Mechanic dies in a bowling machine accident

[GeorgeF]

Man killed while repairing bowling machine

By Ann Weaver
The Oklahoman

MOORE - An Oklahoma City man was crushed to death Wednesday night while trying to repair a bowling pin set-up machine at AMF Moore Lanes.

Toby Lee Williams, 20, was trying to remove a jammed pin when he became trapped in the machine, police Sgt. Todd Strickland said.

Strickland said a manager immediately cut the machine’s power after he heard Williams scream.

Emergency responders had to manually pry open the machine to free Williams, Strickland said. He was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at Norman Regional Hospital.

Strickland said Williams had worked at the bowling alley, 420 SW 6, for two years.

State Medical Examiner Kevin Rowland said Williams died of traumatic asphyxia. His breathing and blood flow were constricted as the machine compressed his neck and chest, Rowland said.

The examiner said in his 21 years as a medical examiner, he’s seen at least two others die from being caught in bowling pin set-up machines.

Calls to AMF’s corporate offices were unanswered.

 

[wchester]

Every year there are a number of bowling centre deaths from back-end accidents like the above example.

Just another example of why NO ONE, other than an adult mechanic should ever be allowed to work on an automatic pinsetter. That includes re-spotting pins, clearing deck jams, clearing dead wood, and even attending to a ball return problem. It's JUST TOO DANGEROUS!

Something to think about the next time you see a help wanted advertisement that combines, desk or managerial duties with those of a pinchaser or mechanic (technician)
That's just a recipe for disaster.

 

[dejinshathe]

From what I hear around the traps, though, it's only kids that would work for the wages offered to techs, these days. Any truth to the rumours?

 

[helpneeded74]

The pay rate depends on wat award that prticular center pays. I have/had worked in centers for a few years and one cenetr/s that i was with did pay above award and they looked after me very well. Altho i would ASSUME that in alot of cenetrs u will hear staff say that they work for love of teh sport and yes that is sure the case in some places.

And wayne some people to have the ability to work front end and backend. i take pride in the fact that i can do both, i have worked backend more than front and can say that i have not had any major problems where i have put myself in danger. That also includes when i was the only person running the center front and back and had 16 lanes and waiting.
So not all people working in the industry who ca do front and backends are a recipe for diaster.

I hope this reply has offended noone.

Regards Graeme

 

[Easy Tiger]

It's tragic news, but it happens too often.

If he had pulled the power, the machine would not have crushed him. He should have done this. However, bowlers do not understand, and expect problems to be fixed immediately. Therefore, shortcuts get taken, and safety is often the biggest shortcut. Since he had been doing the job for 2 years I am assuming he knew how to operate the machine, it is sounding a lot like a massive mistake where he forgot to turn it off, or a shortcut to save time.

I always did (and still do) take the attitude that safety comes first, I never ever enter a machine unless the power is off completely. Having seen bowling from 3 aspects - as a bowler, as a tech, and as a front counter person, it's easy to see how these things occur.

 

[Cam S]

It's tragic news, but it happens too often.
If he had pulled the power, the machine would not have crushed him. He should have done this. However, bowlers do not understand, and expect problems to be fixed immediately. Therefore, shortcuts get taken, and safety is often the biggest shortcut. Since he had been doing the job for 2 years I am assuming he knew how to operate the machine, it is sounding a lot like a massive mistake where he forgot to turn it off, or a shortcut to save time.
I always did (and still do) take the attitude that safety comes first, I never ever enter a machine unless the power is off completely. Having seen bowling from 3 aspects - as a bowler, as a tech, and as a front counter person, it's easy to see how these things occur.

Has there been many accidents like this in australia.

There seems to be more and more focus on work place safety in this country
with things like regular certification and recertification of all employees, safety audits and annual risk assessments becoming modern practise in most work places.

I have only ever done work experience as a tech some 14 years ago but wouldnt there be systems and procedures in place to prevent this kind of thing happening?

 

[Easy Tiger]

I'm not sure of incidents here, seems to be more overseas. But then again, compared with America, Europe and the rest of Asia we have bugger all centres, so the chances are less anyway.

In terms of procedure, when I learnt we were told to turn all power off to the machinery, and we would get our rear kicked if found to be short-cutting safety with the machines.

The problem comes when a tech is under pressure to get a lane fixed because bowlers are cracking the sooks. So the tech shortcuts, or forgets, and there is your accident. I saw a guy get his leg caught in a sweep during league at a centre a couple of weeks ago while trying to fix something.. a pinjam I think, and he basically fell down onto the lane backwards with his foot caught in the air. A few seemed to think it was funny, but from the looks of it he was inexperienced (there were a couple of other minor incidents), and that's not a laughing matter. So Wayne is right in mentioning inexperience and the dangers of the job. But it also comes down to training and on some occasions, laziness.

 

[Odin_Tech]

This is a clear example of why you should always turn off the machine before entering it.

 

[weggy]

In grade 10 I did some work experience at a bowling centre and was always told to turn off the machine before working on it. I had thought it was just common sense, but when I found out about some different horror stories that have happened, you have to wonder...

 

[akdefl]

It's tragic news, but it happens too often.
If he had pulled the power, the machine would not have crushed him. He should have done this. However, bowlers do not understand, and expect problems to be fixed immediately. Therefore, shortcuts get taken, and safety is often the biggest shortcut. Since he had been doing the job for 2 years I am assuming he knew how to operate the machine, it is sounding a lot like a massive mistake where he forgot to turn it off, or a shortcut to save time.
I always did (and still do) take the attitude that safety comes first, I never ever enter a machine unless the power is off completely. Having seen bowling from 3 aspects - as a bowler, as a tech, and as a front counter person, it's easy to see how these things occur.

I have read some news about this, (and i don't know AMF machines, i am not sure completly) but he was clearing a jam with the power cut. However, it was due to the jam that he was clearing and the way the machine under spring load came back up and crushed him unfortunatly.
From what has been said negligence seemed to play a part in this.
However, i am not saying that this is what happened, this is what was posted about the accident, from people in the know.
Techs should never feel under pressure to get a lane back on play quickly. What is better, taking an extra 25 seconds to do it properly, or telling the bowlers that it is going to be an extra 30 minutes while the center gets another tech in to replace the one that has just been carted off to hospital? Then there are forms to fill out, etc...... Nobody wants to be interupted, bowlers want to come in and have a good time without having to wait for things, but it seems a lot of the time that bowlers just want to get out as quick as possible. It seems funny that they spend their money, only to want to leave quickly.
Andrew

 

[J_Allen]

http://www.bowltech.com/content/btubb/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=76729&page=2

I really wanted to post earlier, but we have really had a lot of things happening around here for the past few days. It's time to clear up a LOT of speculation.
First, Toby was a fine young man with a lot of drive and determination. He never once told us that he couldn't handle a task or help out in any area of the center. It was always "no problem... I'll take care of it." You never had to ask twice and sometimes you didn't even have to ask at all, because he would see something and just take care of it. Toby was not afraid of hard work and knew to get the things that he wanted in life that that is what it took. He worked hard, played hard and always had a story to tell about it all and sometimes with a flair for the dramatic.
Toby's father is a firefighter and Toby was eagerly waiting to follow his lead by attending the Oklahoma City Fire Training Academy.
Toby loved bowling with and just being around kids. He always made time to talk to them and make them feel like somebody special. For this reason, our staff has overwhelmingly agreed to create a Youth/Adult scholarship tournament in his name.
Toby loved his mother, admired his father, adored his girlfriend and babied his truck.
Needless to say, Toby's death leaves a huge void with his family, friends, the community, the staff and guests of AMF Moore Lanes and the Oklahoma City area bowling family.
On Wednesday night, Toby was clearing a pin jam on an 82-70 pinspotter. It was a routine call and seemed to be going fine. The table moved up a bit and stopped. After just a few moments of inactivity, something didn't seem right. I ran to the back and found Toby pinned between the table and bin. A tab on a spotting cup had instantly crushed his airway and medical personnel felt that his death took only seconds. There were no screams as some outlets have "reported". The table was cranked down to free him and we were ready to get him out of the machine when EMS arrived.
Thank you for taking a little time to get to know Toby and how he was taken from us. Out of tragedy comes the opportunity to save a life.
PULL THE PLUG!

^^ Theres the story from the manager ^^

From what I've gathered, he DID pull the plug, and the reason the table came up was because of the spring tension in it.. Seems the pin was stuck and instead of cranking the machine down and letting it release the pin (takes a bit longer) he just yanked it out, which released the springs tension and pushed the deck up enough for the tab on the spotting cup to crush his throat.

 

[Easy Tiger]

When I was on the same machines (82-70's) I had a similar experience with the tension on the table because of a pin jam.. so I can see how it could have happened. That explains a lot actually. Although he was brave putting his body near it.. if I couldnt reach the jam without keeping my body out apart from the arm, I would go back to the workshop and grab something like a hammer or crowbar and prise it out.. always being careful to have my hands out of the way when the pin let go coz boy did it fly up under tension.

It's moving machinery with lots of spring tension and a lot of weight.. it's dangerous at the best of times. You certainly have to be on the ball 100% of the time.. but Toby seems to have been very unlucky, it's a huge loss to bowling in that area from the sounds of it.

RIP Toby

 

[piequat]

This should really be posted in the main forum as well... Let bowlers know why they should lay off the techs, and give them time to do their job.

 

[craig]

if he pulled the plug (russell stohl plug) as is quoted at least 50 times in the service manual, where did the power come from??? (no chance) i'll tip at best he switched off the circuit breaker, and with silly american wiring where they switch nuetral instead of active, well the motors are never un powered

this is a tragedy, and hopefully will send another message out to all the tech's that assume it would never happen to them. all achieved in under 5 seconds.

 

[Hemiway]

To start I pass my Condolences to the family and friends of Toby. But in His passing it has highlighted a major fault within the Bowling industry worldwide. A large majority of the time there is only 1 tech on duty responsible for the operation of up to 30 (in Aust) machines at a time. In the 6 years I worked for A.M.F. All night shifts i worked where by myself as well as most days, in this time you could easily have no contact with any other person and nobody would think twice about it. (As happens in most centres, A.M.F. and Independent) I have recently left A.M.F. And the bowling industry. And been amazed by the lack of safety procedures that existed. No one is even allowed inside without 2 people present and they must be within sight and hearing distance at all times. All machines are fitted with multiple emergency stops. The list goes on and on, the end of the day responsibility lies with the operator, but companies also need to provide safe working environments and not just hope that nothing will go wrong.These are my opinions and some will disagree, so be it

Michael Baum

 

[RobbieB]

No one is even allowed inside without 2 people present and they must be within sight and hearing distance at all times. All machines are fitted with multiple emergency stops.
Michael Baum

What are you talking about here Michael? Where you work now?

Pinsetters are very different from most process machinery in that they do not have operators, so the tech should only get involved when maintaining or attending a trouble call. Either way, it's bloody hard to hurt yourself following safe working practise - that is, pull the plug before you stick anything into the machine.

Has there ever been a pinsetter fatality in Australia? I can't think of one offhand.

 

[rychenroller]

Either way, it's bloody hard to hurt yourself following safe working practise - that is, pull the plug before you stick anything into the machine.

Agree totally, been hurt twice myself...hair caught in a motor shaft (totally my fault) and a broken hand in an underlane (again my fault). Dont be a cowboy, do it the right way and its all good, no more or less dangerous than any other workplace.

 

[mongoliantreesloth]

Has there ever been a pinsetter fatality in Australia? I can't think of one offhand.

Let's all try to keep it that way.

 

[latty]

it is sounding a lot like a massive mistake where he forgot to turn it off, or a shortcut to save time.

Most machines have more than one switch that runs the machine, & most often, one of those switches will over ride the rest, even from the managers control panel. Knowing this from experience as the head tech, my manager & even my self (you could call me a tech apprentice, lol) have almost been caught under a sweep due to the fact that the machines were left on from the back end, & not turned off when we switched off the front end masking unit switches.

What I'm trying to say is perhaps, assuming he went in through the front, did turn off the front masking unit switch & slide in, automatically assuming the machine would be turned off, not thinking that the machine may have been turned on else where other than the control panel. A massive mistake indeed, but not an uncommon one. Sometimes, we just have to deal with the heckling that bowlers throw at slow techs. I don't know about other people, But i'd value my lifeover an impatient bowler.

 

[Easy Tiger]

Very true, techs should always take their time to make sure its safe and done correctly. As for the front of the machine entry, I guess that is a possibility, I personally found it too much hassle so I always just reached in through the machine, or undid the curtain and went in that way. But each to their own I guess.