Using bucket as work platform.

[rico304]

I would NEVER use my BUCKET for a platform!!!!!

Of course, that is only because I have pallet forks and I use those with a pallet! hahahaha
Probably not the safest, but I feel very comfortable doing it. Gives me a great working area. If I didn't have the pallet forks, then the bucket would do the trick.

 

[Highbeam]

I recently cleaned the fenceline. I drive along with the chainsaw in the bucket and when I see a branch I don't like hanging into the fenceroad I run the bucket up and into the tree, drop the boxblade for an anchor, set the pbrake, and then climb out of the seat, up the loader arms, and into the bucket to saw the offending limb off. The loader bucket jambed into the tree won't let it fall, but it could curl. I curl the bucket pretty much all the way so that my feet are in the back of the bucket.

The first few times I went up there I made sure to bounce up and down to check for fear of the bucket weight flipping the tractor onto its nose. It is very stable.

I worry more about getting into a beehive while up in the bucket. It is not easy to escape real quickly.

 

[scott_vt]

On the light side its hard to climb up the loader arms with the beer in hand.They should put ladders welded on loader arms!!
ALAN

Alan your a Maniac, that is without a doubt classic "Maine"

 

[N80]

I worry more about getting into a beehive while up in the bucket. It is not easy to escape real quickly.

There is one easy way.

 

[Ken_CT]

I am a retired plumbing teacher from our vocational tech high school system. I used to tell my students never, ever use a 5 gallon bucket as a ladder...... but when you do, make sure you turn it over first.

 

[patrick_g]

This is likely to NOT be a universely appreciated commentary!

Bragging about or even commenting about doing something patently dumb and dangerous is about equal to bragging about how many times you tried Russian roulette and didn't get killed or how many times you walked across the street without looking either way and didn't get run down. Just because you got away with something doesn't make it a smart behavior.

The recipients of the Darwin awards didn't start out to win one.

I still recall a thread from a few years back where a poster related how he gives rides to kids in his FEL bucket and even though several kids have been maimed, mutilated, or killed by this practice he insisted it was no big deal and would continue to do so.

FEL buckets are frequently used for man lifts. There are many close calls and worse. It is convenient, easy, a very attractive nuisance.

Palet forks with a good pallet on a FEL are not nearly so hazardous (call me a coward) but are still not OSHA approved.

I have climbed radio towers with just a safety belt with a pair of hooks. I can work high but doing something from a FEL bucket is way more dangerous than going up a couple hundred feet of triangular tower.

Most driving accidents are in intersections so you should always go through intersections as fast as possible to reduce the time you are in jeopardy!

Pat

 

[N80]

This is likely to NOT be a universely appreciated commentary!

I suspect you are right.

Bragging about or even commenting about doing something patently dumb and dangerous is about equal to bragging about how many times you tried Russian roulette and didn't get killed or how many times you walked across the street without looking either way and didn't get run down.

You are right about that too. But using the FEL bucket as a work platform doesn't necessarily meet criteria for "dumb and dangerous."

Just because you got away with something doesn't make it a smart behavior.

Nor does a successful job using the bucket as a work platform mean you "got away with something."

I still recall a thread from a few years back where a poster related how he gives rides to kids in his FEL bucket and even though several kids have been maimed, mutilated, or killed by this practice he insisted it was no big deal and would continue to do so.

I don't think anyone in this thread suggested that carrying kids around in the bucket was acceptable

Palet forks with a good pallet on a FEL are not nearly so hazardous (call me a coward) but are still not OSHA approved.

First, I'm sure you will agree that even though OSHA is a good thing, they are hardly the voice of common sense in the work place. They can take 'safety' to levels that defy common sense and border on the absurd.

Second, are you really saying that those of us who have stood in a bucket are any dumber or more dangerous than someone who has stood on pallet using an FEL? Come on now, that just doesn't make a ton of sense. My FEL goes about 10 feet up in the air. I can jump down. The fall and the footing aren't the real issue. The issue is sudden loss of hydraulic pressure. And those pallet forks will crush you just as effectively as a bucket. So by my calculations anyone who stands on a pallet on a raised FEL is just as dumb and dangerous as someone standing in a bucket.

But don't get me wrong. I'm not condoning or suggesting that people do it. But I'm not going to assume that anyone who does is some sort of moron. Its all about risk assessment (and Americans are positively handicapped in terms of understanding risk. Are you over 40? If so, that cheese burger you're eating is far more dangerous than your tractor). And its all about common sense. There is nothing about common sense that says you can't take a calculated risk.

 

[escavader]

And i sure in heck would rather fall from a 6 ft bucket ,than go up in a 200 foot tower,i dont care if they welded me on.
HECK,I was only joking about the beer.[but not the ladder part]
I dont even drink .ITS called humor,lighten up
Does any one know the stats on ladder injurys last year.It was one of the top wotk place...if i recall correctly.It seems to me[if someone can recall that] your a heck of alot better in a loader bucket ,then on a ladder according to this.I will try to find out from the safety director at work,we just had ladder training,
ALAN

 

[3RRL]

This is likely to NOT be a universely appreciated commentary!

Bragging about or even commenting about doing something patently dumb and dangerous is about equal to bragging about how many times you tried Russian roulette and didn't get killed or how many times you walked across the street without looking either way and didn't get run down. Just because you got away with something doesn't make it a smart behavior.

The recipients of the Darwin awards didn't start out to win one.

I still recall a thread from a few years back where a poster related how he gives rides to kids in his FEL bucket and even though several kids have been maimed, mutilated, or killed by this practice he insisted it was no big deal and would continue to do so.

FEL buckets are frequently used for man lifts. There are many close calls and worse. It is convenient, easy, a very attractive nuisance.

Palet forks with a good pallet on a FEL are not nearly so hazardous (call me a coward) but are still not OSHA approved.

I have climbed radio towers with just a safety belt with a pair of hooks. I can work high but doing something from a FEL bucket is way more dangerous than going up a couple hundred feet of triangular tower.

Most driving accidents are in intersections so you should always go through intersections as fast as possible to reduce the time you are in jeopardy!

Pat

So what's your point?
You sound like we're missing something here?
If you re-read the thread you'll find numerous references made to what you have said, except without the disparaging analogies.

 

[uphill]

I've recently painted my entire house and everything not reached from the ground was from the bucket. You can cover a 6 ft. wide area side to side and even paint sitting down on the bucket back upper lip if you are close enough. Weighing the safety issue, it seems to be better than hanging off the top of a ladder for an extended amount of time. I just feel safer.

 

[Timber]

Out behind my home and in the woods Nobody can see how stupid I am

 

[patrick_g]

Gee I wonder what my poiint was... Maybe it was that because risky behavior doesn't kill first time every time we let MACHO and other terrific safety factors get us to doing things that just aren't safe. Funny, but nearly anytime a group of men (women are too smart for this) hear someone say something about risky behavior there is an immediate contest to see who can brag about the most bizare behavior that hasn't killed me yet! "Well sir, you may think you are incredibly stupid but listen to what I did..."

About the scariest thing I saw in construction was an insulation installer standing on top of a 20 ft scaffold with no railing, wearing drywaller stilts, and reaching above his head as far as possible to tuck batting above some ducts at the peak of my great room cathedral ceiling (about 30 ft above the floor.) I came on the scene just as he was finishing and was virtually speechless (not a typical condition!)

I don't care if you are a 5th generation Mohawk high iron virtuoso, that is not smart. Getting away with it doesn't make it smart.

As a pilot I recall and appreciate the addage: There are old pilots and there are bold pilots but there are few old bold pilots.

Q: What phrase most often precedes a red neck's ambulance ride?

A: Hey, y'all, watch this!

Pat

 

[3RRL]

patrick_g,
No one is disagreeing with what you are saying.
They are sharing and discussing "Using bucket as work platform". Apparantly,this Board allows sharing and discussion like that. Take from it what you want.
Members are free to express their opinions and experiences. Just like you are. But you come across as though this shouldn't even be discussed and we are stupid for even discussing it? Maybe I'm wrong, but that's what it seems like to me.
There is a difference with not agreeing with what is discussed and trying to limit or impose on us what CAN be discussed.
IMO that is reserved for the Moderators of the Board.

 

[MikeD74T]

This is likely to NOT be a universely appreciated commentary!
Bragging about or even commenting about doing something patently dumb and dangerous is about equal to bragging about how many times you tried Russian roulette and didn't get killed or how many times you walked across the street without looking either way and didn't get run down. Just because you got away with something doesn't make it a smart behavior.
The recipients of the Darwin awards didn't start out to win one.Pat

Patrick, Noting that the above quote is a partial, I agree with everything in it at face value. As for the deleted part I can't tell it you wrote tongue in cheek or head in _ _ _.!!! Darwin espoused evolution as survival of the fittest. The strongest, smartest, best (SSB) ultimately survive and dominate. Man has been able to utilize as well as circumvent the process by learning from the mistakes & failures of others, and relating some of that knowledge to even more humans. This is what allows the majority of humans ( not necessarily strong, smart, or good) to remain on the planet today. It also allowed barnyard animals to live long productive lives free of the threat of predators, albiet to potentially lose that life at any moment at the whim of a human. Wild annimals on the other hand had to be the SSB to continue to exist.The SSB simply use everyone else, in degrees at varying levels, to maintain the support system. The SSB evaluate risk & take action based on potential to gain vs. potential to fail. It's this risk/gain process that allows the worlds timid, weak, over cautious to live comfortable lives while contributing in their small way, or not, to the overall good. The "Darwin Award" is a creation of those that consider themselves to be among the SSB as examples of why they're better than everyone else. The fact that the timid, weak, over cautious often also perceive themselves in the SSB group don't make it so. While there are lots of people that lived to a ripe old age without ever taking a risk many have added little to society as a whole. Risk takers sailed to the new world, walked it'd breadth, and eventually flew to the moon. They are responsible for virtually every facet of life that divides us from the mud hut dwellers of other places.
Behind every hero is a dozen "Darwin" nominees and in between are thousands of plain folk that look at the potential for failure & persevere. Some win ,some fail, many that wouldn't have taken the risk (the week timid over cautious) ultimately gain knowledge.
To me that's what TBN is about, sharing knowledge, including painful knowledge, so others can benefit and ultimately become the SSB.
If you're in the barnyard animal category, please note no offense intended, there's room for everyone. MikeD74T

 

[N80]

Pat, what I don't understand is that you use the phrase "dumb and dangerous" about working in a bucket but then suggest that working on a pallet on a FEL is somehow okay. I think you said safer...which is tacit approval. Then you go on to stereotype 'men' by mocking how they share stories about dangerous behavior. Then you share your dangerous story with us.

So, I think what you are saying is that you are one of us. Welcome aboard man!

 

[Timber]

OH dam I think I'm gona be extinct. I gona go over hear and dominate my dog or something

 

[firemanpat2910]

Out behind my home and in the woods Nobody can see how stupid I am

Yeah but we know you will come back and tell us what are the chances of getting Mrs Timber to sneak us some pics

 

[Soundguy]

This is likely to NOT be a universely appreciated commentary!

You've got to remember the vast crossection of people here.. Remember.. quite a large percentage of the readership has no problems with permanently voiding the certification on their rops either... ( can't wait for the replies on this one.. better go get my asbestos boxer shorts... ). And yes.. as timber sugested.. I'm a member of the 'man' club.. got my card right here ( or is it a sign? ) I've had my share of standing on my rops canopy and trimming trees.. stood in my 1955 ford 660 1-arm fel bucket to get at something high... I'm not sure if being int he bucket was the dangerous part.. or that it was my wife operating the controlls was the dangerous part. I've stood on the back of my friends horse trailer while he drove down his driveway, so I could cut the low limbs off his trees so they didn't smack his trailer. ( older guy.. he couldn't get up on the trailer.. )

Soundguy

 

[Egon]

Best be careful if the better half suggests you up your life insurance benefits!

 

[Timber]

Yeah but we know you will come back and tell us what are the chances of getting Mrs Timber to sneak us some pics

How true is that LOL, My wife is still having trouble with the delay in digital cameras. we have a lot of pictures of her feet