Man dies after going through woodchipper

[GlobalNewark]

There are so many machines that would benefit from a push stick. It takes to minutes to find a stick but how often do you see people taking a risk for hours on end because they are too busy to make a stick. Loose a few fingers or worse and you will be slowed down for life.

 

 

 

We supply these push paddles with all our chippers as Std issue but they mostly get chipped by customers as it's funny?

 

 

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[Dan Curtis]

Ill considered comment, it could have been his first and last mistake. A piece of snagged clothing would probably be all it took.

 

Very true. I had a glove snag feeding a Heizohack four years ago. My hands weren't in the feed but in the trailing brash. I was stood to the side, and to my knowledge having passed a chipper ticket twice (don't ask) I did nothing wrong. It was a tight cuffed glove and I was about 8 inches off the feed roller before I could stop the feed. The other operators thought I was just pushing brash, they didn't realise I couldn't get my hand out, nor could they hear me.

 

Haven't worn gloves feeding a chipper since

[RC0]

So what are the safety features on these machines Reg? what does the second man do to stop it?

That was in the UK Tom. We used to use a company frombthe North west for big clearance jobs. The chipper was powered by a big John Deere. Very short and wide infeed, sos to break up trees as they were pulled through. The safety feature was that you just didn't go near it. There s no market for such a machine here in Victoria as everybody (homeowners) wants firewood.

[jomoco]

You are preaching to an empty house mate. In the UK the HSE dealt with the chipper safety thing over a decade ago when operator in feed protection was reviewed and machines retro fitted.

 

There is also a qualification for chipper operators

 

The main safety area though is we simply don't have much in the way of huge chippers, a TW125 will give you a manicure you will never forget but it cant eat you.

 

With all due respect TreeQuip, I believe you're mistaken.

 

In so much as the solo operator has the required chipper certs?

 

There's absolutely nothing in the UK regs to prevent a tree service owner from sending out a chiptruck towing a BC1800 or Hurricane 2400 equipped with the 300 hp Deere engine, to chip up brush piles, solo.

 

Though I sincerely hope that you can prove me wrong mate?

 

Jomoco

[Peter]

Have you ever worked in the UK John?

 

The point is that it doesn't happen here, chipper fatalities seem fairly regular in the US, but to my knowledge there haven't been any in the UK. Care to prove me wrong?

 

On the wider point of lone working, all work activity must be risk assessed, and anyone sending a lone operator out with a machine capable of eating them alive would in breach of health and safety legislation. Hand feeding large chippers is frowned upon full stop actually.

[treequip]

With all due respect TreeQuip, I believe you're mistaken.

 

In so much as the solo operator has the required chipper certs?

 

There's absolutely nothing in the UK regs to prevent a tree service owner from sending out a chiptruck towing a BC1800 or Hurricane 2400 equipped with the 300 hp Deere engine, to chip up brush piles, solo.

 

Though I sincerely hope that you can prove me wrong mate?

 

Jomoco

 

I didn't say he would be solo, that's your agenda. If they were solo or not the machine would need to be fitted with infeed protection to the current UK standard. What's the US standard for infeed protection?

 

Our roads and infra structure date from a time when a horse and cart was living large so tring to get a 14 inch chipper and a truck big enough to drag it down most of the UK's streets in a logistical nightmare

 

We don't see many machines over 12 inch in the uk and most of the big machines are machine feed only.

[Tom D]

What I still don't get is how so many of these accidents happen, if a machine is so dangerous then no one should go near it. Full stop.

 

In the UK there has to be a minimum distance between the edge of the indeed and the rollers, there must also be a stop bar which if functioning correctly will be easily stopped by the operator if he falls or becomes snagged. Are the US machines different?

 

Hand feeding a machine designed to be crane fed would be very dangerous, but with the proper safety features in place I can't see why 1 man can't feed a big chipper. I have hand fed a 10" TP, a 12" bandit and a 16" Morbark, all could take you through if you let them, but all had the proper stop bars and were quite safe....

 

Either US chippers don't have these features or they're pretty poor at maintaining them...

[jomoco]

So industry rules and standards in place today that prohibit climbers from workin solo, that must do aerial rescue certs are predicated on, makes perfect sense to some of you?

 

But applying that same labor cost expense to protect WTC operators from mortal danger doesn't compute for yu huh?

 

Some of you guys amaze me.

 

Jomoco

[benedmonds]

There are so many machines that would benefit from a push stick.

 

I use a snow shovel, we always have them on site for clearing up and the head is to big to go through our 10 inch machine.. works great.

[difflock]

JOMOCO,

it does not compute because it cannot compute.

(i)Preferable crane feed.

(ii) Do not single man, or indeed manually operate, unless absolutly unavoidable.

then

(iii) Use the safety devices/sensor safety devices available.

 

Simple risk assessment methodolgy.

Eliminate the risk where possible, that is to say,a second man/operator/buddy CANNOT eliminate the risk.

 

Tree climbing is entirely different.

It ABSOLUTLY cannot be eliminated, therefore methodology must be put in place to reduce the risk i.e. a second trained person available to rescus.

Edited June 25, 2014 by difflock