Over Hill, Over Dale: Slope Mowing

Landscape contractors don’t have a choice when it comes to mowing various gradations of terrain – no matter how challenging. As the Nike slogan inspires, they ‘Just Do It’ to get the job done and to satisfy the customer. But are they doing it safely and productively?

"We almost lost a few machines in a lake because we tried to mow the lawn along an embankment when it was wet and slippery," related Bruce Tucker, principal, Tucker Environmental Contractors, Boca Raton, Fla. "Cutting a lawn is not more important than employee safety. If we wouldn’t have implemented procedures to follow when mowing steep embankments, we might have had additional employee injuries and lost some machinery as well."

According to many mower manufacturers and landscape contractors, properly utilizing a mower’s safety features and following safe practices while mowing challenging areas, such as steep slopes, riverbanks, narrow spaces or rolling con-tours, can save a contractor not only valuable time going over terrain that was improperly cut, but a possible injury as well.

CHOOSE YOUR WEAPON WISELY. "Hilly terrain and pond areas add depth to a landscape," noted Bill Lowe, marketing product manager, Snapper Mowers, McDonough, Ga. "And landscape architects use them and add or delete them to design a landscape for proper water drainage and flow of traffic, not for ease of mowing."

Since there isn’t much control in the development or change in rolling hills and riverbanks, choosing the right mower with the right features to use on these areas can be the most important aspect of completing a job correctly.

"On steep areas, contractors tend to feel more comfortable using a walk-behind mower," Lowe explained.

"Contractors have more control on really steep areas using a walk-behind and the operator isn’t in as much jeopardy," added Bob Walker, president, Walker Mfg., Ft. Collins, Colo. "Most walk-behinds have a shut-off feature so if the contractor slips and lets go of the mower handles, the machine and its blades automatically stop."

While walk-behind mowers are a good choice for steep areas, they aren’t always the most productive, especially if the area being mowed is vast, Walker said.

"In a large area, contractors can give up productivity if they don’t use a riding mower," he remarked.

In general, zero-turning radius mowers are not able to handle as steep of slopes as tractor-style mowers that have steerable wheels, Walker said.

"On a zero-turning radius mower, total dependency rests on the rear wheel traction controls for stopping, steering and maneuvering the machine," pointed out Bill Shea, vice president of sales and new product development, Ferris Industries, Munnsville, N.Y. "So when the rear wheels slip, the front wheels will go wherever gravity takes them."

"Usually the wheel that begins to slip is the one that has the least weight on it," Walker added.

Mower manufacturers and contractors have been attempting to even out this weight ratio. Contractors will actually add weight to the mower wheels and manufacturers are developing mower features that will even out the weight from one end of the machine to the other. For example, Ferris Industries claims that their riding mower with independent suspension "maintains the same weight ration on all four wheels, keeping all four wheels on the ground on uneven turf," Shea said.

One of the biggest problems a mower can have when dealing with steep hills is a lack of traction, according to Walker.

"The machine should have the ability to be controlled. It needs to contour without scalping and cutting into the ground or skipping and leaving areas uncut," Walker explained.

To avoid scalping or skipping, Walker suggested contractors look for decks that have not only the ability to float up and down but also the ability to twist and rotate side to side.

"Some decks don’t have these combined capabilities and are fairly rigid moving side to side," he said. "Without the extra ease of moving side to side or diagonally, a mower will only be able to contour in an up and down motion properly."

A lack of traction means a contractor won’t be able to mow side to side on a steep hill – the most visually appealing way, pointed out Jim Forrester, distribution manager, Encore, Beatrice, Neb. Contractors will mow hills crossways, an approach called diamond mowing, to compensate for this lack of traction and still maintain a nice looking cut.

"Also, the smaller the deck size used in contoured areas," Walker continued, "the greater the ability for a closer cut because smaller decks have a better terrain following ability than larger decks."

While deck size is important, so is deck suspension, which will vary on front cut and mid-mount mowers, Walker said.

"A mid-mount mower is not going to have the kind of suspension available in a floating deck design that a front-mount mower has because the mid-mount deck hangs beneath the mower in between the wheels so there’s not as much opportunity for suspension," he explained. "So, whatever happens to the mower body on a mid-mount usually happens to the deck as well. A front-mount is usually mounted on its own suspension system."

Besides a smaller machine, Tucker suggested that contractors look for machines that are lower to the ground with a balanced structure.

When it comes to mowing on slopes, however, contractors shouldn’t be concerned about equipment they purchase as long as they follow the operator’s instructions, pointed out Peter Whurr, vice president of product management, Textron Turfcare & Specialty Products, Racine, Wis. Before being sold, commercial machines are tested on a certain degree of slope, Whurr said.

"Our product must go through a slope performance test so that when we stipulate proper mower operating procedures in our manual, we know the product will perform to certain design perimeters," Whurr said.

Whether a contractor uses a walk-behind or riding mower on steep slopes, a demonstration before purchase is essential, especially after a contractor has identified a difficult area to mow, Walker said.

"Contractors should not buy equipment for a certain area until they test it on the property it’s going to be used on to ensure it will work," Shea recommended. "Most dealers will come to the site with the machinery for a demonstration."

ROPS. A safety feature developed on mowers for the purpose of protecting operators from injury in case the machine tips over while mowing hills is the Rollover Protection System or ROPS. Some government sites recommend that their grounds managers only use machines with ROPS. Walker said safety experts tend to agree that a similar safety mechanism needs to be implemented industry-wide.

"If a machine is used often on slopes, then an advantageous move from an end user would be to make sure that mower has a certified ROPS structure on it," Whurr agreed.

While there are certain benefits to ROPS as long as it is certified and used correctly, which means the operator needs to wear the seat belt that comes along with it, manufacturers haven’t noticed a significant safety improvement because of the additional roll bar. In fact, Walker said a machine with ROPS may not always be the best choice for contractors.

"First of all, if a machine has a roll bar, it has to have a seat belt to be a certified ROPS," Walker explained. "Most contractors are getting on and off the machine so much all day that they don’t take the time to rebuckle their seat belts. The seat belt is a key part to the ROPS ‘safety’ feature, but for a contractor, who needs to get on and off the machine, it’s not efficient.

"We can’t say that roll bars have never saved anybody," Walker continued, "but there is some controversy. Think about if someone were to roll into a riverbank wearing their seat belt in complete compliance with ROPS and then couldn’t unhook their seat belt to get off of the machine and drowned. The issue concerning whether ROPS is actually considered rollover ‘protection’ is debatable after looking at every aspect of the system and the potential accidents that could happen."

Also, ROPS makes the machine taller, which means it can get hung up on low trees and bushes, Walker added.

However, a safety mechanism like ROPS also goes through the same extensive testing as a machine without ROPS, Whurr explained, so contractors should have no reason to fear adding it onto a machine for safety reasons.

"Just as we test mowers in maneuverability, dynamic and static tests, we test mowers with ROPS in a similar ‘worst possible condition on an X-degree of slope’ test," Whurr said.

MOWING RIGHT. Mowing an area correctly and cautiously is just as important as choosing the proper machine. Most manufacturers include safe mower practices in their mower manuals, and according to Tucker, contractors should be implementing their own safety guidelines.

The first step is to judge whether the slope is too dangerous to mow, advised Rick Lemcke, co-owner, R.M. Landscape Industries, Rochester, N.Y.

"During our safety training, we show our employees the maximum slope a walk-behind can take," Lemcke explained. "If the area looks steep enough to sled down, we recommend that it shouldn’t be mowed. We would rather suggest a client change the gradation of the area with landscaping or add groundcover as a less expensive alternative to maintaining that area by mowing it."

After determining that the slope is a safe enough degree to mow, a contractor should walk the slope first to look for holes and/or obstacles that might get in the way, said Ken Raney, advertising manager, Excel Industries, Hesston, Kan.

And, before going up a hill, an operator should spend ample time maneuvering the mower on flat ground first to get a feel for how it operates under normal conditions, Walker suggested.

When using zero-turn radius riding mowers, Tucker shared that he never makes a true zero-degree turn, especially on a hill.

"On an embankment, we never turn completely around," Tucker said. "We’ll move in a ‘pull up and pull back’ motion instead."

The best bet for mowing a dangerous area may be using a walk-behind, Lemcke pointed out.

"Even though riding mowers tend to feel more stable than walk-behinds, they can slip and aren’t as flexible," Lemcke explained.

If the ground along a slope is wet, heavy equipment should not be used on it, Tucker warned.

"Using heavy equipment on wet ground creates ruts and makes the job look sloppy," Tucker noted. "Instead, we’ll take a 24-inch walk-behind mower and a weed eater and mow the embankments by hand to be safe."

"A 36-inch walk-behind can mow most turf even if the turf is too wet," added Sam Burke, president, Landscape One, Hebron, Ky.

When the decision comes down to employee safety vs. getting the job done, Burke said employee safety comes first.

"We educate our customers and explain to them that we have discretion over how and when to mow," Burke said. "If we can’t mow an area one day because of employee safety or potential property damage, 99 percent of our customers understand that the area cannot be cut. If the site is a high visibility commercial site and needs to be cut, we’ll use a weed eater to do it, but we’ll charge an extra 10 percent for having to mow under these conditions, and most of our customers understand the reason for the extra cost."

"If our employees don’t feel comfortable mowing a sloping area, we tell them not to mow it and ask them to put the information in their job report," echoed Tucker. "We also ask employees for their thoughts on ways they or other employees might feel safer mowing that area."