Rope v chipper

[Taupotreeman]

After one of my trainee groundies got awfully close to feeding the tail of my climbing line, along with a pile of branches, through our new 12 inch bandit it got me thinking. Has anyone on here heard of people being pulled out of trees or through a chipper after having a rope snagged in the debris? I know it's a pretty morbid topic especially when there is another thread running on the death of a chap in the US, but......

 

My H&S rep rang today to find out if I would be interested in running a couple of experiments e.g. throwing an old rope tail first through the machine, then trying while it's tied to a dead goat, then trying again when the rope is attached in a typical climbing set up to something in a tree. We are thinking of filming the results just to see exactly what can or will happen but meantime, if anyone has any close shaves or experiences they are willing to share?

[samthescam]

I'd have thought that the rope would just be a mess at the end. Completely interested in the result though. Go for it... Hope you fired the grounds though. Anyone that stupid shouldn't be on site.

[Taupotreeman]

I've had a rope go through my chuck and duck and it just cut it to shreads but not sure how it will go through the bandit with the feed rollers and all. There's been a couple of examples but I'm keen to get it on video. The idea of trying out different scenarios is interesting, especially with an old goat attached to see how it could affect a climber in a tree if one end of a line gets caught up.

 

The groundie is still with us but no longer on the crew. When I had a pop at him about it he was pretty indifferent and reckoned he had been watching. If he was watching why was it me that was rapidly hauling up my rope trying to get it out of the brush rapidly disappearing through the chipper.

[samthescam]

I've had a rope go through my chuck and duck and it just cut it to shreads but not sure how it will go through the bandit with the feed rollers and all. There's been a couple of examples but I'm keen to get it on video. The idea of trying out different scenarios is interesting, especially with an old goat attached to see how it could affect a climber in a tree if one end of a line gets caught up.

 

The groundie is still with us but no longer on the crew. When I had a pop at him about it he was pretty indifferent and reckoned he had been watching. If he was watching why was it me that was rapidly hauling up my rope trying to get it out of the brush rapidly disappearing through the chipper.

 

I'd certainly be interested with the results. If someone told me they had been watching and had done nothing to stop it, I'd have been pretty close to hitting him. At the end of the day I'd rather be too safe than risk a death, or terrible injury.

[atree]

Haha i'd like to see the goat tied to a rope then through the chipper!

 

Best thing to do is landyard in and unclip (if possible)

 

One of our old groundies had a lowering rope wrapped around his arm and the end of the rope went into the chipper.He ripped his muscle in his arm,could of been worse tho..

[Taupotreeman]

This is the kind of info I need. We are trying to put together definitive stuff rather than hearsay and what might possibly happen. Hoping to use the info we gather as part of a training tool.

[atree]

Good Stuff Ian

[DrewB]

i know a guy who had it happen kindof, ill speak to him and get you the info. Is Thane running this bro?

[Taupotreeman]

No Bro, completely in house. After the near miss of my rope that close to the chipper our H&S guy had me do a brief report. We got talking today and he suggested we might try a live run to see what would have happened had my rope got caught up in the feed rollers. Things have progressed from there. I think it would be a good experiment just to see what the possible outcomes are.

[tomtrees]

About 15 years ago a rope went through a smal Greenmech rapped around the fly wheel and pushed the cassing apart (went in but didnt come out)