Safety Meeting Content...

[Tom400CFI]

I am wondering if people have access to safety meeting content that is basically FIRST HAND accounts of an accident? I have tried numorous formats for safety meetings, and the most impactful ones were real, authentic first hand accounts of ski area accidents. They don't have to to be restricted to Grooming either; could be in the shop, avy stuff, Lightning...anything that's applicable to a ski area and is first hand. Could even be your own story that you tell here. Of course, names can be changed so we're not calling anyone or any area out.

Does anyone have anything like this that they can share please?

[Canadianbombar]

Why do I sometimes get the feeling we're the only ones actually using this site? lol

I've told stories to new ops as a way to garner their respect for cat safety. I've also told off mechanics for making unsafe repairs to cats. One in particular that got my attention was :

http://safety.blr.com/workplace-safety- ... -Accident/

You don't really need people telling stories here to get ideas in this day and age...you just google "snow cat death"...."ski lift death" ....."ski lift trapped" etc and get a slew of stories and reports that you could read at a meeting after you've seen someone doing the exact same thing. A good one from the past couple days would be the woman who was trapped in a gondola at Killington for 6 hours because the ops didn't follow procedures.....and the fact the op was fired and the resort is about to be sued.

[Tom400CFI]

Thanks for posting! And yes, I wish there wer more activity here. Site has a lot of potential for things...just like this!

That site is great. I will definiltey be referenceing that in the future. Here is an first hand account from somewhere, that I think is a REAL attention-grabber. You can feel the fear/emotion in it, and that makes it gripping. Impactful. Useful.

This letter is to describe what happened on February x 20xx at
approximately 10:30am In the cat bay as Xxxx and myself were
completing a 800 hour service on PB51.
I started the service on PB51 at 6am Tuesday morning by steaming off the
vehicle to any remove ice and snow and perform a visual
check of the machine. At this time I was working on the vehicle
by myself. The steaming off took a little over a half hour. I then drove
the vehicle onto the lift, centering the vehicle so that the blade and the
tiller hung over evenly from both ends of the lift. I set the parking brake
and started the service.
I worked on PB51 mainly on my own until somewhere near 10am. when Xxxx
offered to help out as he had been busy working on PB53 this morning.
Xxxx and I worked on the service together at this time. I talked to him
about the service and decided that I would tighten the wheel bolts and
check the air pressure of the tires. Xxxx was starting to grease the
vehicle of its many zerks. I completed my task, and then filled the final
drives with oil as they had already been drained. Upon finishing this task
around 10:30am I asked Xxxx if it would be ok to lower the drivers cab and
deck as they are raised to add oils and change filters earlier in the
service. I then would be able to check out the cabin lights and change the
service sticker, as this is difficult to do when the cab is in the raised
position.
As I was standing next to Xxxx at the rear of the Cat he said it would be
ok to lower the cab and deck. I then climbed up the ladder that is
positioned at the drivers side of the vehicle and stood up on the
tracks.Since the cab was up I could start the engine on the left side of
the motor, which I did and proceeded to lower the cab and deck. As they
were lowering every thing was going along fine. When the cab and deck had
completed lowering something was not right at all. The Cat that was on jack
stands was moving backwards. How could this be? I had to balance myself as
the vehicle was moving. Then the cat fell down to the lift that was one
foot beneath it. I was really scared and jumped to the ground and ran
around the Cat to check on Xxxx. At the rear of the cat Xxxx was trapped
with his right leg caught between the ramp of the lift, and the tracks. His
leg was about two feet above his body that lay on the shop floor.
PB 51 had moved about two feet backwards.
Yyyy was nearby with all the commotion and I immediately asked him to call
911 and get a ambulance.
Xxxx as he was trapped asked me to raise the cat lift, which I did. Xxxx
immediately asked me to stop as something was not right. Xxxx then asked me
to raise the cat up. I then brought our 5ton overhead crane over and raised
the Vehicle from the rear lift frame. This worked and Xxxx now had the
vehicle raised off his leg. Yyyy and Zzzz helped Xxxx move his
broken leg off the cat lift. As he was in a very awkward position.
I went to the phone in our office to call [VP Ops]. Yyyy had called
911 and Ski Patrol was arriving at the scene.
I could not believe what had just happened and I was in disbelief.
From the office I had left a message for [VP ops] that we needed him
at the garage ASAP. I then walked to where Xxxx was on the floor.
I tried to put on a reassuring face as I was trembling inside, I was really
scared. But he lay there calm not a sign of panic. Seeing me there, Xxxx
raised his hand up to mine, as he shook my hand he said something like "Hey
it's not your fault". I do not think I was not able to put any words
together for a reply. I probally just nodded my head. Xxxx was in bad
shape and all I could think of was that he would be ok.
I have had the last 5 1/2 hours to think about this accident and here is
what I believe to have happened.
When I parked PB51 on the lift I lowered the blade and tiller.The tiller
switch was left in the down position. The down position is where I have
always left this switch when I service a Snow Cat. I confirmed the position
of this rocker switch around 1:30pm this day when I talked to Yyyy
on the phone and asked him to check what position the tiller rocker
switches were in. As I was at home writing this letter. Yyyy said that the
tiller was in the down pressure position. So when the cat was started the
tiller stayed in the air but when the cab and deck went to the down posi
tion this signaled that the tiller could lower further. The cat was now
only supported by the jackstands and the tiller was now in the air lowering
down.
The Cat was about a foot above the lift (On jack stands) and the lift was
maybe a foot above the garage floor. The tiller started lowering and as it
touched the (floor or the lift) the tiller pulled the cat off its jack
stands as Xxxx was at the back of the cat with the grease gun.
If there are any questions please do not hesitate to call me at home or cell
Wishing you a fast and speedy recovery Xxxx
Please foward this letter to anyone that can benefit from its message
Sincerely

[Canadianbombar]

Yes...Scary! Besides the "In General, be careful" message it conveys....it doesn't hurt reading the stuff to hear about the mistakes of others before you end up making them yourself!! Anyone could have made that mistake for sure!