Man's legs severed in wood chipper in Sydney

dov

An arborist with 10yrs experience got dragged into his chipper while trying to dislodge a stump.

Text from the ABC story:

An arborist's legs have been severed after he got caught in a wood chipper in Sydney's north-west.

The 29-year-old man was removing a tree from Cassandra Place at Carlingford when he tried to dislodge a tree stump that became caught in the chipper.

"The worker's foot is believed to have become caught in the wood chipper, dragged him into the machine and (severed) both legs at the knees," WorkCover NSW said in a statement.

WorkCover is investigating the matter.

The man is believed to have 10 years' experience as an arborist.

An ambulance spokesperson said the man was taken to Westmead Hospital in a serious condition.

Original story here.

I guess this is a reminder to all of us. We get too used to our equipment and maybe we do something dangerous or even stupid 100 times without anything going wrong, but the 101st time...

Eric Frei

Jesus Christ that is terrible!

29 year old man is in his prime, shocking news. I cannot image the pain, horror etc of that or witnessing it.

Poor man, I hope he has great family and support network because he'll need it now .... forever.

Who hasn't seen this done?

I can say from personal experience it is common, you see it all the time, you talk to the people that do it and it's like water off a ducks back (complacency).

Use a paddle, stick, branch etc.

We don't know what sort of machine etc, would be interesting to know.

Now the callous hard part..... will it now bring in a pile of new rules for the rest of us?

Will it, regardless of OHS fines and Workers Comp rehab/retraining, result in a lawyer suing for damages like the lady that lifted copy paper?

Be careful and think it through, will your actions impact upon many if things go wrong?

Sad news.

Be careful and think it through.

__________________

gooddog

I don't like hearing about people getting hurt, but try to learn from the mistakes.

__________________
I'll be fine if my body holds out.

Apocalypsse

I don't think we hear even 1/4 of these kinds of incidents. Almost everywhere I've seen people feed their chippers like this when it comes down to the larger wood blocks, this is where some sort of mechanical device saves limbs but its often a far too expensive addition for most businesses.

serialtreekiller

Sorry to hear that i hope he can get though

Bowani Siam

It is a terrible accident that has happened. A few guys I know always take the extra few minutes to cut the biggest blocks up.

Definitely not worth losing your legs over. Really sad.

mitch__1

This is not good at all

dingo

This happened in my neck of the woods, I dont generally visit this section of the forums so apologies for the lag but I am familiar with the operator of this chipper. The machine was a vermeer bc1500, incident happened whilst the operator had his back turned.

Apocalypsse

Fkn lucky he didn't go in head first then. Must have been a really bad entry angle into the tray not to be able to hit the emergency stop bar at knee height.

TrevMcRev

Lucky for sure. I can't visualise any way how you can go in feet first without putting your feet in the feed table. Dunno, maybe if you got knocked over and landed on a big branch that was already on its way in and rode it up into the chute. You'd think you'd need to be knocked out to not just roll off it.

Otherwise i think any way you could get snagged whether facing the chipper or with your back to it would take you in head/hands first.

The news article makes it sound like he was trying to clear the infeed, but wouldn't be the first time the media exagerated a story.

Please don't take this as picking on the guy this happened to, I can't begin to imagine how he must feel. But i'd hate pride to get in the way of the truth of what happened. If it were just some freak turn of events that managed to snag him in that way, as unfortunate as it is, so be it. IF it really happened by trying to kick/push material through a running machine with his feet then i'd prefer to hear the truth. I would pay money to have this guy come talk to my crew about safety. I think every tree service in the country would benefit from a safety talk from him too. I have used my feet to feed. Early on in my tree career I would have thought nothing of it. I wouldn't do it nowdays though. I reckon just about everyone has done it at some time. I'd love my crew to be told first hand by someone about these sorts of accidents.

I think it would be the best way to get the message across.
As well as someone with industrial deafness from no earmuffs, someone whos lost an eye from no specs, someone braindamaged from no helmet. etc. Like how when Phil Smallman talks about safety from his wheelchair, people tend to listen.

Apocalypsse

Well the guy had his back turned so I assume he got knocked in and turned around on the tray as he tried to grab onto something. Lord knows the trays in the Vermeers are big enough to take a snooze on.

dingo

I meant the owner of the chipper had his back turned and didnt witness it but from what I heard the newspapaer story was pretty accurate- he was kicking/using his feet.

Apocalypsse

aHH. Well once you are in the tray your options are limited unless you can really focus yourself in those few seconds to grab the control bar. I can't imagine (hopefully never will go through it) how your brain is working once you start going through the rollers, whether you can stop the chipper or not.

TrevMcRev

Ahhh i get it now. I thought you meant the guy it happened to had his back to the chipper.

The company owner must be feeling terrible too to have that happen to one of your own.

dingo

At least those cords in the Bandits give you more of a fighting chance

Apocalypsse

After almost being sucked into a Vermeer 1800XL by some ignorant fool I would much prefer the cords on the Bandits than the emergency stop bars which are overridden by a single button.

Alex Metzler

WOW....very heavy.....my condolences to him and his family.
I cant imagine the pain he must have felt and had to go through, poor guy.
This is a terrible accident with a huge price to pay, and only at 29.
This guy was in his prime. please be and work safe people!
A reminder to all of us to not get overconfident and to cut corners with our tools and push the envelope....