had the whole site been under stop work, we could assume more complex events were involved. 

I’ve investigated near misses very similar to this before and I believe this was likely preventable by the operator, had he not been lazy. Skid Steer connections have visible indicators when the bucket is soundly secure, because you can literally see thick steel pins locking into holes in the bucket. And if you can’t see them very well due to mud, snow, low light, or perhaps they’re in an awkward position, you can tilt your bucket forward, press it against the ground, and then travel in reverse like this to test the connection of the pins. If the connection is weak, the bucket will fall off the lift arms during the test. 

I assume the operator 1) failed to check these pins after connecting to the bucket, and/or 2) failed to test the connection immediately after changing attachments (such as from forks to a bucket). The only way I can see the operator not being at fault is if the hydraulics gave away after the connection was secure, but even in those cases such a scenario is largely preventable with pre-use inspections, scheduled maintenance, and diligent listening to the equipment.