Man dies after going through woodchipper

[Gnarlyoak]

Nasty. Condolences to his family & friends, got to feel for the motorist that witnessed the event as well. Could be a while before they have a peaceful nights sleep!

[born2trot]

Scandalous ...this should be nigh on impossible to happen . Boss of the company should be on manslaughter charges

[Tim Stobart Tree Surgery]

Steve,

to be really pedantic, your post title should have been.

"Man dies going through woodchipper."

 

are u a partime english teahcer?

 

LMAO:thumbup:

[peatff]

Just curious if mistake prone groundies have any business using such equipment in the first place?. Maybe the mistake prone groundie should find another occupation?.

 

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

[easy-lift guy]

I've been at this for 40 years now.

 

Never heard of anyone being chipped alive completely till hydraulically fed WTC's hit the market here in the early 90's.

 

But after 96 or so, my crews ran BC1800's almost exclusively on my removal crew. That's all we did, removals, mostly with a crane. Had I not had my own strict two man minimum rule for feeding those 1800's? 4 men would have been chipped alive on the job, on my crew.

 

This BS TCIA spouts about a second man not being able to act quick enough to save a trapped disabled operator is pure tripe. Almost every WTC has an auto feed function.

Yet TCIA scurries off to a campus professor, whose students solemnly pronounce that a second operator makes little difference cuz it all happens so fast!

 

Pure malarkey, as anyone who's ever fed WTC's knows for a fact. Were it not for that strict Two man minimum rule on my crews? You could add another 4 hardworking but mistake prone groundies to the WTC fatality list that keeps right on growing higher each passing year.

 

I have high hopes that the UK will not allow such nonsense to go unaddressed by their safety authorities in the manner the US has.

 

Gerstenberger needs to be fired for gross negligence, in that he refuses to adopt the number one OSHA recommendation to help prevent these god awful deaths on the job.

 

Jomoco

 

How does the TCIA have any thing to do with OSHA?. If the TCIA member you have been on about adopted a Two man rule that OSHA requires can you say definitively that there would be a reduction of deaths or injured personnel?

 

I believe due to the continued influx of unskilled labor flooding the US jobs market more accidents will occur. Language barriers and different cultural beliefs are as much to blame as other factors when it comes to these types of

accidents. Accidents can and do happen all the time. Unskilled labor and the desire of large companies ready willing and able to hirer this ever growing pool of future labor equals more of the same. Once upon a time skilled and semi skilled labor abound here in the USA. I regrettably believe these days are rapidly drawing to a close.

easy-lift guy

[Negundo]

I think TCIA and everyone else who scoffs at the two man minimum, will be doing a 180 in the near future. When I saw John Balls presentation at expo last year he related the story (with pictures) of a groundie who lost an arm in the chipper, which almost never happens. The only reason he didn't get et was his buddy passing by the chipper as it happened, and hitting the reverse. The victim said he had no idea what had happened, no time to process, let alone grab the o Jesus strings, but his buddy did. That was just a twelve or fifteen inch as well. Not even one of these whole tree monstrocities.

[PeteB]

Best wishes to the family and colleagues of the victim. I hooe that they recover well from their loss.

 

I have trained an awful lot of people on the safe use of woodchippers and make a point of stressing that lone working is not approved by me or a sensible or safe working procedure, irrespective of the size or make of machine....Surely it was his choice to do so and his employer happy to have allowed it? In this tragic case, they were wrong - even if the TCIA say that lone working is safe, that amounts to a recommendation and not an instruction. While I am against lone working, I think a previous posters comments believing that machine advertising was a contributory factor are not helpful.

 

Again, my thoughts and best wishes go to those who have to deal with this.

[jomoco]

How does the TCIA have any thing to do with OSHA?. If the TCIA member you have been on about adopted a Two man rule that OSHA requires can you say definitively that there would be a reduction of deaths or injured personnel?

 

http://edworkforce.house.gov/uploadedfiles/06.16.11_peterg.pdf

 

The fact that a second chipper operator's timely intervention saved the lives of four of my groundies kinda speaks for itself.

 

The fact that the two man minimum rule is OSHA's número uno recommendation to the tree industry to help prevent these horrendous on the job deaths speaks for itself as well.

 

Why are climbers lives valued enough to warrant a second qualified man on site, but not chipper operators feedin WTC's?

 

Can any of you answer that?

 

Jomoco

[PeteB]

http://edworkforce.house.gov/uploadedfiles/06.16.11_peterg.pdf

 

The fact that a second chipper operator's timely intervention saved the lives of four of my groundies kinda speaks for itself.

 

The fact that the two man minimum rule is OSHA's número uno recommendation to the tree industry to help prevent these horrendous on the job deaths speaks for itself as well.

 

Why are climbers lives valued enough to warrant a second qualified man on site, but not chipper operators feedin WTC's?

 

Can any of you answer that?

 

Jomoco

 

I feel that no one but the employers can answer why financial pressures of work say that lone working is worthy and safe. Surely it is the employers duty to follow the recommendations of safety people rather than any other body? Why would employers and employees think or believe otherwise?

[jomoco]

The pertinent question is why the leading US govt liaison authority TCIA/Gerstenberger can get away with tellin OSHA to stuff it?

 

I mean the head of safety, arguing against implementing OSHA's number one rec.

 

So basically supporting a tree service owner's right to put chipper operators in their employee at risk of dying one of the most horrific deaths possible, alone.

 

It stinks, it's embarrassing, borderline criminal IMO.

 

Jomoco