Laws Governing Professional Lawn Maintenance Businesses

[djdicetn]

The problem is we have thousands of laws too many already. Instead of having new laws we need to get government's nose out of everybody's business. If I feel safe running my zero turn on a steep hillside and have no problem doing it why should you have somebody make a law to stop it? I cut hillsides regularly that are very steep as do numerous others that do what we do for a living. I have had my 222 on hills that it literally slid sideways. I have cut places that you ease it upwards and then ease it backwards to the bottom and ease it upwards again.

I have found one thing on the Kubota 222 that is a hazard that has to be worked around.

The fuel tank is on the left. Therefore the left rear wheel has far more traction than the right one. On a steep incline going down hill it is virtually impossible to turn right if you are not going very slow. The reason being when you pull backwards on the lever to turn right the right wheel will start to slide and the left one will still have traction. Then the natural instinct is to push the left lever forward and pull the right lever backward to make it turn sharper. When you do it will get very fast in a straight line.

The first time mine ever did this it was a definite near miss. I wound up running off a bank into a parking lot. Had it been a highway instead of a parking lot it could have been deadly.

I learned that when you put this mower on this type situation you have to run at a very slow speed and keep the hydra stats working so that the wheels work slow and not let your instincts to turn sharper take over.

jekjr,
I too am glad it was a parking lot instead of a highway!!!! Did you tell your wife about that incident??? I know everybody will think I'm a henpecked woosie, but if it were me and I told my wife there would either be a career change for me or a divorce:0)

 

[jekjr]

jekjr,
I too am glad it was a parking lot instead of a highway!!!! Did you tell your wife about that incident??? I know everybody will think I'm a henpecked woosie, but if it were me and I told my wife there would either be a career change for me or a divorce:0)

Have you ever worked out in the real world?

 

[jekjr]

Dj, Any time there is a one size fits all law it normally makes it hard on somebody it was not necessarily designed to make it hard on.

I will give you a quick for instance.

I am going to pick up a camper trailer today in Pensacola Fl. The dealer says that it is a Fl State law that I have to have an equalizer hitch with lift bars on it to leave the lot with that trailer.

I have one but I have not used it in years because it is a pain in the behind to use. It is rated 10,000#'s with 1000# tongue weight. I run a Dodge 2500 truck with a set of Super Springs installed.

The hitch I took out of the receiver to put the hitch on that they required is an Anderson Rapid Hitch that is rated 10,000#'s with 1500# tongue weight.

It took me 45 minutes to locate the hitch and everything that goes with it and get it lubricated and ready to go plus I had to get greasy and then get cleaned up to drive to Pensacola. When we get there it might take a considerable length of time to adjust everything on that hitch to match the trailer I am picking up. With the rapid hitch it would have involved pulling one pin and sliding the hitch up or down and pushing the pin back on and putting the lock back on it.

The Rapid hitch has pulled probably a hundred different trailers since I have had it. I have pulled campers up to 38' long with it. It has been loaded to the max poundage wise on more than one occasion and It has never cause me a problem nor presented a safety issue of any kind.

When I get home I will put the equalizer hitch back in the shed and the Rapid hitch back on and all I will have accomplished is a waste of time and energy and gotten my hands and clothes greasy fooling with the thing.

All because some beuracrat made a law that probably never pulled a trailer in his life. Probably because somebody read an article where somebody hooked a camper to a vehicle with an insufficient hitch on it or was inexperienced at pulling trailers and got on the band wagon to make a difference. Before you start a grass roots effort on anything like that please look for something else to do. Get some more yards to cut or get a job or something besides trying to get more laws passed that will harass somebody who is already dealing with enough harassment from too many rules and regulations already.

 

[djdicetn]

Have you ever worked out in the real world?

Jekjr,
Yep, just not mowing lawns(obviously). 43 years in Mainframe IT and fortunately the liklihood of a fatality in my line of work is pretty slim. I guess your wife accepts the risk you take same as if you were a police officer or fireman. I can only hope the income is worth the risk(being a police officer and fireman is more of a calling cause I don't think they make the big bucks).

 

[jekjr]

Jekjr,
Yep, just not mowing lawns(obviously). 43 years in Mainframe IT and fortunately the liklihood of a fatality in my line of work is pretty slim. I guess your wife accepts the risk you take same as if you were a police officer or fireman. I can only hope the income is worth the risk(being a police officer and fireman is more of a calling cause I don't think they make the big bucks).

I worked over 21 years in Mechanical Maintenance in the pulp and paper industry. My wife has seen the 100+ hour work weeks and understood some of the dangers. Much of my time there was spent in the boiler houses. We operated two of the largest Recovery boilers in the world at that time. They operated 1225# steam. In those years I saw some hurt, some killed, and a lot of near misses that could have been real deadly.

I have worked every where from the woods in the logging industry and construction industry operating equipment primarily. I was cutting grass when I was 10 and driving a farm tractor in the field at 13. I have operated most any kind of farm equipment common to the south. As well as hydraulic cranes up to 35 tons.

I have also worked on and operated skidders and knuckle boom loaders in the woods logging. Before I was 21 I was pulling a low boy with a big truck at times over weight and over size and had even been as far away as Atlanta.

I would not call myself a specialist or professional but more like a jack of all trades. I have been around the block a couple of times as an operator.

In every one of the above name things there are inherit risks and dangers. There are more laws on the books already concerning all of those things than can ever be enforced. Why in the name of God do we need any more laws? All they do is cost honest hard working people money and make lawyers and politicians money.

Many of those rules and regulations are the reason that so many of our jobs have left this country. That and the fact that you can't find people that will work.

Just please don't advocate any more laws, rules, nor regulations for anybody. Some beuracrat might be listening.

 

[djdicetn]

I worked over 21 years in Mechanical Maintenance in the pulp and paper industry. My wife has seen the 100+ hour work weeks and understood some of the dangers. Much of my time there was spent in the boiler houses. We operated two of the largest Recovery boilers in the world at that time. They operated 1225# steam. In those years I saw some hurt, some killed, and a lot of near misses that could have been real deadly.

I have worked every where from the woods in the logging industry and construction industry operating equipment primarily. I was cutting grass when I was 10 and driving a farm tractor in the field at 13. I have operated most any kind of farm equipment common to the south. As well as hydraulic cranes up to 35 tons.

I have also worked on and operated skidders and knuckle boom loaders in the woods logging. Before I was 21 I was pulling a low boy with a big truck at times over weight and over size and had even been as far away as Atlanta.

I would not call myself a specialist or professional but more like a jack of all trades. I have been around the block a couple of times as an operator.

In every one of the above name things there are inherit risks and dangers. There are more laws on the books already concerning all of those things than can ever be enforced. Why in the name of God do we need any more laws? All they do is cost honest hard working people money and make lawyers and politicians money.

Many of those rules and regulations are the reason that so many of our jobs have left this country. That and the fact that you can't find people that will work.

Just please don't advocate any more laws, rules, nor regulations for anybody. Some beuracrat might be listening.

jekjr,
I respect your opinion and have a high degree of respect for you replying with some career history background sans any "blasting" of me for my opinion. I really should have thought through this topic and how I proposed it(obviously a law to enforce at the operator level was not wise based upon other responders and the "poll" thread where I'm the ONLY "Yes" vote:0)
Actually laws, rules and regulations did not prompt me to start this discussion just never thought about it until I saw the JD ZTR on the news without a ROPS where the operator died from a rollover. My first reaction was....if the guy had had a ROPS he wouldn't have gotten killed. Therefore I came here to discuss that and a "law governing professional lawn care maintenance companies' was my first thought. Several users, like user Ric and others, have added some clarification about the best preventive measures being more effective at the manufacturer and/or dealer for "safety training". I don't really know if there's anything that would help reduce fatalities(like they say, you can't regulate STUPID:0)

 

[GT182]

GT182,
Sooooooooo......if your Kubota did turn over what/who do you see liability resting on, should.....God forbid, your family want to sue someone over it? I know that most likely an "official investigation" would rule it as an "accident" where the land owner, etc. would not be "charged" etc. for negligence so maybe this whole topic is "much ado over nothing". I just had to ask users for opinions:0)

My 2 cents.... It's solely operator's liability to operate his machine safely. ROPS or no ROPS. Granted the manufacturer's put them on ZTRs and lawn tractors, but it all falls on the owner/operator for the safe operation of their machine. Period! The manufacture installs it but they cannot be held accountable for how someome operates the machine.

And yes Kubota sells B series tractors with ROPS..... possibly other tractors too. Same for John Deere. My GS2000 was built before ROPS, but I imagine if it was still made today it would have ROPS on it.

I lost a couple of neighbors back in the 70s from their MTD and JD mowers rolling over a river bank from being too close, and them drowning. One was a man and the other a woman that we knew well.

 

[jekjr]

jekjr,
I respect your opinion and have a high degree of respect for you replying with some career history background sans any "blasting" of me for my opinion. I really should have thought through this topic and how I proposed it(obviously a law to enforce at the operator level was not wise based upon other responders and the "poll" thread where I'm the ONLY "Yes" vote:0)
Actually laws, rules and regulations did not prompt me to start this discussion just never thought about it until I saw the JD ZTR on the news without a ROPS where the operator died from a rollover. My first reaction was....if the guy had had a ROPS he wouldn't have gotten killed. Therefore I came here to discuss that and a "law governing professional lawn care maintenance companies' was my first thought. Several users, like user Ric and others, have added some clarification about the best preventive measures being more effective at the manufacturer and/or dealer for "safety training". I don't really know if there's anything that would help reduce fatalities(like they say, you can't regulate STUPID:0)

Better yet, why any law period. That is my issue here we already have too many laws. Drop a few instead of adding any.

 

[GT182]

jekjr,
I don't really know if there's anything that would help reduce fatalities(like they say, you can't regulate STUPID:0)

Regulate? I actually boils down to... "You Can't Fix Stupid! Period!" And that also goes for the idiots making the laws. :wink:

 

[Muhammad]

Hi Guys,

Please keep the discussions civil! No insults and profanity if you can help it. :thumbsup: