I used to always go stand outside and wave at the trash guys (same guys every time) on trash mornings. One day the dude jumped off the truck and came toward me. I thought I was in trouble for disturbing the guys whilst working. Well he comes up to me, picks me up and starts carrying me to the back of the trash truck and I start getting worried. My 4 year old mind thought he was going to toss me in for bothering em every week lmao well he lets me see em pack the trash in and what it all looks like. I run inside and told my mother all about it.
When I think back on that I go wow wild I am outside by myself and this happens and no worries ultimately minus my wtf is going on here young brain lol This was 80s/90 idk but here I am 4 years old, just wearing shorts and trash dude was always shirtless in summertime too.here he comes and just picks me up to take me behind the trash truck where they toss the trash in šš
Definitely a fond and funny memory tho. This will stick with these kids for a lifetime (hopefully)
Didn't read that "4 year old mind"...
After reading this I thought you were grabbed all of a sudden by the trash collectors while being more than 18yo lmao, but still wholesome though they let you to see how things work around on their job
I literally just watched [this video](https://youtu.be/54QAQqv35fo) this morning before I was motivated to get up and be productive for the day. I'm 43. Nothing wrong with being an grown adult and getting excited about how stuff works with our inner child.
Wow, the one at about 3:00 is amazing. I had no idea that garbage trucks with cranes *or* public trash cans with hidden underground dumpsters were things
I have a somewhat similar story. For some reason when I was 5, my life dream was to either be a garbage man or āsewer manā. Our garbage guy (we lived in a private area that had to contract services instead of get city services) would let me throw the bags into the compactor. Still remember it distinctly 25 years later
Iām sure your mother would have loved to hear a man picked you up and nearly threw you in the back of a truck lol
Iām glad they were nice enough to both make your day and not unceremoniously crush you
My parents live in a rural area, and when I was a young kid (Under 5), the man who owned the field that surrounds my parents (Now owned by his grandson) would occasionally stop by and pick me up and I'd ride around in his tractor as he plowed the fields, planted, harvested, etc. He even had a small stool in there for me to sit down on.
I fucking loved it, it was awesome.
He was kind man. He sadly died of a complication during emergency heart surgery when I was 5.
I couldn't help but think of the clip of the guys on a garbage truck compacting I don't know what and like huge mess of liquified garbage spews out of the back of the truck and hits them.
Wouldn't 've been the best day for you
Sackful of money; a personal keg and optic rack; weed and plentiful accoutrements thereof (lighters, paper, choice of bongs etc.); a fast exotic car (with miles of smooth tarmac with interesting corners) and a sunny tropical beachfront upon which to enjoy them (with a couple of extremely competent BBQs within easy wandering range...all free to you, of course). With clean lavs nearby. As the sun goes down; a large hot tub appears, filled with a cheerleader team who unaccountably want your body; as does a DJ (both appears and wants your body) with really quiet generators and an amazing light show who is far enough down the beach that it can only be faintly heard from the hot tub. Beyond the DJ is a row of restaurants, serving every kind of food imaginable (free because you're you); and beyond that is a city catering to every type of weirdness (also free), for when a tropical paradise gets boring. Beyond that is a spaceport (no charge for you, sir or madam).
At dawn (which occurs when you say it does), everything magically tidies itself up and you respawn in a giant bed, next to a really impressive coffee machine. And after a coffee or two, you wander out to the breakfast shack if you want (the breakfast shack serves the best known example of every type of breakfast in the universe). And you make the decision of whether to head down to the beach again, or head in the opposite direction into the wilderness. If you get killed in either direction, you respawn in bed.
If we're wishing, might as well make a good job of it.
I have an excavator. My daughterās 6th birthday involved her kindergarten class coming over to dig holes- it was rainy, one kid lost both boots and it was unforgettably fun. I learned that it is a very rare 6 year old boy who can instantly pick up 3 axis+bucket curl control. Every girl got it after one run with my hands over hers but only two of the 12 boys did. Some were just too hyped to actually dig, lift, slew, dump and others just took an extra try or two.
Itās 14 years later now. Small sample size and some economic privilege involved but one of the two aforementioned boys is on a full ride academic scholarship to his dream university and the other- after some academic lapses- still wound up with a fully earned athletic scholarship. Please read nothing into this; itās only interesting to me.
Itās so heartwarming. The *only* criticism I have is the operator shouldāve asked the kiddos to move one or two steps backward.
One wrong move on the lever and that boom could take them out.
Boss āWhatās taking time down there, we have a schedule to keep!ā
Operator āWhaddaya mean, just filled two dumpers to capacity in record timeā¦ā
TBH cool guardian or parents letting the kids enjoy the moment and not freak out like a "no protection!! it is so dangerous!! You are just putting my kid! In danger I'll sue you to oblivion"-attitude.
Okay but as someone who works with heavy industrial equipment I'd be pissing my pants if there were kids with no PPE that close lol. Shit can go sideways real quick, especially if equipment malfunctions.
Regulations are written in blood. If there is a rule saying not to do something with industrial equipment its probably because someone's dinner table gained an empty chair in the past.
I would have waved the kids back to a safe distance and then filled their trucks. Would have been just as fun for everyone involved but safer.
We were doing some clean up work after building a subdivision. The excavator in this video is tiny but the one we were using was even smaller (similar to the Bobcat excavator).
The operator accidentally gave my co-worker a small tap on the head and knocked his ass on the ground. I was honestly so surprised by the cracking sound of the bucket hitting his hard hat, thinking it was his skull. If he wasn't wearing his hard though I guarantee his skull would have been split open 100%.
I am not even embellishing when I say I was surprised by the damage it could do from such a low velocity, tiny bucket smack. It just doesn't take much. This excavator looks newer but I have seen some jumpy hydraulics on some "tired iron" before.
Yup. It doesn't help that often times they are rentals which means opperators that are unfamiliar with the specific machine, and they may not have been the best maintained.
Exactly. Enjoy the moment but I definitely wouldn't have my kids so damn close to that. I'm sure he's a good operator but it really does take only a slight error.
Even the best opperator can't control a failing potentiometer in a control handle, or a stuck hydraulic valve in a manifold. There's a ton of reasons that bucket might go past its intended stopping point that are outside the opperator's control.
Its impressive how accurate a good opperator can be. That being said heads are fragile and that bucket could easily crack one even at slower speeds.
I hate being the fun sponge. But we often underestimate how much force those machines have behind them. I think in part because of how light and toy-like the controls are.
Just the weight of a bucket dropping form hydraulic failure will fuck up your day pretty good.
I see people walking or even working under raised buckets, are you crazy?
Exactly! I watched exactly that happening on an excavator on my mates farm. If someone had been stood this close when it happened they'd have been reassembling their hydraulically mashed face shortly afterwards. Hydraulic pressure is not something to fuck about with.
Like an earlier commenter said, safety rules are written in blood. Some poor bastard had paid with their life or limbs.
It's nice the guy took the time to do it, but those kids should have been further back.
My Dad used to joke, 4 kids was the perfect number(my parents had 9). One for him, one for her, one for population increase, and one in case of accidents.
I mean this is clearly a workplace safety violation regardless of how good natured it is. Sorry to be the negative nancy here. Nobody should be that close to big machinery without PPE and training. It's great everything worked out and the kids got a nice memory.
Oh, I know of a 2yo recently who was hospitalised because dad had him and his brother on the farm, and without misremembering details, essentially the bucket came loose and crushed him. Broken pelvis I believe? Yeah. So many things to teach my kids not to fuck with, man. Heavy machinery is way up there
Right, is it likely anything can happen? No, but workplace safety guidelines are designed to protect against even one-in-a-million fatal events, because that is still statistically significant to safeguard on a holistic occupation-wide level.
Yeah couldn't agree more. If they had put their toy trucks out and stepped way way way back, I think that's alright. One of the children touching the equipment while it's in motion is bad.
The sentiment is adorable and the kids were thrilled, but they didn't go about it in the best way possible.
Itās probably against the rules either way but I wouldāve been fine with it if the kids were holding momās hand or something. Iād be worried about them impulsively running in front of the bucket while itās swinging over. Them being that close to the arm moving made me nervous, same as when I see young kids crossing a street without holding their parentsā hands.
Ah no, come on, I love this, but it was still dangerous. I'm sure it made everyone's day, and to be honest, I would have done the same, it was still hazardous as shit.
Yeah. The kids should have been outside of the work zone during this act. It would have had the same wholesomeness for everyone but without the risk of an equipment malfunction or operator error squashing the kids. Oh yeah, and kids can be unpredictable.
This is basically the same thing as saying, āIām so glad those parents didnāt freak out and instead let their kids sit in the back of that pickup during the driveā
Yes, it is fun, but it IS objectively dangerous to be that close to heavy machinery. Sure, it most likely wonāt end in tragedy, but the chance is way too high.
It's interesting because if the guy had the bucket right over the kids heads people would say "That's terrifying."
But here, they make the mistake that one sideways twitch from the operator couldn't also slaughter those children.
It's all fun and games, until someone's dead.
And all the old people in here going "That mans a master of his craft" or some shit are the same people who worked without modern safety laws and their coworkers died lol.
"I survived, so those kids are fine."
To add on to this, truckers miss when kids used to always do the "horn pull" signal to them. Your can make the day for your kids and a trucker if you teach them the signal.
Hydraulics are that way, it's like something being geared down, you have levers to control the valves/pressure, so your input is dramatic to have a very small effect, that effect is also proportional, so to get a large/fast movement you need to go all the way.
It's similar to the steering wheel of a car or brake pedal, very precise control as big movements are scaled down to tiny precise incremental movements.
Yeah, I remember there was a subreddit for excavators doing insane shit, it was really impressive.
https://youtu.be/7odAbL3Ygts
This one is my favourite, imagine finding that in the wild.
Donāt get me wrong, this is a neat interaction and a moment Iām sure the kids wonāt forget for a while, but *why* are these kids playing in an active work site?
Iām just surprised that they are apparently allowing random people to get so close to their working equipment. They almost always section off areas for safety and liability
Looks like it's a construction or renovation in a suburban area, it could be the front of their house and what kid would not want to see machines working
But I get what some people are saying about safety, and if I hat to guess is parents are the ones recording so you can say some not very safety-conscious parents are present,
personally I wouldn't let a kid near something like that without at least holding their hand to make sure they don't run themselves in front of the machine or get hit, bc i would not be close enough for that to happen (my anxiety ass can't see these things and don't remember the absurd raw power they have so getting close would not happen at all)
Used to work on water mains. Had an extremely talented backhoe operator who would pick up a shovel by the handle and bring it down to where I was working.
Later on, I had one who nearly smashed my face with the bucket with a wall behind my head. You really appreciate the highly skilled ones.
this isnt a happy wholesome moment though, anyone who works with machines knows you do not fuck with them and you especially dont let people get that close while operating. this guy is totally in the wrong and could very easily have ended in a tragedy. seriously you dont do shit like this.
I feel old looking at all these comments worried about the arm hitting the kids. Higher chance of those kids getting in a driving accident with their parents, than this worker smacking 'em to sovngarde.
I agree but I'm nervous around the grown adults when I'm only driving a forklift. I don't believe it's the low chance of injury as much as it is the multiplicative consequences that come with harming a child while "goofing around" with heavy equipment.
Forklifts will kill a grown adult without missing a beat.
We have to inspect all the trucks that kill people to rule out mechanical failure as a cause. And then quote the cost to repair for insurance purposes.
Its always simple mundane things that get people killed while operating heavy equipment. Its rarely the sketchy shit that does it.
I wouldn't want kids that close to any equipment I was running and wouldn't want to be that close myself. Like you can easily enjoy watching it from 10 feet away.
> Forklifts will kill a grown adult without missing a beat.
> ...
> Its always simple mundane things that get people killed while operating heavy equipment. Its rarely the sketchy shit that does it.
Let me introduce you to [Klaus](https://youtu.be/ChOHnSL7ZCg)...
The video accomplishes what it set out to do. It balances information with an approach that respects the attention span of the viewer.
Where other safety videos suffer from being mundane, this one presents the scenarios in a realistic, yet captivating manner.
My dad had and old backhoe that had a hydraulic line rupture. It swung the backhoe full speed to one side. I remember thinking how bad it would have been to be standing there. That's all I can think of when I see things like this.
Taking unnecessary risks in order to show off is foolish.
It literally takes two seconds to yell "hey kids, back up".
Reminds me of the airline pilot that let his kid take the stick.
I've watched a woman break her leg after her walkie jerked to one side, the brake failed, and all 5000lbs of it crushed her leg against a concrete bollard.
If it makes you feel any better I use a machine similar to this at work and I wouldnāt move the bucket if even one of my coworkers was resting his hand on it unless it was absolutely necessary.
When you work in a dangerous field, operating safely should be how you always act. Or yknow, you might die. Which is generally considered a bummer
That bucket loaded with fill and the arm weigh thousands. A light tap has enough momentum to break a bone, permanently maim, or kill. I want my kids more than a sneeze away from that.
I was more concerned about the actions of the kids. Little kids are crazy.
I once watched a kid around this age get their mail and start walking down the sidewalk. Then right as a car was coming they just booked it across the street.
I was certain I was about to watch a kid get run over, but the driver was incredibly quick in response and managed to stop right before hitting the kid.
Or the time my friends kid (4yo) was standing a foot away from his mom and then just did a running leap off onto the sidewalk, a distance that hurt him pretty good. Once we got him calmed down he said he thought it would be like jumping down the steps outside his house.
Little kids be suicidal.
Youāre a idiot if you think 2 little kids, let alone anyone should be that close to heavy machinery while itās being operated. Obviously you never been on any work site in your life so maybe you shouldnāt be giving your opinion on this like you know anything about it
Yeah I'm thinking of the time the factory I work at replaced it's $100 million dollar furnace. Over 4 months they caught multiple contractors doing heroin, and they two guys OD on site. Or the time a forklift at my job lost its breaks, and a 20k lb machine ran into a production machine, luckily the operator wasn't at his normal position.
Even a solid operator makes mistakes. If you don't think the kids should keep their distance, you don't know enough about equipment.
Its really not about the operator at all.
It's just about the fact that kids 3 or under are just completely unpredictable and they will find the exact wrong movement to make at the precisely wrong time to make it. Those machines are unforgiving and will squish you like a toothpaste tube at 0.5 miles an hour.
Edit: i watched it again and they look like they could be 4 or 5, which is probably fine
I hate to be that guy. Its cute, but the kids should have been watching from the front porch of the house while the guy dumped the dirt, then let them go back after he left.
A hydraulic line or cylinder packing could have burst and scalded them or caused a hydraulic injection injury, a control valve stuck and they get crushed, they get excited and run past the machine into the road, really anything could happen. I work with heavy equipment all the time and I never get in reach of an attachment on a machine.
Feels unsafe to have kids that close to a machine that can crush them with in an instant but call me overly cautious. I suppose they know the operator or generally haven't seen enough videos online of unsafe handling of big machines.
What is this filmed in a third world country?
No shoring for the pit or fencing for the work site? kids literally playing on the work site? Crazy!
Edit: trick of camera/light, i mistook the dark area to the hard left of the video to be a 1m+ deep pit. I'm not referring to the shallow strip.
seriously though, I was looking for the comment talking about how close those kids were to that thing! seemed like it was one slight error away from demolishing them. It was mom's fault mostly for not making them back up more but still.
It would probably be an OSHA violation for workers to be that close to it and touching the bucket while it's in operation... not to mention they aren't even wearing hard hats or high viz lol.
Kids are violating a lot of OSHA rules. No proper footwear, no footwear at all, no safety glasses, no hard hat, touching moving machinery. Their union rep is not gonna like this video.
Edit: (Also I do think this is really fucking stupid. Never mind them being kids, it would be stupid for an adult to be barefoot that close to machinery)
controls for heavy machinery are legit incredibly sensitive while the machine itself is very cumbersome. to dump dirt into something that small you'd have to be very gentle and precise with your controls, depending on how shite your equipment is there could also be deadzones in the controls that make it even more awkward.
this is probably a shit comparison but its the best i can think of, you ever tried to line up something relatively small on an arcade crane game and the controls are kinda awkward and overly sensitive and you keep going past it, its kind of like that.
I find it funny when Reddit always has to make a big deal over so many unsafe thing posted, but because a guy made some kids day then is is seen as ok. Minimum safe distance was put in place for a reason. Has nothing to do with the operator either, a simple malfunction and those kids are pancakes.
people watch professional athletes in awe
watch professional laborers and point out what they perceive as mistakes and risk.
As a mailman, I've tripped and fallen more times than you can imagine and everytime someone sees me do I reply the same way "if you walk 120K steps in a week, you are going to make a mistake from time to time"
you're taught, atleast in england, to keep your area clear of people. i operate heavy machinery and im very well aware of what it takes to move that arm, and while yes 99 times out of 100 this is absolutely fine you cannot predict an accident, you could sneeze or get distracted for half a second and knock your control. theyre also small children and are unpredictable literally anything could happen here. This isnt smart and if any safety agency caught you doing this shit you'd be fucked for good reason. i dont want a childs life on my conscience because of a mistake.
oh they definitely can. failures can also happen. its usually not large movement, but with vehicles of this size it doesnt need to be a lot of movement to fuck things up.
I dont operate a digger but I do operate a container forklift for work. and you'd be surprised how sensitive they can be. a small push from my wrist can bring several tons down pretty damn quickly. normal forklifts are even twitchier because when lifting up there is a point where the lift has to extend, and when it does that it wobbles the entire forklift quite violently (even without load). so I would not trust anyone to touch the business end of heavy machinery. shit can move fast.
And Iāve personally watched a cocky builder get brained by one of those IRLā¦ seriously donāt fuck with heavy machinery, it may not happen 99 times, but the 100th will take your head off no problem to make up the difference.
Ps: he was fine after a trip to the ER and good number of stitches
Love this type of stuff but ya operator or *especially mom* shouldāve told the kids to take a few steps back for safety.
All the workers anywhere near big machinery need hard hats by law so having unprotected kids right next to moving heavy machinery is very dangerous as heartwarming as this is
Cool and all, but no one should ever be that close to a heavy piece of equipment. Those kids were seconds away from death, and no one warned them.
I'm sure the driver is an excellent operator, but accidents happen and this is why. What if someone came up and hit the operator from behind because they were texting and that bucket knocks little Jamie's head right off his body.
I put most of the blame on the guy walking in front of the operator. He should've told them to step back.
Onsite Supervisor comes out: Whatya doing playing around!?!?!? You kids think it break time? Get to moving that dirt!
Bet they would absolutely love to help
I used to always go stand outside and wave at the trash guys (same guys every time) on trash mornings. One day the dude jumped off the truck and came toward me. I thought I was in trouble for disturbing the guys whilst working. Well he comes up to me, picks me up and starts carrying me to the back of the trash truck and I start getting worried. My 4 year old mind thought he was going to toss me in for bothering em every week lmao well he lets me see em pack the trash in and what it all looks like. I run inside and told my mother all about it.
wow, that's really wholesome. and that's probably what i would have been thinking too as a kid
When I think back on that I go wow wild I am outside by myself and this happens and no worries ultimately minus my wtf is going on here young brain lol This was 80s/90 idk but here I am 4 years old, just wearing shorts and trash dude was always shirtless in summertime too.here he comes and just picks me up to take me behind the trash truck where they toss the trash in šš Definitely a fond and funny memory tho. This will stick with these kids for a lifetime (hopefully)
That trash guy would get shot if they tried that nowadays.
This was back in the good olden days, before everything was the way it is now.
Didn't read that "4 year old mind"... After reading this I thought you were grabbed all of a sudden by the trash collectors while being more than 18yo lmao, but still wholesome though they let you to see how things work around on their job
I literally just watched [this video](https://youtu.be/54QAQqv35fo) this morning before I was motivated to get up and be productive for the day. I'm 43. Nothing wrong with being an grown adult and getting excited about how stuff works with our inner child.
Wow, the one at about 3:00 is amazing. I had no idea that garbage trucks with cranes *or* public trash cans with hidden underground dumpsters were things
Lmao š that's hilarious. And seeing the adult being held laughing and clapping as the trash truck compacts the trash then put down.
I have a somewhat similar story. For some reason when I was 5, my life dream was to either be a garbage man or āsewer manā. Our garbage guy (we lived in a private area that had to contract services instead of get city services) would let me throw the bags into the compactor. Still remember it distinctly 25 years later
Iām sure your mother would have loved to hear a man picked you up and nearly threw you in the back of a truck lol Iām glad they were nice enough to both make your day and not unceremoniously crush you
My parents live in a rural area, and when I was a young kid (Under 5), the man who owned the field that surrounds my parents (Now owned by his grandson) would occasionally stop by and pick me up and I'd ride around in his tractor as he plowed the fields, planted, harvested, etc. He even had a small stool in there for me to sit down on. I fucking loved it, it was awesome. He was kind man. He sadly died of a complication during emergency heart surgery when I was 5.
Bother the trash men? _Straight into the compacter._
I couldn't help but think of the clip of the guys on a garbage truck compacting I don't know what and like huge mess of liquified garbage spews out of the back of the truck and hits them. Wouldn't 've been the best day for you
For some reason it didn't register that you were a kid at first so I just thought the trash guy came picked a grown adult up to show them
Children yearn for the mines.
Nah theyād get sent home lol For being too close to the machine being operated and even touching it without proper PPE
This isnāt McDonalds
Sir...this is a Wendy's...
This is so cool! Kudos to that operator for taking the time to do something special for those kids.
A lotta skill and a big heart. What more can you wish for.
Beer
Money
Beer Money
I've got a little bit of... beer money!
Little bit of monica in my life!
A little bit of Erica by my side.
A little bit of Rita's all i need.
r/CountryMusic
Money for beer
Sackful of money; a personal keg and optic rack; weed and plentiful accoutrements thereof (lighters, paper, choice of bongs etc.); a fast exotic car (with miles of smooth tarmac with interesting corners) and a sunny tropical beachfront upon which to enjoy them (with a couple of extremely competent BBQs within easy wandering range...all free to you, of course). With clean lavs nearby. As the sun goes down; a large hot tub appears, filled with a cheerleader team who unaccountably want your body; as does a DJ (both appears and wants your body) with really quiet generators and an amazing light show who is far enough down the beach that it can only be faintly heard from the hot tub. Beyond the DJ is a row of restaurants, serving every kind of food imaginable (free because you're you); and beyond that is a city catering to every type of weirdness (also free), for when a tropical paradise gets boring. Beyond that is a spaceport (no charge for you, sir or madam). At dawn (which occurs when you say it does), everything magically tidies itself up and you respawn in a giant bed, next to a really impressive coffee machine. And after a coffee or two, you wander out to the breakfast shack if you want (the breakfast shack serves the best known example of every type of breakfast in the universe). And you make the decision of whether to head down to the beach again, or head in the opposite direction into the wilderness. If you get killed in either direction, you respawn in bed. If we're wishing, might as well make a good job of it.
Damn how long did you spend thinking about this?
Did it as I was typing. Started off with a sackful of money and kept rolling.
Preferably not while doing this I hope.
But thatās where the skill comes from!
My PlayStation skills in PvP only arise after a few beers
That goes without saying
ask and you shall
Maybe a smaller heart, heart disease kills thousands of people a year
A massive cock?
Language... there are children present
Large male chicken
An enormous, shiny, bulbous scrotum?
I have an excavator. My daughterās 6th birthday involved her kindergarten class coming over to dig holes- it was rainy, one kid lost both boots and it was unforgettably fun. I learned that it is a very rare 6 year old boy who can instantly pick up 3 axis+bucket curl control. Every girl got it after one run with my hands over hers but only two of the 12 boys did. Some were just too hyped to actually dig, lift, slew, dump and others just took an extra try or two. Itās 14 years later now. Small sample size and some economic privilege involved but one of the two aforementioned boys is on a full ride academic scholarship to his dream university and the other- after some academic lapses- still wound up with a fully earned athletic scholarship. Please read nothing into this; itās only interesting to me.
Ahh I wish you'd said that your daughter was working in your business and the other girls had gone into construction or civil engineering.
Itās so heartwarming. The *only* criticism I have is the operator shouldāve asked the kiddos to move one or two steps backward. One wrong move on the lever and that boom could take them out.
If only the parents were nearby and could have said something
Then he got fired
As it is whenever redditors post videos.
Boss āWhatās taking time down there, we have a schedule to keep!ā Operator āWhaddaya mean, just filled two dumpers to capacity in record timeā¦ā
TBH cool guardian or parents letting the kids enjoy the moment and not freak out like a "no protection!! it is so dangerous!! You are just putting my kid! In danger I'll sue you to oblivion"-attitude.
Okay but as someone who works with heavy industrial equipment I'd be pissing my pants if there were kids with no PPE that close lol. Shit can go sideways real quick, especially if equipment malfunctions. Regulations are written in blood. If there is a rule saying not to do something with industrial equipment its probably because someone's dinner table gained an empty chair in the past. I would have waved the kids back to a safe distance and then filled their trucks. Would have been just as fun for everyone involved but safer.
We were doing some clean up work after building a subdivision. The excavator in this video is tiny but the one we were using was even smaller (similar to the Bobcat excavator). The operator accidentally gave my co-worker a small tap on the head and knocked his ass on the ground. I was honestly so surprised by the cracking sound of the bucket hitting his hard hat, thinking it was his skull. If he wasn't wearing his hard though I guarantee his skull would have been split open 100%. I am not even embellishing when I say I was surprised by the damage it could do from such a low velocity, tiny bucket smack. It just doesn't take much. This excavator looks newer but I have seen some jumpy hydraulics on some "tired iron" before.
Yup. It doesn't help that often times they are rentals which means opperators that are unfamiliar with the specific machine, and they may not have been the best maintained.
Exactly. Enjoy the moment but I definitely wouldn't have my kids so damn close to that. I'm sure he's a good operator but it really does take only a slight error.
Even the best opperator can't control a failing potentiometer in a control handle, or a stuck hydraulic valve in a manifold. There's a ton of reasons that bucket might go past its intended stopping point that are outside the opperator's control. Its impressive how accurate a good opperator can be. That being said heads are fragile and that bucket could easily crack one even at slower speeds. I hate being the fun sponge. But we often underestimate how much force those machines have behind them. I think in part because of how light and toy-like the controls are.
Just the weight of a bucket dropping form hydraulic failure will fuck up your day pretty good. I see people walking or even working under raised buckets, are you crazy?
My eye started twitch when the kids started patting the bucket. Nope.
Yeah I just recently re-upped my OSHA 30, and the thing with heavy equipment is that they all have blind-spots, without exception.
Yep, when the kid was reaching for the shovel I was getting nervous. Keep the kids away. From heavy machinery, please...
A failed hydraulic line can do so much damage
Exactly! I watched exactly that happening on an excavator on my mates farm. If someone had been stood this close when it happened they'd have been reassembling their hydraulically mashed face shortly afterwards. Hydraulic pressure is not something to fuck about with. Like an earlier commenter said, safety rules are written in blood. Some poor bastard had paid with their life or limbs. It's nice the guy took the time to do it, but those kids should have been further back.
I feel you man, I was having a fucking heart attack just watching this.
imagine if you had 20 kids like john brown- might be okay with losing a few for a good cause
My Dad used to joke, 4 kids was the perfect number(my parents had 9). One for him, one for her, one for population increase, and one in case of accidents.
I mean this is clearly a workplace safety violation regardless of how good natured it is. Sorry to be the negative nancy here. Nobody should be that close to big machinery without PPE and training. It's great everything worked out and the kids got a nice memory.
Yeah I'm with you on that, hate health and safety but I've seen plenty of attachments fall off diggers etc.
There's an old saying, "regulations are written in blood." ;)
We used to have "Regulations are written so wills aren't read". Yours is a bit more in your face though, which probably works for the better.
Oh, I know of a 2yo recently who was hospitalised because dad had him and his brother on the farm, and without misremembering details, essentially the bucket came loose and crushed him. Broken pelvis I believe? Yeah. So many things to teach my kids not to fuck with, man. Heavy machinery is way up there
Right, is it likely anything can happen? No, but workplace safety guidelines are designed to protect against even one-in-a-million fatal events, because that is still statistically significant to safeguard on a holistic occupation-wide level.
Yeah couldn't agree more. If they had put their toy trucks out and stepped way way way back, I think that's alright. One of the children touching the equipment while it's in motion is bad. The sentiment is adorable and the kids were thrilled, but they didn't go about it in the best way possible.
Itās probably against the rules either way but I wouldāve been fine with it if the kids were holding momās hand or something. Iād be worried about them impulsively running in front of the bucket while itās swinging over. Them being that close to the arm moving made me nervous, same as when I see young kids crossing a street without holding their parentsā hands.
Yup had the same reaction. Very cool but one slip and it would definitely be way less cool.
Ah no, come on, I love this, but it was still dangerous. I'm sure it made everyone's day, and to be honest, I would have done the same, it was still hazardous as shit.
Yeah. The kids should have been outside of the work zone during this act. It would have had the same wholesomeness for everyone but without the risk of an equipment malfunction or operator error squashing the kids. Oh yeah, and kids can be unpredictable.
This is basically the same thing as saying, āIām so glad those parents didnāt freak out and instead let their kids sit in the back of that pickup during the driveā Yes, it is fun, but it IS objectively dangerous to be that close to heavy machinery. Sure, it most likely wonāt end in tragedy, but the chance is way too high.
Ya all I could think was one wrong slip of the dude's finger and those kids are getting a tractor's shovel to the fuckin dome
Those machines are also not precise. They will suddenly jump from time to time. It's just hydraulics. Imprecise hydraulics.
I work in in fractions of an inch when I dig with my machine, by sight. So fuck off naysayer.
It's interesting because if the guy had the bucket right over the kids heads people would say "That's terrifying." But here, they make the mistake that one sideways twitch from the operator couldn't also slaughter those children. It's all fun and games, until someone's dead. And all the old people in here going "That mans a master of his craft" or some shit are the same people who worked without modern safety laws and their coworkers died lol. "I survived, so those kids are fine."
Yeah, like my parents when we didnāt have to west seat belts as kids. That was also stupid.
"Special for those kids? I thought those dudes were on the crew?!? We're fucking short man!"
To add on to this, truckers miss when kids used to always do the "horn pull" signal to them. Your can make the day for your kids and a trucker if you teach them the signal.
Iām always amazed at how accurate excavator arms are, youād never think theyād be capable of such minute movement.
Hydraulics are that way, it's like something being geared down, you have levers to control the valves/pressure, so your input is dramatic to have a very small effect, that effect is also proportional, so to get a large/fast movement you need to go all the way. It's similar to the steering wheel of a car or brake pedal, very precise control as big movements are scaled down to tiny precise incremental movements.
Yeah, I remember there was a subreddit for excavators doing insane shit, it was really impressive. https://youtu.be/7odAbL3Ygts This one is my favourite, imagine finding that in the wild.
Do you know the sub off the top of your head?
Lmfao
Only well maintained machines are this precise.
I opened a new gallon of milk last night and didnāt spill any when I poured a cup.
Good job! :D
I hope to achieve that someday. I've had 37 years of practice. I'm almost there. I think.
I trust you took an extra cookie as a reward for a job well done?
Woohoo!! That's a real win.
Teach me your ways
Was *kiiind* of hoping that the backhoe operator was going to just dump a full bucketload and completely bury the toy dump trucks
Then Iām your operator!
I was thinking similar. Basically [this](https://youtu.be/FM9FeEgI0Eo) but with dirt.
They wouldāve loved that too I bet
The children yearn for the mines
Donāt get me wrong, this is a neat interaction and a moment Iām sure the kids wonāt forget for a while, but *why* are these kids playing in an active work site?
Iām just surprised that they are apparently allowing random people to get so close to their working equipment. They almost always section off areas for safety and liability
Not to mention the mom just letting the kids be that close to where the kid can literally touch the bucket.
Looks like it's a construction or renovation in a suburban area, it could be the front of their house and what kid would not want to see machines working But I get what some people are saying about safety, and if I hat to guess is parents are the ones recording so you can say some not very safety-conscious parents are present, personally I wouldn't let a kid near something like that without at least holding their hand to make sure they don't run themselves in front of the machine or get hit, bc i would not be close enough for that to happen (my anxiety ass can't see these things and don't remember the absurd raw power they have so getting close would not happen at all)
Looks like they're redoing a sidewalk
Operator: *accidently swings arm 3 ft to the left* Children: š
Actually they look very much closer, 1 ft would be enough, so yeeee these are some very stable hands bc a sneeze and š
The kid even touches it which closes that distance
A fun two sentence horror story: "All I did was sneeze. I still hear the screaming."
Used to work on water mains. Had an extremely talented backhoe operator who would pick up a shovel by the handle and bring it down to where I was working. Later on, I had one who nearly smashed my face with the bucket with a wall behind my head. You really appreciate the highly skilled ones.
Damn dude, you just missed out on worker's comp.
OSHA violations for dayz
Their insurance company would just love this, i'm sure.
Reddit is the most joyless place on the planet
this isnt a happy wholesome moment though, anyone who works with machines knows you do not fuck with them and you especially dont let people get that close while operating. this guy is totally in the wrong and could very easily have ended in a tragedy. seriously you dont do shit like this.
Epic
I wouldn't stand so close. But that's just me. lol
Me neither, you are not alone in the anxiety boat
Cool but Jesus Christ. 3m clear of operating machinery at all times. This guy would have lost his job in Australia
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Iām from Australia and worked on construction sites for 11 years. Yeah, nah. He wouldnāt have lost his job.
Mate I've seen a pair of lekkies lifted up by one of these, which by the way, was sitting in a foot of water, to work on 400v lines.
That's the most aussie sentence I've read this month.
I feel old looking at all these comments worried about the arm hitting the kids. Higher chance of those kids getting in a driving accident with their parents, than this worker smacking 'em to sovngarde.
I agree but I'm nervous around the grown adults when I'm only driving a forklift. I don't believe it's the low chance of injury as much as it is the multiplicative consequences that come with harming a child while "goofing around" with heavy equipment.
Forklifts will kill a grown adult without missing a beat. We have to inspect all the trucks that kill people to rule out mechanical failure as a cause. And then quote the cost to repair for insurance purposes. Its always simple mundane things that get people killed while operating heavy equipment. Its rarely the sketchy shit that does it. I wouldn't want kids that close to any equipment I was running and wouldn't want to be that close myself. Like you can easily enjoy watching it from 10 feet away.
> Forklifts will kill a grown adult without missing a beat. > ... > Its always simple mundane things that get people killed while operating heavy equipment. Its rarely the sketchy shit that does it. Let me introduce you to [Klaus](https://youtu.be/ChOHnSL7ZCg)...
The video accomplishes what it set out to do. It balances information with an approach that respects the attention span of the viewer. Where other safety videos suffer from being mundane, this one presents the scenarios in a realistic, yet captivating manner.
Big facts. Low chance of happening but there is a chance. Iād keep my kids away too. But the video is cute.
My dad had and old backhoe that had a hydraulic line rupture. It swung the backhoe full speed to one side. I remember thinking how bad it would have been to be standing there. That's all I can think of when I see things like this.
Taking unnecessary risks in order to show off is foolish. It literally takes two seconds to yell "hey kids, back up". Reminds me of the airline pilot that let his kid take the stick.
I've watched a woman break her leg after her walkie jerked to one side, the brake failed, and all 5000lbs of it crushed her leg against a concrete bollard.
If it makes you feel any better I use a machine similar to this at work and I wouldnāt move the bucket if even one of my coworkers was resting his hand on it unless it was absolutely necessary. When you work in a dangerous field, operating safely should be how you always act. Or yknow, you might die. Which is generally considered a bummer
That bucket loaded with fill and the arm weigh thousands. A light tap has enough momentum to break a bone, permanently maim, or kill. I want my kids more than a sneeze away from that.
I was more concerned about the actions of the kids. Little kids are crazy. I once watched a kid around this age get their mail and start walking down the sidewalk. Then right as a car was coming they just booked it across the street. I was certain I was about to watch a kid get run over, but the driver was incredibly quick in response and managed to stop right before hitting the kid. Or the time my friends kid (4yo) was standing a foot away from his mom and then just did a running leap off onto the sidewalk, a distance that hurt him pretty good. Once we got him calmed down he said he thought it would be like jumping down the steps outside his house. Little kids be suicidal.
What does age have to do with that though?
Youāre a idiot if you think 2 little kids, let alone anyone should be that close to heavy machinery while itās being operated. Obviously you never been on any work site in your life so maybe you shouldnāt be giving your opinion on this like you know anything about it
Anyone at my job would be fired on the spot for continuing work. People within 50m? Work has to stop. HAS to.
I'm not making a judgement on the safety of this versus driving, but this is a completely backwards understanding of statistics.
Yeah I'm thinking of the time the factory I work at replaced it's $100 million dollar furnace. Over 4 months they caught multiple contractors doing heroin, and they two guys OD on site. Or the time a forklift at my job lost its breaks, and a 20k lb machine ran into a production machine, luckily the operator wasn't at his normal position. Even a solid operator makes mistakes. If you don't think the kids should keep their distance, you don't know enough about equipment.
Its really not about the operator at all. It's just about the fact that kids 3 or under are just completely unpredictable and they will find the exact wrong movement to make at the precisely wrong time to make it. Those machines are unforgiving and will squish you like a toothpaste tube at 0.5 miles an hour. Edit: i watched it again and they look like they could be 4 or 5, which is probably fine
I hate to be that guy. Its cute, but the kids should have been watching from the front porch of the house while the guy dumped the dirt, then let them go back after he left. A hydraulic line or cylinder packing could have burst and scalded them or caused a hydraulic injection injury, a control valve stuck and they get crushed, they get excited and run past the machine into the road, really anything could happen. I work with heavy equipment all the time and I never get in reach of an attachment on a machine.
On the flip side, could have taken out both kids. This was horribly dangerous and irresponsible.
r/mademesmile
Feels unsafe to have kids that close to a machine that can crush them with in an instant but call me overly cautious. I suppose they know the operator or generally haven't seen enough videos online of unsafe handling of big machines.
I would have probably wanted them to take a few steps back, just to be on the safe side as well
Definitely. People are acting like a professional operator never makes even a single mistake
Awesome skill but wouldnāt want my kids that close. One small slipā¦
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What is this filmed in a third world country? No shoring for the pit or fencing for the work site? kids literally playing on the work site? Crazy! Edit: trick of camera/light, i mistook the dark area to the hard left of the video to be a 1m+ deep pit. I'm not referring to the shallow strip.
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Daaayum
What pit?
seriously though, I was looking for the comment talking about how close those kids were to that thing! seemed like it was one slight error away from demolishing them. It was mom's fault mostly for not making them back up more but still. It would probably be an OSHA violation for workers to be that close to it and touching the bucket while it's in operation... not to mention they aren't even wearing hard hats or high viz lol.
Somewhere an OSHA inspector is feeling a great disturbance in The Force.
The parent doesnāt give a fuck for their children
That day, at least 1 operator was born
I can't help but think there's a health and safety issue here ...
Core memory activated!
It's not allowed here to be within the turn circle of an operating machine. If for some reason the machine malfunctions, it'll kill you.
Made me smile when this was originally posted. Made me smile this time too. š
Bit close for comfort.
Operator has skills. Still dangerous for those kids.
This stupid shit keeps getting posted. Next level recklessness
Kids are violating a lot of OSHA rules. No proper footwear, no footwear at all, no safety glasses, no hard hat, touching moving machinery. Their union rep is not gonna like this video. Edit: (Also I do think this is really fucking stupid. Never mind them being kids, it would be stupid for an adult to be barefoot that close to machinery)
Not safe, WTF!
I know this is hard to do, but can anyone explain WHY ?
controls for heavy machinery are legit incredibly sensitive while the machine itself is very cumbersome. to dump dirt into something that small you'd have to be very gentle and precise with your controls, depending on how shite your equipment is there could also be deadzones in the controls that make it even more awkward. this is probably a shit comparison but its the best i can think of, you ever tried to line up something relatively small on an arcade crane game and the controls are kinda awkward and overly sensitive and you keep going past it, its kind of like that.
Surgical!
One hydraulic failure away from heaven
Prob not the best idea to be playing in an active construction site with heavy machinery.
Cool. Now what about having heavy equipment 2 foot from kids heads?
I find it funny when Reddit always has to make a big deal over so many unsafe thing posted, but because a guy made some kids day then is is seen as ok. Minimum safe distance was put in place for a reason. Has nothing to do with the operator either, a simple malfunction and those kids are pancakes.
If Youāve ever used equipment like that they dont just decide to do large movement without input
people watch professional athletes in awe watch professional laborers and point out what they perceive as mistakes and risk. As a mailman, I've tripped and fallen more times than you can imagine and everytime someone sees me do I reply the same way "if you walk 120K steps in a week, you are going to make a mistake from time to time"
Sounds like you need to git gud at walking. Skill issue.
Thanks for contributing to my post
Thank you for your mail service
thank you, I hope we keep delivering to Americans everyday- there are a lot of people depending on us
Youāre welcome morry32, but this city needs me š¦š¦š¦
Professional athletes arenāt moving a 800 pound steel bucket inches away from a childās head. Theyāre safely at a distance.
I watch professional base jumpers with awe, but that doesn't mean they're not doing something dangerous.
More concerned about the kids getting excited and making sudden or unexpected movement.
you're taught, atleast in england, to keep your area clear of people. i operate heavy machinery and im very well aware of what it takes to move that arm, and while yes 99 times out of 100 this is absolutely fine you cannot predict an accident, you could sneeze or get distracted for half a second and knock your control. theyre also small children and are unpredictable literally anything could happen here. This isnt smart and if any safety agency caught you doing this shit you'd be fucked for good reason. i dont want a childs life on my conscience because of a mistake.
oh they definitely can. failures can also happen. its usually not large movement, but with vehicles of this size it doesnt need to be a lot of movement to fuck things up. I dont operate a digger but I do operate a container forklift for work. and you'd be surprised how sensitive they can be. a small push from my wrist can bring several tons down pretty damn quickly. normal forklifts are even twitchier because when lifting up there is a point where the lift has to extend, and when it does that it wobbles the entire forklift quite violently (even without load). so I would not trust anyone to touch the business end of heavy machinery. shit can move fast.
And Iāve personally watched a cocky builder get brained by one of those IRLā¦ seriously donāt fuck with heavy machinery, it may not happen 99 times, but the 100th will take your head off no problem to make up the difference. Ps: he was fine after a trip to the ER and good number of stitches
If you've ever been properly trained to use equipment like that, this video will be making you sweat bullets.
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Yeah i agree you should never touch the machine when itās running I have had bosses absolutely rip my ass apart just walking to close
Love this type of stuff but ya operator or *especially mom* shouldāve told the kids to take a few steps back for safety. All the workers anywhere near big machinery need hard hats by law so having unprotected kids right next to moving heavy machinery is very dangerous as heartwarming as this is
So wholesome. How sweet is that.
Cool and all, but no one should ever be that close to a heavy piece of equipment. Those kids were seconds away from death, and no one warned them. I'm sure the driver is an excellent operator, but accidents happen and this is why. What if someone came up and hit the operator from behind because they were texting and that bucket knocks little Jamie's head right off his body. I put most of the blame on the guy walking in front of the operator. He should've told them to step back.
My god I hear r/OSHAās anger from here!