6-year boy killed in chipper accident

I applaud your common sense on this life and death issue Blinky.

I just wish more of my fellow arborists in this dangerous industry shared our concern for our fellow tree workers enough to petition TCIA and Gerstenberger in particular to get off his butt and get proactive about doing something that will reduce the number of gruesome WTC fatalities in our industry.

That's his job, and he's not doing it in my opinion.

Jomoco
 
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100 percent safe?

Who's asking for that?

Nothing on this planet's 100 percent safe for crying out loud!

How about just mandating a two man minimum policy for WTC's?

That alone could have saved this child's life!


Jomoco

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You're right Jomoco, nothing in life is 100% safe and maybe I should have chosen my words differently.

I too have listened to you talk in the past about chipper safety and the WTC issue. Like Tom, I feel that you should try to get it tabled at the next Z and take if from there.
 
I have familial responsibilities that preclude me leaving home for more than 8-12 hours at a time. this makes it highly unlikely I'll be able to fly off anywhere anytime soon. It also should help explain why I can spend so much time online rather than working in the trees every day as I'd prefer to do.

But be assured I'll participate in any Z proceedings on this matter online to the fullest extent I can.

Further, I'm not the industry go between for govt or state agencies. That man is Peter Gerstenberger, the so called safety officer representative for the tree care industry.

I'm just a beat up old orthopedically challenged, semi-retired demolition climber, doing right by my family, and industry I hope.

Jomoco
 
The 2 man seems like a great idea. It just makes sense. Applied it to my crew the moment I read it.
@Tom, hard hats is the way to start. I removed all the complaining about the forestry helmets by getting my whole crew Kask hats with visors and ear protection.
As for creating a petition, I would be more than happy to share anything I can and would certainly support it as well.
 
[ QUOTE ]
The 2 man seems like a great idea. It just makes sense. Applied it to my crew the moment I read it.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree too, though I'm sure that there would be no way possible for some smaller companies to be able to afford a dedicated person for just operating a chipper, especially if it's a small chipper.

BTW, what size chipper is considered a WTC?
 
If you can put a whole tree in it... it's a WTC, eh?

Obviously a mom&pop shop can't afford two people just for chipping but I think anything over 10" needs two workers.

Folks... we have to charge MORE. This isn't rocket science but it makes business management look trivial on multiple levels. What a climber does is pretty much seat of the pants engineering and demolition...which is a LOT harder than doing in the safety of an office while you sip coffee and check your FB.

Arborists are not a bunch of gassy, hungover dropouts. We have to learn every day to stay safe and protect the property of others. That's worth a lot more than $25 an hour.

Make the 2 person minimum an OSHA requirement and everybody will have to charge more... which is fine as long as it's everybody.
 
I weighed in on this post because the substance of this incident is highly disturbing. Two people chipping should be the way IMO. I get that you take away from brush dragging, cutting, getting the tree down or additional personell to the crew.

We do this:

Chip LAST. Everything gets stacked up. Everybody works the chipper. Never alone. You would be suprised at how much brush can be put into an orderly pile, stacked like dominos (just have to remember to grab the top piece first). We almost never run the chipper while cutting is going on with the exception of maybe a pear that gets notched into the street. It just destoys communication to have that loud machine running while trying to rope and rig a tree. Not to mention, chipping the average job in 20 minutes saves a ton of fuel, keeps the noise down, keeps the machine hours low and reduces the odds that a rope gets sucked in.
 
I tried to summarize a brief comment of my own, but it became too personal. Let me quote La Wikipedia;

"The perceived perversity of the universe has long been a subject of comment, and precursors to the modern version of Murphy's law are not hard to find. Recent significant research in this area has been conducted by members of the American Dialect Society. ADS member Stephen Goranson has found a version of the law, not yet generalized or bearing that name, in a report by Alfred Holt at an 1877 meeting of an engineering society.

It is found that anything that can go wrong at sea generally does go wrong sooner or later, so it is not to be wondered that owners prefer the safe to the scientific.... Sufficient stress can hardly be laid on the advantages of simplicity. The human factor cannot be safely neglected in planning machinery. If attention is to be obtained, the engine must be such that the engineer will be disposed to attend to it.[1]"

It is truly a shame, and an unfortunate event and loss. My thoughts to the family.
 
[ QUOTE ]
100 percent safe?

Who's asking for that?

Nothing on this planet's 100 percent safe for crying out loud!

How about just mandating a two man minimum policy for WTC's?

That alone could have saved this child's life!

And don't tell me these dang mfrs can't produce a WTC with an integrated metal detector or RFID safety system because I know they can. And I also know why they won't do it until the Feds or state officials force them to.

TCIA is to cowardly to do it regardless of how many tree workers get eaten alive. And that's a black eye they'll never live down because they're a bunch of money hungry bruncheon hypocrites in the pockets of WTC mfrs!

You can't even get into an airport, courthouse or high school these days without going through a metal detector, not to mention a damn inanimate log through a sawmill.

Jomoco

[/ QUOTE ]

How about we integrate some common sense! forget about the metal detectors.
 
6 year feeding the chipper holy sh*t not only are there rules against that but come on he can help pull the branches around the house to a pile at most! imo I feel terrible for everyone but come on this is and should have been very easily prevented 6 year old on that machine NOT ok! Again very sorry for there loss
 
On a local farm show they showed this child warning system for farms. It could be good for those with shops in their yard or the incident here.
http://prairietechonline.com/

Not much of a website, but basically there's a receiver in the equipment and a bracelet or pin on tag on the child that sends a radio signal warning if the kids in the work area.
 
By the way if you really want to show your crews how bad a chipper will mess you up road kill deer hind quarter shows where the meat and blood will go they'll never forget that
 
a lot of sad stuff here . A lot of reality here too . We all aren't raised like the common " folk" . A kid got killed , happens all the time . I had a son die in my arms , drowned in a pool. . I still let my other kids swim . My father grew up on a farm in Rush KY. My brother and I were little tree guys . Six is young , but that six could have been twenty on someone else . My DAd never let me ride a motor cycle , but he thought nothing of me climbing trees as a kid . Accidents suck at all ages , the way some kids work today it wouln't rattle my cage if some more got chipped. The thing is ,in this day and age we love our kids , before us we had kids to tend the farm . The kid should have known better , he messed his Dads whole week up ! Chip the brush son , not your self ! OHHHH man ,yo momma gonna be p*ssed! Sad story , but if I was Six ,Id be right up in that chipper . Don't be afraid of your kid dying , living should scare you . Poor kid , RIP and before you get all nutz on this reply ,ask your self this .... are you a better parent than that childs ?
 
I'm certainly no sterling example of a model parent Riggs.

But I kept all three of my kids as far away from this biz as I could because I know firsthand just how dangerous it is for adults, much less children.

All three are now adults out making there own way in this world such as it is, making mistakes, and learning from them as we all do.

Preteen children have no business anywhere near either chainsaws or chippers in my parental opinion.

You are welcome to yours of course.

Jomoco
 
Riggs, to answer your question...no, I'm certainly not. When my daughter was an infant I thought nothing of riding on my unicycle with her all over LA. I'd toss her up in the air and she'd squeal til she landed back in my arms. I wasn't fully thinking of the risks. She's 22 now. I appreciate your perspective and respect everyone elses too.
We're going 2 deep on the chipper...today.
 
Boreality - That's a good concept, unfortunately those who would allow their children to chip would not use it. It would need to be modified for this application - but interesting none the less.
 
My kids were exposed to all sorts of stuff, heights, firearms, heavy equipment, water (pools and whitewater), rock climbing... whatever I could do to broaden their experience. I just kept a close watch and gave lots of instruction and feedback. I think they're better, more confident kids because of it. They were also spun, tossed and generally rough housed as little kids. Both are good springboard divers (among other things) now because they are OK with their bodies in most any orientation.

But I never dreamed of letting my son feed a chipper even at 16. I don't like chippers, they are a necessary evil for me, I can't work without'em. I will do ANY other work on a site to avoid chipper duty, not because I'm afraid but because I just hate feeding chippers. I hate being around them, I hate the noise and the way they destroy communication on the site and i hate that they go down at the worst possible times. ...but I love how all that brush disappears so frikkin fast. I leave'em to the guys that like'em whenever possible and we got plenty that do.
 
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