CHERRY-PICKER TIP-OVER
A ‘cherry picker’ is a v-base, three-wheeled machine,
with a central boom-arm pivoted at the closed end of the v-base,
with a ‘caged’ platform at the other end of the boom-arm,
located between the open end of the v-base,
where the human stands and operates the machine.
My cherry picker was operated via stand-on footpads,
with the right foot controlling forward/reverse/stop movement of the two ‘front’
wheels, with the third ‘rear’ wheel being an unpowered ‘pivot-steering’ wheel.
The left footpad controlled the up and down motion of the boom,
as well as an additional feature of ‘side-swing’,
to move the boom left or right instead of just being always ‘central’.
REMOVING A MAJOR TREE LIMB
I had used a hand saw to cut a reasonably large,
fairly-dead main limb out of a fruit tree,
then held the branch against the front of the cage
and used the raising mechanism of the boom
to help extract the limb out of the tree.
At the same time I was reversing the machine away from the tree
and slightly turning to the left which was the down-side of the hillside slope.
‘GOING OVER’
As I got to near full boom height,
I noticed the right front wheel appeared to be moving towards me - which it was -
while a split-second later I realised I was moving away from that same wheel -
the machine with me ‘in it’ was tipping over and there was no stopping it!
INSTRUCTIONAL ‘VOICE’
At this time, a ‘voice inside my head’ said the following -
“Drop whatever you are holding in your hands”
I did - releasing the hand saw and tree limb from my grip.
“Put your arms inside the cage”
I did - although the ‘cage’ was minimal and really only to waist high -
with both arms now along their respective sides of my body, hands at the thigh sides .
I was now worried about the compressed air-powered long handled secauters
hanging inside the cage - if the somehow these ‘self-activated’
they would easily snip off digits or cut deep into the flesh
or even into relatively thick bone.
The ‘voice’ continued …
“Don’t worry, just a broken arm, just a broken …”
that’s when me and the machine ‘hit the ground’ - hard!
IMMEDIATE AFTERMARTH
I was briefly knocked unconscious and when I awoke,
I was lying on my back, looking back towards the tipped over machine,
with my still-attached but very bent to its ‘backside’ lower left arm
in my line of sight - I immediately thought ‘that’s going to hurt’.
With my right hand, I reached up to my shirt’s left collar,
brought to that collar edge to my mouth and as I bit down on it,
that’s when the pain hit!
HELP NEARBY
Luckily my working partner saw the whole event and was quickly able to
‘raise the alarm’ with two other persons close by.
Together, we managed to splint the arm and get me into a vehicle,
then driven to a relatively nearby hospital.
TWO BITS OF ‘LUCK’
Looking back, there were two very ‘lucky aspects’ of the accident
which prevented me from being more seriously injured.
‘SOFT’ LANDING
First, I landed on ‘tilled-earth’ which ‘cushioned’ the blow (a little)
and meant I didn’t land in or go through a tree or part there of one -
a much messier and maybe even fatal outcome would have resulted.
‘THAT VOICE’
Second was the ‘voice inside my head’.
By ‘following instructions’ and putting my arms inside the cage
- standing ‘at-attention’ while accelerating sideways through the air -
I hit the ground relatively ‘all at once’,
meaning the impact was spread fairly simultaneously
and therefore ‘evenly along my entire left side.
‘RECOVERY’
After 6 weeks, I was ‘cleared’ by the hospital doctor to return to work.
That was one week less than he had initially inidcated was needed.
I would have much preferred another week
- which the insurance company was happy to still pay me for -
as I was still pretty sore and my left wrist was still fairly ‘weak.
But I had no choice, so back to the orchard work
- and back onto the cherry picker I went.
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