Here’s an archived copy of a “safety film about dangers associated with earthmoving equipment operation, showing many great simulated accidents on construction sites.”  Best of all: the whole thing’s narrated by a Johnny Cash soundalike who calls himself — I’m not kidding — “Three-Finger Joe.”

Note: There’s a warning on the hosting site, “CONTENT ADVISORY: May be frightening and surprising to some viewers.”  I watched about five minutes of the 23-minute video and wasn’t surprised or frightened, but you’ve been warned.

Shake Hands With Danger (ca. 1970s) [Internet Archive]
[via]

This one is just too out there to be “user error.”  Maybe it was a crappy day with the motor controls or there was some kind of hydraulic failure involved.  Either way, it looks like this crane operator was trying to do one of those Scantron fill-in-the-bubble tests with his payload.

I think we may have posted this before, but I ran across it again today and couldn’t help sharing it. 

As soon as we saw the size of the dump truck and small reach on the front end loader in this one we knew what was about to go down.  This is a great lesson in knowing your equipment, yeah?

This poor guy demonstrates exactly why you need to think before you swing a sledge.  Doh!

There are two ways to learn about the load limits of your equipment: from the manual or from experience.  This video is a great expample of why you should always choose the former.

Note: They say at the end of the clip that (incredibly) no one is injured.  Still, you’ve got to imagine this likely damaged the operator’s career a bit.  “Why’d you leave your last job?”  Hmm…) 

This is, of course, why I should never have access to a crane or power shovel.  Yeah, it’s stupid and dangerous, but ask anyone who knows me: I’d be doing this about twenty seconds after they dropped it off.

“Why is this a ‘Doh!’” you ask?  Maybe they didn’t show it, but you know what happened when the next guy tried it.

This is one of those moments that you just don’t want to laugh at because you know damn well that you’re next if you do.  But hey – if you’re going to demonstrate a ladder on TV,why not avoid climbing so far above the top of the ladder and use both hands when you’re decending? 

It’s just a suggestion.

MikeR pointed us to this famous photo that’s made the rounds on the ‘net since 2000.  As he wrote: “If this hasn’t been on TM, it should be.”  Right you are.

According to Snopes.com — which verified the story via other photos and accounts (link below) — these are the pertinent facts of the story:

• That is indeed a Jetta with an estimated 3,000+ pounds of load on it.  There are ten 80-pound bags of concrete in the back seat.
• The photo was taken in front of an IHOP in Maryland.  The driver indicated that he was on his way to Annapolis. 
• You are correctly seeing a woman “out of it” in the passenger seat.
• The driver was apparently jogging around when the photo was taken, and when the police arrived he had to be physically prevented from crouching down at the back of the car to cut the twine.
• “Witnesses said their phyiscal state was OTHER than normal…”

Is it just me, or does this actually look like one of the Depot’s “building kits?”  Maybe a shed?

Be sure and check out the Snopes link below for a really scary picture of the woman in the passenger seat and lots more information.

Lumber Car [Snopes.com]

This guy takes home the “I can build that myself –  I don’t need to spend cash for tools“ award.  What’s really funny is that they propped that truck up then stood back and said, “Yeah, this seems like a good idea.  Let’s get that welder plugged in and over here.“

Just because you can doesn’t always mean it’s a good idea.

Yes, that is indeed a tire jack being used “for structural support in a crawlspace.”  The guys over at This Old House have again compiled their favorite “home inspection nightmares” into a photo gallery.  There’s some pretty sad stuff ranging from what you see above to main breaker panels installed by water in the bathroom and (not surprisingly) leaky upside-down-installed siding.

Now you know why home inspectors get paid the medium bucks — because some poor guy discovered that car jack after he was in the crawlspace.

Home Inspection Nightmares [This Old House]

You can imagine where this video’s going already, can’t you?

What’s interesting, too, is that the car is obviously either a competition vehicle of some sort — or a “wannabe” competition vehicle.  Note the rear crossbar and harnesses visible after the accident.

It’s also right hand drive.  I wonder where this video was shot?

This photo is just one of half a dozen or so on the linked site showing some of the incredibly stupid and crazy crap people do with ladders.  Some of my favorites — other than this one, of course — are using power tools on a ladder in the middle of a swimming pool and building your own 60′ high ladder out of scrap lumber to change a street lamp bulb.

Check it out.  Then remember it the next time you think, “I could just reach it if…”

Safety Above Everything Else [Knuttz.net, Warning: This page is SFW, but the site isn’t always]

You know this guy’s looking for a job right now — and not in the construction/demolition industry. 

If you watch closely, though, you can see a little jump in the video.  Think maybe they set this one up for the camera?  Or maybe they just cut out the boring part before the, um, exciting part.

Friend of Toolmonger (and sometimes contributor) Lorenzo sent us a link to this crazy piece of news and accompanying photo.  If you look carefully at the above photo, you’ll notice that inside the yellow circle is a full-size bulldozer. 

Apparently the operators cranked up this monster to move it without first locating and securing all the bulldozers.  The digger picked it up like a toy and ran it right through the system.  Look past the jump for a close-up photo.

(more…)

Here’s yet another example of why you should educate your kids about your power tools — then put them away under lock and key.  From what I hear, this poor guy showed up at a friends’ place and found his kid remodelling. 

But does he stop the kid?  Nah — just whips out his cameraphone and shoots some video to post to YouTube.

With friends like that…

You know crap like this happens all the time, but how often do you end up with someone videotaping it?  (Careful, BTW.  As you might expect, the audio on this isn’t SFW.)

I remember once when I was a kid it had snowed quite a bit — which means about five or six inches here in Texas — and my Dad decided that rather than trying to clear our whole (long-ass) driveway, he’d just jump in his ‘82 Camaro and go like hell until he hit the street.

As those of you up North already know, more and more snow compacted under the car until it lifted the wheels off the ground — and that’s where it stayed for the next four hours while he dug petrified concrete-like snow from under it.

At least the Camaro still has a bumper.

Does this actually happen often?  There are many videos around of crane operators dropping crap on cars (and other valuable things).

Damn.