decapitated by woodchipper.

[tommer9]

Horrific.

[RobRainford]

Geez. That's something I wouldn't wish on anyone.

 

If your lucky then the rope could get cut as it hit the chipper blades but it's unlikely it would.

[Taupotreeman]

Perhaps a bonus with an old drum chipper. Had a rope fed through by a groundy while I was still attached up the tree. The blades just cut the rope off once it pulled tight because there's no fly wheel for it to wrap round. Not something I'd want to happen again though.

[Gnarlyoak]

Nasty!

 

I once nearly witnessed something similar, when a groundy in my crew loaded the chipper with a large branch which had the climbers rope entangled within it. He was completely oblivious to his error, and the climber was concentrating on the job, I was on the other side of the road spotting for the climber and managing the traffic. By the time I noticed what had happened, the rope was just about touching the lip of the chipper chute.

 

I managed to leg it across the road my arse twitching in terror and hit the stop button. Then I launched into a spittle frothing tirade against the numpty ground in the middle of the street. Not very professional perhaps, but it was born out of shock and fear. No matter how it might of looked I could'nt help but think about how I would tell the climbers wife and kids how he was killed by being ripped in half because some idiot was'nt paying attention to what he was doing.

 

Stay alert, stay focused, and stay safe lads and lasses.

[Steve Bullman]

i've just read through the article again, and im unsure the exact cause of death as it doesnt seem to be very specific...wether or not his head actually went into the chipper, of if just the tension on the rope decapitated him. I suppose either way its irrelevant though.