Chipper Demons take another Life

[TheTreeSpyder]

i heard rumor last evening; that in Tampa Albury Tree Service is short 1 man as of yesterday.

i guess it is still under investigation, and can't pick up any internet confirmation, nor local paper. i did; unfortunately get confirmation just now from a local TV station when i called. He said that the man's whole body was consumed, that was all he could say; no name released as of yet.

As buisness and season picks up; the chipper demons are actually starving more than you; looking to catch up for down time! Time for extra care and safety re-view perhaps.

 

[philmuscato]

It sickens me to hear of fatalities involving Chippers. We lost a family friend due to a Chipper accident about 2 1/2 years ago near Gainesville FL. The young man was working with his father an experienced Arborist when he was killed. The incident just devastated there family, one of the remaining brothers committed suicide sometime after. I'll say a pray for this family who lost a son.

 

[Raven]

I recently trained a new guy how to run the chipper. I went over all the maintenance aspects, how to start the thing, engage the clutch,etc. I told him to read all the warning stickers about 20 times until he had them memorized. Then I went on and on for about a half hour explaining how dangerous it is and the impotance of safety and caution while feeding it. I also shared several horrror stories which I've heard or read about over the years. My point is I trained this guy to the best of my ability and now he's running one of the scariest things known to groundman with less than 1 hour of training by someone who's not certified to be a chipper instructor. Would it be too ludicrous to have chipper operator certification? Maybe taught by the manufacturers, or at least chipper instructor cert. included in arborist certification. I'm just speculating here and I'm not trying to place liability on anyones shoulders but theres got to be some way to end these tragic losses to a tool of the trade. Please be careful everyone.