Chipper accident

[Jstpssng]

Michigan man dies after being pulled into wood chipper

 

[Torvy]

Sad story. Safety is important. Inexperience and overconfidence kill a lot of people.

 

[Midniteoyl]

Ever ran chipper?I have tell us all about your vast chipper experience ??

What was that for?

 

[Torvy]

I've run chippers, but nothing that big. Mostly cub cadet self-powered 4-6" capacity gas engine jobs. We always had one around our place growing up.

The thing about growing up around farm equipment is you learn to have a very healthy respect for it. I had a neighbor missing an arm in a PTO accident. He ran without the shield because he knew better. Most people who are seriously injured or killed are either inexperienced or they got complacent because they ran the equipment so long they figured nothing bad would happen to them. Not sure which it was with this guy, but loose clothing is a big risk.

My point was that we all need to respect the equipment.

 

[oosik]

I've had two chippers - both Wallenstein. First -BX42S, now - BX62S. I have well over 300 hours chipping my pine stands. Both - PTO powered.

I know for a fact - I CAN NOT reach the blades while still standing on the ground. If my jacket were caught and I was dragged off the ground - well, I just don't know and I will NEVER find out either. Respect and knowing/following ALL safety recommendations.

I occasionally( note, I did say occasionally) get assistance from my son and his friends. They are allowed to " pull from the pile and bring to my chipper". I am the only person who will put the trees into the chipper.

I've witnessed mice going thru the chipper. Not a pleasant experience.

 

[oosik]

The mice are DEFINITELY no friend of mine. The fellow had to do something very unusual to get drug past the safety release on that chipper.

 

[Erik M]

Very sad, regardless of exact what happened. My “baby” chipper has hydraulic feed and this was an important safety feature for me as it controls the feed rate and provides a way to stop it should a piece of clothing get somehow snagged in operation.

 

[RoyJackson]

I'm assuming the chipper in the accident was a commercial drum type...a lot faster type when pulling in material. I wouldn't ever get even near one...especially with my gimpy leg (I'm a walking trip hazard).
Two things I know when operating a chipper (I have a PTO driven Woodmaxx 8H): Never feed from directly behind the hopper and don't wear any type of clothing (gauntlet type gloves, for example) that can be snagged by the material.
The Woodmaxx has a safety bar that stops the feed roller instantly...but why take any chances?

One thing I am curious about when reading the linked article....the man was found, alive and conscious, with a body part in the chipper. My guess the body part was his leg (trying to kick something in or clear a jam)
My sympathies to the man's surviving kinfolk

 

[RoyJackson]

The fellow had to do something very unusual to get drug past the safety release on that chipper.

Could be an older chipper...I don't think the picture of the chipper in the link is the actual chipper in that accident...strictly a guess though.
Older chippers (I'm writing about the commercial machines, not a residential unit like many TBNers own) didn't have some of the safety gear (such as emergency stop bars) newer ones have, or the safety equipment may be disabled or not functional.
We can play "Monday Morning Quarterback" all we want, but we really can only speculate (guess) what happened...just know it was tragic...

 

[RandyT]

I'm assuming the chipper in the accident was a commercial drum type...a lot faster type when pulling in material. I wouldn't ever get even near one...especially with my gimpy leg (I'm a walking trip hazard).
Two things I know when operating a chipper (I have a PTO driven Woodmaxx 8H): Never feed from directly behind the hopper and don't wear any type of clothing (gauntlet type gloves, for example) that can be snagged by the material.
The Woodmaxx has a safety bar that stops the feed roller instantly...but why take any chances?

One thing I am curious about when reading the linked article....the man was found, alive and conscious, with a body part in the chipper. My guess the body part was his leg (trying to kick something in or clear a jam)
My sympathies to the man's surviving kinfolk

I don't think the chipper in the picture is the chipper in the accident. And for people that don't know about the old drum chippers that could suck in a 20 foot long 3 inch diameter branch in about 3 seconds with no emergency feed stop. So if you get snagged you are going in. The feed roller style both as a drum or disc chipper are a lot more controlled than the old drum grab and gone chippers.

 

[Frankenkubota]

was it the movie fargo where achipper played a big part?

 

[RoyJackson]

was it the movie fargo where a chipper played a big part?

Yeah, but the chipper was just a little gas powered unit and the body had to be cut up quite a bit to feed it into the chipper

 

[oosik]

My chipper - Wallenstein BX62S. ALL my young pines are fed in - butt first. The chipper grabs the butt end and jerks it into the chipper so hard/fast - it's scary.

The butt end is laid on the lip of the chipper. Go back 20, 25, 30 feet to the top and lift it up and slide it in. It will "digest" and spit out a 30 foot tree in less than ten seconds.

This jerking/pulling action has scared many who come for the day to help me.

They learn in a real big hurry. Lift it up - slide it in - let go of it - back away.

 

[Snobdds]

I have an Echo Bearcat 9 inch chipper with hydraulic feed. There is a safety bar around the entire outside of the chute that can stop or reverse the hydraulic feed. The end of the chute is only a foot square, meaning unless something can be compress into something less than a foot square, it's not getting to the blades because there is a giant roller in the way that goes up and down on a spring mechanism.

I use to have a manual feed chipper with direct exposure to the blades. Trying to force things in, one quickly figures out, it very dangerous to get a hand too far in the chute.

I will always have hydraulic feed chippers, let the hydraulics do the tough part of the job. I never really have my hands in farther than a few inches, then the roller takes over.

 

[nikerret]

I occasionally( note, I did say occasionally) get assistance from my son and his friends. They are allowed to " pull from the pile and bring to my chipper". I am the only person who will put the trees into the chipper.

This is good. Growing up, I did a lot of tree work. My best friend‘s dad did it, full time. I about died, several times. They had a giant trailer chipper that could take anything we could feed it. As kids, it was fun to put the large stuff in, just to see if it would eat it. It always did.

One day we were putting stuff in the giant chipper, by ourselves. I was probably around ten years old, maybe a bit younger. I got a big (for me, anyway) branch started and turned to get the next branch. As the chipper pulled the branch in it snagged me. Since I was facing away from the chipper, to grab the next branch, I was pulled backwards. I ended up getting pulled up onto the feed tray and in a full panic was able to twist enough and hang onto the edges of the feeding tray tight enough the branch went in, without me. It did rip my shirt and I had some skin missing and I was terrified, but continued working like nothing happened. When they asked what happened to my shirt, I just said a branch got it. I’m still scared of those damn things. I’ll use them, but I’m much more careful, many years later.

Another time I about died was when I about fell out of a double bucket truck at near full extension. The truck was parked as close to the house as it could be and we were over a house. I had a chainsaw, in one hand, and would hold the cut branch, with the other. After making the cut, we had to swing the branch, so it wouldn’t hit the house. Unfortunately, I was too short for my feet to reach the bottom of the bucket and still work. I used the edge of the bucket, to hold my waist, while I had my legs pushed against the sides of the opposite side of the bucket to lock me in. One of the branches gave way as I was cutting, before I was ready and was too heavy, for me to stop it. It jerked my legs out of the bucket before I could let go of the branch and get the saw clear. Fortunately, the way I got pulled I ended up jammed between the bucket and the linkage holding the bucket, just not in the bucket. I also managed to not drop the Stihl saw. I sat there, frozen, one hand holding the saw, the other arm wrapped around part of the boom (stick? I don’t know what the part is called). My friend was in the other bucket and tried to help me get back in my bucket, but he was too far away and too little to really to help. I managed to relax enough and get back in my bucket and back to work, but since then, I’ve had trouble with heights. After that, I only worked in the bucket truck, when I had to.

My friend took over his father’s business. Sadly, next week will be the fourth anniversary, of his death. Nearly four years ago, he was in a bucket and accidentally hit a power line. As it was reported, by his brother, who just happened to stop by to pick something up, my friend hit the line and was immediately on fire. The brother jumped on the truck and started moving the bucket to the ground. When he got about ten feet away, my friend, who was flailing around due to actively being on fire, fell out of the bucket and landed on his head. His brother got the fire out and help on the way. He was then flown to a burn unit. I drove a hundred miles to see him, even though we had not spoken, in a few years. I had been a cop and a fire fighter, for several years, and have seen about everything bad there is to see, but didn’t go in and see him. I made it to his door. I talked to his family and left. He died a couple days later.

 

[metalbender]

The Bandit looks like a man eater. Why would any company make such a large "chuck and duck" machine? Controlled feed with safety bars to stop and reverse make way too much sense over the lower cost. My Champion gas powered unit requires a lot of attention.

 

[Jstpssng]

This may have changed but tree company Asplundh always used chippers which weren't self feeding.

 

[RoyJackson]

This may have changed but tree company Asplundh always used chippers which weren't self feeding.

I've seen quite a few "chuck and duck" chippers used by Asplundh over the years. Looks like those are getting phased out since the new ones have the safety bar.
Still a lot of gypsy tree trimmers around, with older equipment.
Before I bought my Woodmaxx, I had a Woods 5000 chipper/shredder which could handle up to a 5" branch or trunk. It was gravity feed and unless one purposely stuck their arm down the chute, there was no way one could be pulled in. The unit also had a brush chute on top....now, that pulled in like the speed of light....almost scary!
Good implement though...had it for years. Ran it behind a Deere 790, then a Deere 4400.

https://steenent.com/new-equipment/other/woods/dirtworking/flail-shredders/new-woods-5000-chippers-shredders/

 

[RandyT]

I've seen quite a few "chuck and duck" chippers used by Asplundh over the years. Looks like those are getting phased out since the new ones have the safety bar.
Still a lot of gypsy tree trimmers around, with older equipment.
Before I bought my Woodmaxx, I had a Woods 5000 chipper/shredder which could handle up to a 5" branch or trunk. It was gravity feed and unless one purposely stuck their arm down the chute, there was no way one could be pulled in. The unit also had a brush chute on top....now, that pulled in like the speed of light....almost scary!
Good implement though...had it for years. Ran it behind a Deere 790, then a Deere 4400.

https://steenent.com/new-equipment/other/woods/dirtworking/flail-shredders/new-woods-5000-chippers-shredders/

I think what Asplundh and Davey used was what was available at the time of purchase, but have been getting phased out as the newer safer equipment became available. I am not sure the self feeding roller type chippers were even that available 20-30 years ago.

 

[Jstpssng]

I think what Asplundh and Davey used was what was available at the time of purchase, but have been getting phased out as the newer safer equipment became available. I am not sure the self feeding roller type chippers were even that available 20-30 years ago.

They were. In 1987 I worked a while for a small company out of Athol, Mass. and the chippers they had were self feeding