jomoco

There's a bitter sweet irony at work in this thread. In that a few posters intuitively suggested the very solution I presented to Morbark, Vermeer and the NAA/TCIA in the mid 90's, almost 20 years ago! I mean think about it, do commercial saw mills mill logs that ain't been run through a metal detector? Are urban trees notorious for their metal content? J lags, eyebolts, chains etc? Do any of these mix well with 600 lb mandrel's spinning at high RPM? Think about it. Sawmills won't do it simply cuz of downtime and repair expenses. But the tree industry will despite 56 treeworkers being eaten alive on the job. It ain't right, and it will change. Kudos to Morbark for doin the right thing, and providing mistake prone operators of their chippers a second chance to make it home safely at the end of a hard day's work. Jomoco

Problems like this should be viewed as a challenge, an opportunity to cash in, an engineering project to overcome a health hazard on the job, IMO. Now, how could you prune the snot out of a plane tree at the worst time with no I'll affects for the pruner? Supply the climber with fresh clean filtered breathing air through his support line? Kinda like an old time diver supplied through a hose and compressor. United States Patent: 5558118 And in the same sense that a climber can be supplied with fresh breathing air via a compound hose assembly, he can also be supplied with either hot or cold air during temperature extremes. The future's what we make it guys. Jomoco

Outriggers n everthang! Mighty nice Ian, mighty nice. Jomoco

One of the best documentaries of old time logging I've seen. That bloody crosscut saw buddy stick's a work of genius! What a find! Belongs in the logger's hall of fame! Thanks for postin it mate. Jomoco

An old KZ900 of mine that taught me a valuable lesson. Beware teenage girl drivers!

So yu wanna go climbin old school style eh? Strap your gaffs on then, school's in session! [ame]http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ps87YJJtzEI[/ame] Jomoco

Will this from 71 work for yu? [ame] [/ame] Jomoco:biggrin:

Doing the HOA removals for the Lake Arrowhead shoreline properties, one of the owners gave me a CD of his new client, a rock band. He was a record producer. [ame] [/ame] Jomoco

Thanks Arthur. I heartily agree! Jomoco:001_smile:

If you guys don't want to discuss whole tree chipper fatalities, and the best methods pros use to prevent them happening on their crews? Then why post a thread bouta 43 year old treeworker being eaten alive on the job by a 2400 Morbark? Jomoco

Phytopthora remorum? Phytophthora root rot/RHS Gardening Take a sample of affected wood to a plant pathology lab for analysis, and you'll know for sure. Jomoco

So in essence you're sayin ignoring OSHA's number one rec to help prevent these woodchipper fatalities is fine by you mate? That my following that rec, saving four treeworker lives on the job on my own crews, is somehow a negligible point, with no direct bearing on the topic of this thread? Care to elaborate mate. Even your own link to the Morbark safety device explicitly states that their woodchippers should never be operated solo. I gather you disagree with them and OSHA, right? Jomoco

Great vid Reg. Very educational and well put together mate. Jomoco

Seems to me, applying the term idiot to your fellow treeworkers, who by your own admission you've had to chew out for dangerous behavior when feeding chippers, denotes an unsavory contempt for crew members not as skilled as you and others who are somehow immune from making mistakes. I gather you highly skilled and trained guys don't need no stinkin chain brakes on your saws either, cuz you aren't idiots, are yu? One of the nicest groundies I've ever known, experienced, dedicated, sober, was eaten alive on the job alone feedin an 1800. This happened a year or so after I quit subbing for the company he worked for. Guy on the right, before WTC's came out, on my crew, at the SD Zoo.

The very Morbark link Difflock was kind enough to provide, that very operator safety system itself, being available on their big chippers today, is in fact a mfr's admission that their product can eat its operator alive, hence the sensor field just prior to the hydraulic feedwheels. What's the system for if proper training will suffice? Could it possibly be that even highly trained pros at times get exhausted and make mistakes too? But climbers get second chances as an industry standard cuz they're special compared WTC operators? Sounds more like industry sanctioned discrimination to me! Jomoco

But there's the rub. All a tree service owner needs to do is put X amount training costs into that eager immigrant, sufficient to gain certification and pass muster. Until it becomes illegal to send out solo WTC operators on the job, or have one man feeding them alone? My hands on experience with WTC's over the years is that not allowing solo WTC operations on my crews saved four fine treeworkers lives. Funny how me OSHA and Morbark all kinda have come to the same conclusion that solo chipper operations ain't too smart. That having two or more operators workin together really does save lives on the jobsite. Jomoco

Excellent link Difflock, thanks for sure! When you go to that link, read the very first part bout never operatin chippers alone. ChipSafe? Operator Safety Shield | Morbark, Inc. Jomoco

And the point I'm making is that it's just as legal to send out an 1800 equipped chiptruck with a solo operator to chip up brush piles in the UK, as it is in the US. Thank goodness a lost arm or so here n there are the UK's worst casualties to date. But the same can't be said of Canada, Australia, or America. It ain't cool for a tree service owner to send out a solo WTC operator to make him 750 bucks, performing an extremely dangerous life threatening task for 100 bucks, legally. As equipment gets bigger and more potentially dangerous, there are OSHA/govt regs that come into force, and are shall dos for the industries they're used in, including the tree industry, like mobile cranes, which are illegal to operate on the job solo when they're over 100 ton capacity, see? Jomoco

So in essence you're sayin there aren't any WTC's in the UK? Vermeer UK Or you're sayin your certified chipper blokes don't make the same mistakes us silly yanks do? Jomoco

If you guys can't see the hypocrisy in shellin out 100 bucks a day to protect climbers that make mistakes in the form of an additional qualified worker on site, and not doing the same for groundies feedin WTC's? Then it's self evident you value a climber's well being substantially more than groundies. Which makes you guys wrong, IMO. 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

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

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

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'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