> Tire blew up and broke his elbow. Experienced kid too. Probably done hundreds of tires. Sometimes you just don't know.
When I worked at Ryder as a class 7/8 truck mechanic, we were taught that inflating tires was the most dangerous part of the job. In 2002 Jan/Feb they had 7 people killed, either employees or contractors on their property or using their trucks, killed by improperly inflating tires. One was a young (24?) tow truck company owner that left behind wife and kids, after he blew his head off by leaning over a tire laying flat on the ground while inflating it.
You can do it improperly once a month and never get injured for years, do it improperly 100s of tires in a row, the odds catch up real fast. Maybe now both the father and son will considering using a remote clip on hose to fill tires, I use that in my house garage on suspect tires and 16.5" tires, never mind it being a must have in a commercial setting.
I think I told the story before on here about how when I worked in parts at night at a Ford dealer, the "service manager" insisted on taking "new" warranty tires taken off a customer's truck to put on his truck, that were 16.5" tires. Besides being unethical, his truck took 16" tires. I pointed out it said right on the tire NOT to mount them on 16" rims. I refused to give him the tires on both grounds, then he came back and told met our boss (son's owner) said he could have them and to give the tires to him, pulling rank, so, I gave him the keys to teh rack and said I refuse to have any part in this (Luci and Ethel) scheme. You want them, you take them.
I put it out of my mind, until much later there was an explosion that shook the parts room walls. I go running out to see what happened, as did most people in the dealership. He is laying on his back knocked out in the middle of the garage floor. Seems when he tried to put the first inflated tire on the rear axle, he hit the tire on the lift or ground, it was enough to unseat the bead, and it blew him across the floor and knocked the truck off the lift. Luckily he did not need mouth to mouth and all he did was break his wrist. He came very close to leaving his young family behind too.
I never said "told you so" because I was just so relieved he did not kill himself, but, he did have to do the walk of shame every day for a few months with a cast on his arm in front of 40+ caring compassionate Ford mechanics that said such things as "who are you to tell me what to do, you are not even qualified to be a parts man BOOM BOOM".
imho, In a commercial setting, inflating tires is one of the most hazardous parts of the job, because bad habits pile up and can get ingrained, because you never get injured, until you do.