Lost a friend

Please , please , please be careful when working under a vehicle.. Bob Bradbury of northeast Ohio lost his life when a vehicle slipped and fell onto him..42 years old.....You can never be too careful.. I knew Bob from him working at Southeastern Equipment and Ronyak Paving..A very good friend that had exceptional mechanic skills.. See you later, Bob.....

I had an uncle who was an undertaker.His son who was my cousin was also my best friend,when we were in our teens we would sometimes be asked to help lift a body.
One Saturday evening I went to pick up my cousin and my uncle said come in here, I want to show you something.
There on the enbalming table laid the body of a 17 year old boy,his forehead was about 4" wide,he had been under a car fixing something and the jack slipped out,frame of the car came down on his head.
Now that might sound like a strange thing for an undertaker to show a teenager,BUT, the lesson it taught me stayed with me ever since..I jack and block or use axle atands, I will not go under a vehicle that isn't safely secured in its lift.I will never forget that image and it has likely kept me safe these 64 years.

It happens a lot when guys try to use cinder blocks to support a vehicle.

Roy,

I'm sorry for the loss of your friend. Death is seldom a welcome visitor.

May I change the subject for a moment? My father-in-law, Perry Grocott, was the superintendent of Ronyak's plant in Shalersville, Ohio, many years ago. He died in November 1970 from bone cancer, but he was actually at work when he died. He greatly appreciated the Ronyaks and was entirely dedicated to his job.

May your friend rest in peace.

Tom in TN

my half brother in law had that same thing happen to his 17 year old boy. he layed under a 57 chev from sometime mid afternoon till the next morning before being found, no wheels, jack slipped out, his head was crushed.

So sad. My sympathies go out for his faimily and for you too, Roy. From the little bit of information I have, I get the feeling he was an active, working type of guy. I don't feel this is the time to be finding faults. Jim

sorry to hear the sad news also, worked around motors for a long time. always told everybody 30 more seconds to place jacks,supports, etc, is worth it.. tragic to hear about this type of accidents.

sORRY TO HEAR OF SUCH SAD NEWS . maybe in another post u can describe what went wrong to cause this sad accident,, obviously the man was a good mechanic who practiced safety methods , but yet he was killed , every now and then we all take stupid risks and shortcuts , so far , i have lived to be able to tell about them , had serveral accidental deathes in our area over the years /// ,the 391 ford motor that i now have in my grain truck came from a guy who was a good farmer/auctioneer , careful operator , but yet a forklift crushed him to death,/// another neighbor was killed when he reached from the ground to the lever of a ford backhoe and either hit the wrong lever or MORE THAN LIKELY unwittingly snagged the wrong lever with his sleeve of his overoat ,the arm came aroundbehind his back and got him crushed etween the back tire , his wife found him when he did not come in for lunch //, and then the26 yr old newlywed , who was crushed when the ditch walls slid in on him /////////// only reason i am telling ANY of these tragedies is the hope that all of us can live safer and longer and remain productive and friends .. MY PRAYER S AND SYMPATHY TO THE FAMILY...

I was one of the lucky ones. When I was 16, a car slipped off the jack onto me. Just enough to pin me under it without really hurting me. I yelled to high heavan, and my mother and sister came running and got the thing off of me. The only damage was to my ego.

But, that was a he11 of a lesson that's stuck with me for the 60 years since. Any time I'm under a vehicle, there's no way that sucker is going to come down on me.

Sorry to hear about your friend. Working around equipment is inherently dangerous no matter how careful you are and every day gotten through alive is another good day. I've worked under everything from cars on jackstands to cranes held up by oak cribbing blocks and even when you "know" the machine is held up and stable it can often be unnerving when you stop and think what could happen to you if just one of the blocks slipped, etc, etc, etc. In the end all I know is I do my best to be careful so I don't become a statistic and wind up with someone posting my obituary on here too...............

Roy,Sorry for your loss. Jack stands are a must, no exceptions.