Allotments 4 All

Just a reminder to take care with any mechanical equipment you use on the allotment...but mainly rotovators.

One of the chaps had an accident on our site this afternoon.He put his machine into reverse and while walking backwards,fell over and the machine carried on over his leg......he will be lucky to keep it!

I wont go into the gory details but the air ambulance was involved.

So be careful out there!

nasty  and a good reminder to keep safe on the gardens and plots

Sorry to hear this Fork, made me cringe a bit.  :o :(

Ewww - that's gonna sting. Hope he recovers as well as possible, as quickly as possible. Dangerous thing this gardening lark.

Poor bloke it makes you cringe , take care everybody.

Oh wow, that's really awful.

 


    I had a similar experience last year when I  lost half of the knuckle of my thumb, on my own made allotment shredder, at least it was a 5hp briggs that did the damage, :)

modern equipment should have a 'dead-man's handle' type thing. ( you let go, machine stops)

another good reason for risk assessments on allotments.

hope the chap doesn't lose his leg, I bet he said a few profanities!

When i put the howard in reverse i have to hold it in gear as soon as i let go the thing rolls forward so it dosnt eat you.

Sounds horrible. What make is it? Remind us never to buy one!

Hope we have better news today...  :)

Much better news today.The chap was operated on,his broken bones plated and pinned and the muscle damage sorted....He can move his toes so the prognosis is quite good  :)

Oh yuk.. there should have been some safety device as Tonybloke says. I'd be suing the @rse of the manufacturer! Good news that he is on the mend.

I dont know the full story yet....I dont know why the rotovator kept going when he fell over.

That's awful, thank goodness he is getting better.

My sister in law's uncle was killed while using a rotovator in Sicily last year.  Nobody is sure what happened because he was on his own at the time.  There were photos in the local newspaper, blood everywhere.  :(

Quote from: tonybloke on March 18, 2011, 18:51:43
modern equipment should have a 'dead-man's handle' type thing. ( you let go, machine stops)

another good reason for risk assessments on allotments.

I used my mantis today.  It is 2 years old and does have a dead mans handle.  As soon as the pressure is eased on the button it stops,  plus you have to press 2 separate buttons to get it started.

Risk assessments on plots would be an absolute minefield for sure.  Hence the get out clause   "the council accept no liability for blah blah blah... on the site."  We have a guy in our town who used to have a plot years ago.  He stepped on a rake head causing the handle to bounce up onto his head with such force it left him severely brain-damaged and a shadow of his former self. 

I will go along about  being careful with garden machinery I took the top of my thumb off above the knuckle last year and had it strapped up for six weeks, it was all my own fault, I will leave the details out because I was that  'thingy', :-[ 

Just asked Tone and his has'nt got a reverse. Glad the chaps ok.

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....

Good news, well it could have been a lot worse.   :o