Lift Failure at Subaru Calgary

[kenny]

Yikes, hope the guy is alright.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Mechanic+seriously+hurt+after+falls+from+Calgary+dealership+hoist/6271376/story.html



A mechanic was rushed to hospital with traumatic injuries after a car fell on him from the lift at a Calgary dealership this morning.

EMS was called to Meridian Road N.E. shortly after 9 a.m.

The mechanic is a male in his late forties.

“He sustained very serious injuries ... as a result of a car falling partially onto him from the lift,” said EMS spokesman Stuart Brideaux.

“As he was working, somehow the lift failed and the car landed on top of him, partially pinning him. Fortunately we did have good access to the patient and he wasn’t trapped.”

A secondary hoist prevented the car from falling totally onto the man, said Brideaux.

He is in serious but stable condition with non-life threatening injuries.

Occupational Health and Safety is investigating.

[littledan]

damn. I wonder if the lift actually failed or if the car slipped off the hoist arms. I would think it's the latter because the hoists have the built in catch mechanisms... :dunno:

[n1zm0]

they say no life threatening injuries but hopefully the guy doesnt lose any limbs because of it

i remember when working in the auto industry, the ones i hated doing the most were the longer domestic pickup trucks especially when you have to use the stand up pegs, even at its most secure state it still wobbled like hell, hated getting under them and always had a flash of what would happen to me if this thing fell right now when i crack this bolt.

also i recall a guy i worked with lifted a car up to the top limits, i came around to talk to him and noticed that he forgot to put the L/R hoist arm under the fken car :nut: it somehow didn't fall at all even when releasing the hydraulic pressure to descend and there's that small quick bump, very dangerous environment that you don't really think about when you're actually working there.

[HomespunLobster]

Shop I used to work at, the safety locks on one of the hoists didn't work properly (You had to hit it in place with a hammer then it was fine)
All the other guys didn't care, even when the hoist seals leaked a little and it would randomly drop half a foot.
Some people just don't care about their safety. The 2 extra seconds it took me to lock the hoist was too much effort for them

[GoChris]

Damn, my best bud works as a mechanic there, I better find out if hes ok!

Edit: oh nevermind, just noticed the age, not him.

[bart]

hmmm sorry to hear

i am wondering if the paint on that subaru easily scratched as a result :rofl:

[swak]

Yea the shop I worked at in my early (post-hs years), this one lift was crap (hydraulics were shot or whatever).
Sometimes thew locks would catch and tilt the car on the way down... So you'd have to relift, lower, life, lower etc.. To get the damn car down. If you weren't paying attn the damn thing would probably fall on you.

Big dealership in town too.. Surprised they'd have faulty lifts.. But that's business I guess

[GoChris]

Talked to him, he's shaken up. News report is wrong, there was no secondary hoist preventing a complete drop of the car. Entire car was on the ground, no wheels, one wheel that was off was under the car, so that helped the guy somewhat. So it wasn't partially on him, but fully. Ouch. Hope he's makes a full recovery.

[bmeier]

im not at all surprised hoists are supposed to be inspected once a year i think. Every shop i have ever been in has never had them inspected lol. these are dealerships too not "mikey bobs used motors"

scary situation.

[HomespunLobster]

Originally posted by bmeier
im not at all surprised hoists are supposed to be inspected once a year i think. Every shop i have ever been in has never had them inspected lol. these are dealerships too not "mikey bobs used motors"

scary situation.

We had a hoist fail 3 days after it was 'inspected'. One of the cables on the 4 post snapped. The techs notes were "cable starting to fray, keep an eye on it"

[GoChris]

From what I was told, it didn't appear to be a lift failure.

[Graham_A_M]

Originally posted by HomespunLobster


We had a hoist fail 3 days after it was 'inspected'. One of the cables on the 4 post snapped. The techs notes were "cable starting to fray, keep an eye on it"
Thats fucking un-acceptable. I have to check 6 cranes at my workplace every morning. So much as one little issue (no matter how small) the crane is red-flagged and shut down until the issue is remedied.

USING lifts with known problems? wow their WCB is going to go through the roof. These guys are going to find out the hard way how much cheaper it was to just fix/replace the unit in the first place.

Live and learn I guess.... only in this case just barely. :rolleyes:

[JustGo]

Sounds like karma to me. I've had 2 different "mechanics" from that place lie to me about what was wrong with my car so they didn't have to fix it properly under warranty. Then when I went to management with proof they blatantly lied, I was told he 'trusts his mechanics' and it's their word against mine.

Place is crooked.

That all being said, I'm glad it's not life threatening.

[JordanLotoski]

Crazy..My jag was just in for service 2 days ago

[Twin_Cam_Turbo]

Fuck we had a hoist safety fail at work this week, one shop foreman said cool we well call someone in to fix it, and the owner just said order a new one, and our hoists arent even that old.

[jefferson2]

Went to pick up my car from them today, they said he broke his pelvis, serious bruising to his face as well.

[cancer man]

if it was hoist failure that shop would be shut down.Operator failure??

[Rat Fink]

.

[Cos]

.

[Modelexis]

Originally posted by JustGo
Sounds like karma to me. I've had 2 different "mechanics" from that place lie to me about what was wrong with my car so they didn't have to fix it properly under warranty. Then when I went to management with proof they blatantly lied, I was told he 'trusts his mechanics' and it's their word against mine.

Place is crooked.

That all being said, I'm glad it's not life threatening.

At least now you know what it's like to be on the other side of a two sided story where your story doesn't count for shit.

Why paint the whole place with the same brush and label them all as 'crooked' just because you got one bad mechanic who was probably having a bad day from dealing with all the demanding customers such as yourself.
Why paint the entire company with the same brush because of the actions of a few?

They should punish this mechanic by doing an internal investigation to find out if he was lying! Punish him with a harsh talking to, maybe throw in a few weeks paid vacation.

:rofl:

Next time a cop is injured on duty I will say that it's karma for the liars in the department.

[JustGo]

Originally posted by Modelexis


At least now you know what it's like to be on the other side of a two sided story where your story doesn't count for shit.

Why paint the whole place with the same brush and label them all as 'crooked' just because you got one bad mechanic who was probably having a bad day from dealing with all the demanding customers such as yourself.
Why paint the entire company with the same brush because of the actions of a few?

They should punish this mechanic by doing an internal investigation to find out if he was lying! Punish him with a harsh talking to, maybe throw in a few weeks paid vacation.

:rofl:

Next time a cop is injured on duty I will say that it's karma for the liars in the department.
You're right, I should have said "if this one of the mechanics that looked at my car". I shouldn't assume it was, this guy could very well be a good guy. Good point, and it has been taken. This post just brought up all the anger I had from when that company screwed me.

:thumbsup:

[JustGo]

Originally posted by Modelexis

Why paint the whole place with the same brush and label them all as 'crooked' just because you got one bad mechanic who was probably having a bad day from dealing with all the demanding customers such as yourself.
Why paint the entire company with the same brush because of the actions of a few?
This is the only part of your post which I disagree with.

A) I was NEVER a demanding customer. If ANYTHING I was too nice, and let them screw me over. Besides, customers don't even directly interact with the mechanics there, so the guy never even saw me, or spoke to me.

B) I label them all as crooked because even after speaking with MANAGEMENT, they still wouldn't listen to me.

Let me summarize a bit-
I go in to get my strut checked out, it's clunking. I have like 3 months left on warranty.
I get my car back that afternoon, I'm told it's my exhaust pipe hitting my rear diff. They charge me $125 for looking at it.

I drive around for a few more weeks, still making noise. I look underneath, my exhaust is 1/2 inch away from the diff, I wiggle it around, it's impossible to make the two meet.

I book my car in again. I say the strut is shot. They take it all day, call me back and tell me it's the exhaust again.
I start thinking maybe I'm crazy. They charge me another $125.

A couple months later, the noise is really pissing me off, so I take it to me personal mechanic. He has it for an hour, says my exhaust has never hit my diff, there are no marks, and my rear strut is "really shot". Unfortunately, by this time, my warranty is expired, and I call back to complain, manager basically says the strut probably went after they checked it out, even though it was making the same noise the whole time. So they charged me $250 to lie to me, then I have to pay $1,500 to have both rear struts replaced when I knew about it under warranty.

Now you tell me why I shouldn't label that place as crooked.

[Modelexis]

I just think there are two sides to every story, and even if the mechanic made a mistake and misled the service tech this doesn't make an entire shop crooked and it doesn't discount the 10 fold number of people that are pleased with their service.

[JustGo]

Originally posted by Modelexis
I just think there are two sides to every story, and even if the mechanic made a mistake and misled the service tech this doesn't make an entire shop crooked and it doesn't discount the 10 fold number of people that are pleased with their service.

I called the MANAGER, and I told him straight up, I'm not looking for anything free, I'm just looking to inform them that I got screwed over, and he basically tells me he trusts his mechanics, and he wouldn't even listen to me, that's a problem.

If I called and was demanding they fix it for free, or whatever, they might have a case. But I made it very clear I was merely trying to inform them that they mis-diagnosed my car twice, and he wouldn't even believe me (or admit to it). But they gladly took my $250 for NOTHING. Still not sure how that's a sound business.

[04Terminator]

turns out he is a friend of the family. best wishes.

[TKRIS]

Originally posted by HomespunLobster


We had a hoist fail 3 days after it was 'inspected'. One of the cables on the 4 post snapped. The techs notes were "cable starting to fray, keep an eye on it"

Originally posted by Graham_A_M

Thats fucking un-acceptable. I have to check 6 cranes at my workplace every morning. So much as one little issue (no matter how small) the crane is red-flagged and shut down until the issue is remedied.

USING lifts with known problems? wow their WCB is going to go through the roof. These guys are going to find out the hard way how much cheaper it was to just fix/replace the unit in the first place.

Live and learn I guess.... only in this case just barely. :rolleyes:

I completely agree.
I do this for a living. I'd be willing to bet that the person doing the inspection was doing a mechanical inspection only. No structural inspector would see a lifting cable that was failing and say "keep an eye on that"...
That happens all the time, especially with vehicle hoists and bridge cranes. Companies get them "inspected" but the inspection companies only do a mechanical. They don't look at the structural side of it just like how when I'm there to do an inspection, I don't test for mechanical issues (beyond general operation and limit switches and stuff like that). The difference, in my experience, is that I know that a mechanical inspection should also be done, and let the customer know that before I leave. More often than not, the mechanical guys don't even consider the structure, so they leave the customer thinking that everything has been checked and it's all good to go.

[jdmXSI]

Originally posted by Modelexis
I just think there are two sides to every story, and even if the mechanic made a mistake and misled the service tech this doesn't make an entire shop crooked and it doesn't discount the 10 fold number of people that are pleased with their service.



Originally posted by JustGo


I called the MANAGER, and I told him straight up, I'm not looking for anything free, I'm just looking to inform them that I got screwed over, and he basically tells me he trusts his mechanics, and he wouldn't even listen to me, that's a problem.

If I called and was demanding they fix it for free, or whatever, they might have a case. But I made it very clear I was merely trying to inform them that they mis-diagnosed my car twice, and he wouldn't even believe me (or admit to it). But they gladly took my $250 for NOTHING. Still not sure how that's a sound business.

Sounds like modelexis would be a perfect fit to work at SoC:rofl:

There are a few really good people that work ther and you could count them on 1 hand. The management team is spineless and cuts corners whereever possible to make an extra dime. Remember shit always rolls downhill and if you have a shady owner, your management team will likely have similar traits. Also, keep in mind, the owner of SoC also owns Richmond Subaru (insert bad paint story here) and AutoGallery in Regina who was indicted on rolling back odometers amongst many others.


On a positive note, I'm glad to hear the accident wasn't life threatening and let's all hope for a full recovery for the tech!

[A790]

Originally posted by Modelexis
Next time a cop is injured on duty I will say that it's karma for the liars in the department.
You know, your posts are usually laughable but this one isn't even funny. It's just sad. You must be a very lonely, "intelligent", bored individual.

[Modelexis]

Originally posted by A790
You know, your posts are usually laughable but this one isn't even funny. It's just sad. You must be a very lonely, "intelligent", bored individual.

You know, I really appreciate you taking the time to respond to my post but I just don't feel the need to use your opinions to validate my self worth.

[A790]

Originally posted by Modelexis


You know, I really appreciate you taking the time to respond to my post but I just don't feel the need to use your opinions to validate my self worth.
Interesting statement considering you took the time to reply to my post.

[Modelexis]

Originally posted by A790
Interesting statement considering you took the time to reply to my post.

Interesting indeed!

[Dumbass17]

question..
how does it work that someone is in serious conditon but it's not life threatening?
seems kind of contrasting doesn't it?

[zipdoa]

Originally posted by Dumbass17
question..
how does it work that someone is in serious conditon but it's not life threatening?
seems kind of contrasting doesn't it?

You could break your neck and be paralyzed from the waist down, which would be considered serious condition but not a life threatening injury.

[bignerd]

Originally posted by Dumbass17
question..
how does it work that someone is in serious conditon but it's not life threatening?
seems kind of contrasting doesn't it?

They are not stable and require additional oxygen, fluids and are monitored by a nurse. They are not in the ICU but an ICU step down unit for people in between life threatening but not yet stable condition.

And for JustGo-that was a really shitty thing to say. Not quite sure how a serious work place injury that would of killed a man (had those tires not been there) is karma for poor service that you received. Hardly equal. Considering that you may be a first responder to incidents of this type, I thought you would know better than to say something like that.

[Z_Fan]

Originally posted by A790

You know, your posts are usually laughable but this one isn't even funny. It's just sad. You must be a very lonely, "intelligent", bored individual.

Modelexis

This person is on your Ignore List.

[Z_Fan]

Originally posted by Z_Fan


Modelexis

This person should be on your Ignore List.

Fixed.

[AE92_TreunoSC]

Hopefully he's able to make a living again. Best wishes to the guy.

Hopefully they get incentive to check the other hoists. The insurance and work place health will have a few words I'm sure.

[JustGo]

Originally posted by bignerd
And for JustGo-that was a really shitty thing to say. Not quite sure how a serious work place injury that would of killed a man (had those tires not been there) is karma for poor service that you received. Hardly equal. Considering that you may be a first responder to incidents of this type, I thought you would know better than to say something like that.
You're right, and if you read further, you'll see I already acknowledged that.

When someone costs you $2,000, it's hard to feel sorry for them, but as I said earlier, I can't even be sure it's the same guy, so what I said was a pretty dumb blanket statement.

Any time anyone mentions that damn place, I just get pissed off all over again. It definitely came out the wrong way here.

[Phuqu]

http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg95/DanDanLongDan/Toyotowned.jpg

Pic somewhat related.