Worker Killed Trying To Clear Wood Chipper

[Slamfire]

When I was in grade school, one of my classmates father worked in a lumer mill. He'd been there for 2o years or more. On day he ran some boards through a planer, carried them out to the customer's car, and loaded them. Then he went back to the planer, and wiped the shavings and the ends of his three longest fingers away. Anybody can do it. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[Chechnya]

atleast he got it unclogged LOL

 

[frank_f15]

a few year back i had a pro take and trim some trees off the top of the house, one guy just operated the chipper and this was a real chipper, he was throwing 3 and 4 in stuuf in there, as i watched wondered what would happen if something snagged on his clothes? seems there has got to be a safer way to do that

 

[RoyJackson]

Chipping is inherently a dangerous job. All I've read made mention of how to dress...no gauntlet type gloves, snug clothing, etc.

However, it's mostly operator awareness that keeps one out of trouble...just as we tractor operators must be aware of the ground and conditions we're operating on. And, let's not forget about that PTO shaft!

If we get hurt or worse using our tractors, if may not be as gruesome as the chipper accidents we've read about (including the one described in this thread), but we're just as dead.

 

[rims421]

The new chippers while still deadly are so much safer than they used to be.
In the old days the machines would direct feed material right into the cutter knives. I remember using machines like that 20 years ago and being terrified by the speed that branches would be sucked into the hopper. The newer machines now have a set of rollers that slowly feed branches into the cutter knives. In addition to the slower speed the machine also has a safety bar around the perimeter of the hopper. Pushing the safety bar forward will automatically reverse the feed rollers ejecting anything in the hopper. Even with all these improvements people still find a way to get hurt. I used a large chipper this winter that would eat a 12" log like it was nothing and felt very secure with it by just using some common sense. The machine did clog a few times when an odd piece of wood got jammed behind the feed rollers. But to use your body to clear it is beyond my comprehension.

 

[GerardC]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( The machine did clog a few times when an odd piece of wood got jammed behind the feed rollers.....)</font>

How did you clear the jam?

 

[rims421]

The chipper had a lever that opened the rollers (to accept a large log.
With the rollers open we took a long section of approx. 4" thick log and pushed the obstruction thru. It took a few shots to get it to go but it sure beats using a body part for a battering ram.

 

[JayC]

That's terrible! /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif What a way to go. I wonder how long it took them to clean up the scene. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[HayDR]

If I had to bet it was a drum chipper not a disc chipper like most of you all have seen. The drum chippers will jerk wood out of your hand so fast it is hard to let go of it fast enough. Likely some of the wood got sucked into the drum and the guy could not get off the wood fast enough and it was over faster than anyone could have stopped the drum chipper. Those drum chippers should be outlawed. Many of them are out there because they last 30+ years. If you are interested in a chipper make sure it is a disc style chipper. Most drum chippers have large 4 & 6 cylinder engines powering them.

 

[mahlers]

Has anyone else noticed how many ads for chippers show up at the top of this thread? Somehow I don't think Google Ads took something like this into account with their ad-serving engine.