Topic: Rotovator Accident

[Morris]

Eeew, what a lot of horrible, gruesome stories. I am glad I mostly just stick to spade and fork - although you can do yourself a pretty good injury with either of those if you try, I suppose.

I do hope the poor man is still doing well.

[ACE]

another good reason for risk assessments on allotments.

What good would a risk assessment do? It only highlights the risk, does nothing to stop it happening. You cannot stop a member of the public doing what he wants on his own plot. Only advise and instruct, which puts you in the clear if it is a community machine. When I was a council foreman I would give a verbal warning if I ever caught anybody walking backwards with a rotovator/ mower, etc. If they got caught again they were down the road. We eventually only allowed people with a certificate of competence on the machines they had to use. It cost a fortune in training and it might have seemed like health and safety gone mad. But accidents had to be reported RoSPA, we could get fined if training had not been taken and it would also have made us bad employers. But at home they could be as careless as they liked.

[Mr Smith]

I can just see Spike Milligan singing 'I'm walking backwards for Christmas' at the same time  using a 'Mantis' and getting a bollocking off 'ACE', ;D

[hippydave]

Hmm... I'll check mine next time I get it out.... Howards are supposed to have an interlock to prevent reverse and rotor, but it's easily removed..... My small Howard (a 200) doesn't have a reverse gear anyway, but the 400 does, but it's pretty hard to accidentally engage a gear (it can be a bugger to get into gear deliberately sometimes) .... Given how often I'm alone when I'm rotovating (or indeed doing anything on the plot) that would be a death sentance for me.....

Best wishes  to the injured guy....


My howard 350 dosnt, when i put it in reverse the rotors still spin but i have to hold the gear leaver in to engage reverse as soon as i let go tne lever springs out and the rotovator goes forward a wee bit because all the weight is at the fror of the machine.

[powerspade]

All gardening tools whether machine or hand tools can be dangerous, A couple of years ago I was putting the fork over my plot and someone shouted to me as I turned to look I put the fork straight through my foot. Everyone on site was afraid to pull it out and I was taken to the local A & E with it still in my foot.

[chriscross1966]

My howard 350 dosnt, when i put it in reverse the rotors still spin but i have to hold the gear leaver in to engage reverse as soon as i let go tne lever springs out and the rotovator goes forward a wee bit because all the weight is at the fror of the machine.

Discovered my 400 doesn't either.... but it is very old.....  I guess part of the problem is that modern interlocked machinery might be safe but it isn't very good....a 50 year old Howard will chew through the ground like nothing else but has nothing other than the operator's attention to ensure that it doesn't also chew through the operator's foot..... Last year putting my spuds in took a day to do badly with half as many spuds as this year cos I was using a modern machine I'd hired. THis year it didn't take a morning (and then only cos I got chatting to any number of folks on the site)  cos I was using an ancient, "unsafe" machine......

[Larkshall]

I can just see Spike Milligan singing 'I'm walking backwards for Christmas' at the same time  using a 'Mantis' and getting a bollocking off 'ACE', ;D

Anyone who has studied the Mantis will know that it couldn't run over you. You have to pull it backwards, if you let go of the handles it will a stop working, if it didn't the rotation of the tynes is forward and it would run forward not backwards. It would topple over and stop when you leave go of the handles.

Few of the commonly used rotavators have a reverse gear anyway. I have an Einhell which has a "deadmans handle" type of clutch lever. I used to have a Merrytiller Major and a Templar, both used the same type of clutch as the Einhell.

[chriscross1966]

I think a part of the problem is that there's a lot of old equipment avaialble on ebay and if you talk to your local rotavator nut (every site has at least one, round my way it's Brian, he has over a hundred rotavators) then they'll all wholeheatedly recommend the older gear over the newer stuff. I certainly would, chances are you'll never be using it for very many hours a year so whatever wear state it's in when you buy it it will still be in in ten years time, and from personal experience a modern rotavator with a high-speed OHV engine on it is nothing like as effective as an equivalently priced older machine.... but the older machine assumes you've either had instruction in its use or else went to a school where they taught gardening anyway, the Howard Gem was built for smallholders who had been taught how to use them......

chrisc

[Larkshall]

from personal experience a modern rotavator with a high-speed OHV engine on it is nothing like as effective as an equivalently priced older machine

chrisc

My experience of using the Einhell is that it compares favourably with the two older machines I had. Although it hasd an OHV engine it does not need to run at high revs., in fact it performs much better on our heavy clay when running at low revs. just more than a tick-over. The 4.5hp engine is only cultivating 36cm wide, while the Merry Tiller Major had a 4.0hp engine cultivating 60cm wide. Running at low revs. the Einhell 3336 is very economical on fuel.

[Jeannine]

Dreadful news, I am hoping he is well soon, they frighten me actually.

Re the man who stood on the bgraden rake.. I did this years ago, same year as Argentina was fighting us,  long story for another day but iut was there fault I stood on the rake.

The rake went right through my foot, the foot didn't heal and despite several x rays that revealed nothing several months later they had to open my foot.. they found part of my shoe in there..well it was a slipper actually. Point is for years I have said I would rather it had come up and hit me, now I have changed my mind.

These accidents are always awful and just around the corner,

stay safe folks.

 XX Jeannine

PS.. don't go outside in your slippers to see what OH is up to.

[saddad]

I'm always going out onto the lottie in my slippers... but still have all my toes (tempting fate I know!)...  :)