- Location
- Longmont, CO
Chipper Fatality in Loveland, CO
- Thread starter Jamin_Mayer
- Start date
- Location
- Longmont, CO
RogerM
Carpal tunnel level member
- Location
- Louisville,KY USA
That's awful!
So many times I witness people improperly feeding brush. Such as using their boots to jam small debris. Wads of vine always make me extra cautious. Large,long limbs during removals, with "monster" chippers can be a nightmare also. Emphasis on safety is so important. A real tragedy. Thanks for bringing this REOCCURING incedent to our attention.
So many times I witness people improperly feeding brush. Such as using their boots to jam small debris. Wads of vine always make me extra cautious. Large,long limbs during removals, with "monster" chippers can be a nightmare also. Emphasis on safety is so important. A real tragedy. Thanks for bringing this REOCCURING incedent to our attention.
Investigators screen off an area at the Loveland home where Wednesday's fatal accident involving a tree shredder occurred. (Post / John Epperson)
Chad Swank was standing in the basket of a cherry-picker truck Wednesday afternoon, using a chain saw to trim branches from a large, dead tree at a house in Loveland.
His boss and longtime tree- trimming partner, Brian Ganiard Morse, was on the ground, feeding the branches into a wood chipper. It was nothing out of the ordinary for the pair, who were both certified tree trimmers and had worked on jobs together off and on for about six years.
Swank started to cut a branch, and, per his usual habit, looked down to make sure the area underneath was clear. That's when he noticed something was wrong.
He saw Morse lying on the hopper of the chipper. Puzzled, Swank said, he thought that Morse must have turned the chipper off and been working on the machine. Swank shut off his saw to check.
But the chipper was still running at full speed. And Morse, his legs motionless, was slowly being pulled into it.
"So many things go through your mind at that point," Swank said.
Frantic, Swank swung one leg out of the basket, then the other until he was hanging from the basket. He let go and fell about 15 to 20 feet.
He sprinted to the chipper, but he knew there was nothing he could do.
"It's one of those things I'm still kind of numb to," Swank said Thursday. "I don't know how to feel quite yet. ... It's one of those things where you don't believe what is happening is happening."
On Thursday, Morse's family and friends, fellow arborists and authorities tried to better understand an accident that has attracted so much attention for its pure shock value.
The Larimer County coroner's office conducted an autopsy, and, using fingerprints, they officially identified Morse, the 54-year-old owner of Brian's Tree Trimming and Removal Service in Loveland, as the victim.
Following the autopsy, the coroner's office released a statement saying the victim was pulled entirely through the chipper. "Total morselization" is how the statement put it.
Since there were no witnesses to the start of the accident, investigators are speculating that Morse got a glove caught in the chipper and couldn't get free.
"What took place before the glove got caught is what we're still trying to look into," said Dean Beers, an investigator with the coroner's office.
Beers said the chipper had a handle that, when activated, would reverse the movement of the chipper's feeder gears. It is unclear whether Morse could have reached the handle when the accident occurred.
Swank, as well as the owner of another tree service in Loveland, said Morse was exceptionally careful.
"He was a very good Christian man who always emphasized safety," Swank said. "It was an accident. We don't call them intentionals."
Even in an exceptionally perilous job such as tree trimming, the dangers of the wood chipper stand out, said Roy Barnhart, who owns Roy's Tree Service in Loveland and who knew Morse. The chipper in this accident, a Vermeer BC1250A, has the capacity to shred trees up to a foot in diameter, according to its manufacturer. It would probably take only a few seconds for the chipper's blades to turn such a tree into mulch, Barnhart said.
Meanwhile, the gears that grab branches and pull them toward the blades are unforgiving.
"The human body has no chance" if something gets caught, Barnhart said.
Morse leaves behind his wife, a son and two grandsons, about whom he talked constantly, Swank said.
Morse enjoyed jogging and had run several marathons.
Barnhart said Morse was something of a perfectionist.
"He was a man who loved his work," Barnhart said. "He was a man who was very particular in how he did things. That's why it's hard to understand how this happened, because he was very careful all the time."
Chad Swank was standing in the basket of a cherry-picker truck Wednesday afternoon, using a chain saw to trim branches from a large, dead tree at a house in Loveland.
His boss and longtime tree- trimming partner, Brian Ganiard Morse, was on the ground, feeding the branches into a wood chipper. It was nothing out of the ordinary for the pair, who were both certified tree trimmers and had worked on jobs together off and on for about six years.
Swank started to cut a branch, and, per his usual habit, looked down to make sure the area underneath was clear. That's when he noticed something was wrong.
He saw Morse lying on the hopper of the chipper. Puzzled, Swank said, he thought that Morse must have turned the chipper off and been working on the machine. Swank shut off his saw to check.
But the chipper was still running at full speed. And Morse, his legs motionless, was slowly being pulled into it.
"So many things go through your mind at that point," Swank said.
Frantic, Swank swung one leg out of the basket, then the other until he was hanging from the basket. He let go and fell about 15 to 20 feet.
He sprinted to the chipper, but he knew there was nothing he could do.
"It's one of those things I'm still kind of numb to," Swank said Thursday. "I don't know how to feel quite yet. ... It's one of those things where you don't believe what is happening is happening."
On Thursday, Morse's family and friends, fellow arborists and authorities tried to better understand an accident that has attracted so much attention for its pure shock value.
The Larimer County coroner's office conducted an autopsy, and, using fingerprints, they officially identified Morse, the 54-year-old owner of Brian's Tree Trimming and Removal Service in Loveland, as the victim.
Following the autopsy, the coroner's office released a statement saying the victim was pulled entirely through the chipper. "Total morselization" is how the statement put it.
Since there were no witnesses to the start of the accident, investigators are speculating that Morse got a glove caught in the chipper and couldn't get free.
"What took place before the glove got caught is what we're still trying to look into," said Dean Beers, an investigator with the coroner's office.
Beers said the chipper had a handle that, when activated, would reverse the movement of the chipper's feeder gears. It is unclear whether Morse could have reached the handle when the accident occurred.
Swank, as well as the owner of another tree service in Loveland, said Morse was exceptionally careful.
"He was a very good Christian man who always emphasized safety," Swank said. "It was an accident. We don't call them intentionals."
Even in an exceptionally perilous job such as tree trimming, the dangers of the wood chipper stand out, said Roy Barnhart, who owns Roy's Tree Service in Loveland and who knew Morse. The chipper in this accident, a Vermeer BC1250A, has the capacity to shred trees up to a foot in diameter, according to its manufacturer. It would probably take only a few seconds for the chipper's blades to turn such a tree into mulch, Barnhart said.
Meanwhile, the gears that grab branches and pull them toward the blades are unforgiving.
"The human body has no chance" if something gets caught, Barnhart said.
Morse leaves behind his wife, a son and two grandsons, about whom he talked constantly, Swank said.
Morse enjoyed jogging and had run several marathons.
Barnhart said Morse was something of a perfectionist.
"He was a man who loved his work," Barnhart said. "He was a man who was very particular in how he did things. That's why it's hard to understand how this happened, because he was very careful all the time."
- Location
- The Garden State
Just read about this accident in the paper. Another tree guy taken before his time.
moss
Been here much more than a while
- Location
- Carlisle, Massachusetts, U.S.
It's too bad that most of the high tec wireless devices being designed these days are oriented towards business and home consumer users. Would be nice to see arborist equipment manufacturers taking advantage of this kind of stuff. For instance a wireless kill switch could be attached to the belt of every worker on a crew. If a person starts to get dragged in, they'd have a chance to stop or reverse the chipper. If another member of the crew sees it happening they could do the same. Wouldn't take away the need for safe practices but it might take away the death penalty for a lapse in attention.
I have thought about this allot, I would put it on Your hands and feet, you would need 4 per person, and the shut off should be 1' or more to the feed wheel. A brake should also stop the feed wheels from moving. It would save lots of lives, But I think people wouldn't use them because of how many need to be strapped on, and the normal failures that could occur when mixing electronics with heavey equipment.
I have come close to being in this position only twice. Onuce when a winch cable wraped around my foot, and then just getting my hand caught in a crotch. Luckily! I was always able to reach the safety bar before any real danger.
I have come close to being in this position only twice. Onuce when a winch cable wraped around my foot, and then just getting my hand caught in a crotch. Luckily! I was always able to reach the safety bar before any real danger.
[ QUOTE ]
I've never heard it called "Total morselization" before.
[/ QUOTE ]
Nor has anybody else, because it's not a medical term, but an obsene "pun" made up by the reporter, the coroner, or somebody. Whoever came up with the demented term needs to explain to the victim's family why he thinks a sick pun, at the expense of a man's life, is the least bit funny.
I've never heard it called "Total morselization" before.
[/ QUOTE ]
Nor has anybody else, because it's not a medical term, but an obsene "pun" made up by the reporter, the coroner, or somebody. Whoever came up with the demented term needs to explain to the victim's family why he thinks a sick pun, at the expense of a man's life, is the least bit funny.
Phil
Carpal tunnel level member
- Location
- Oak Lawn, IL
What is the medical term you would use to describe what happened to the man? Sure you could tell his family that he got pulled through a chipper and thats it but how would you describe it in a medical document in case of a court trial or for future reference by another doctor or researcher? And why is it a sick pun? Granted it is not a recognized word in the english language, but that is why they update the dictionary.
TreeCo
Carpal tunnel level member
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I've never heard it called "Total morselization" before.
[/ QUOTE ]
Nor has anybody else, because it's not a medical term, but an obsene "pun" made up by the reporter, the coroner, or somebody.
[/ QUOTE ]
Google sure has a lot of hits on the term.
http://www.google.com/search?q=morseliza...tart=0&sa=N
[ QUOTE ]
I've never heard it called "Total morselization" before.
[/ QUOTE ]
Nor has anybody else, because it's not a medical term, but an obsene "pun" made up by the reporter, the coroner, or somebody.
[/ QUOTE ]
Google sure has a lot of hits on the term.
http://www.google.com/search?q=morseliza...tart=0&sa=N
\"Morselization\" -- Allow me to explain
Hello Everyone...
I've been perusing all the responses to the chipper fatality in Colorado (I live in Colorado), and there seems to be some confusion--even anger--toward the medical examiner's use of the term, "total morselization."
"Morselization" is indeed a term often used by surgeons. It's not a technical term, but it's a common term used in medical literature. It means to break biological tissue down into morsels. The word, "morselize" also shows up in medical literature.
The procedure of morselization is sometimes used in surgery, and can be applied to different types of tissue.
If you do a 'Net search on this term, you'll get a ton of links to medical procedures in which morselization was used. However, you'll also initially get a lot of links to the chipper accident, but after several pages of links, it will purely be medical.
It's a coincidence that the victim's name was "Morse." If the medical examiner wanted to pull a sick pun, he would have said "morsization," leaving out the root word "morsel," and just fusing "ization" with "morse."
So there you have it. I hope this clears that up so that nobody continues to think that the examiner was being "demented" or "obscene." (It's also possible he didn't know the victim's name at the time he made out the report.)
Shellbi
Hello Everyone...
I've been perusing all the responses to the chipper fatality in Colorado (I live in Colorado), and there seems to be some confusion--even anger--toward the medical examiner's use of the term, "total morselization."
"Morselization" is indeed a term often used by surgeons. It's not a technical term, but it's a common term used in medical literature. It means to break biological tissue down into morsels. The word, "morselize" also shows up in medical literature.
The procedure of morselization is sometimes used in surgery, and can be applied to different types of tissue.
If you do a 'Net search on this term, you'll get a ton of links to medical procedures in which morselization was used. However, you'll also initially get a lot of links to the chipper accident, but after several pages of links, it will purely be medical.
It's a coincidence that the victim's name was "Morse." If the medical examiner wanted to pull a sick pun, he would have said "morsization," leaving out the root word "morsel," and just fusing "ization" with "morse."
So there you have it. I hope this clears that up so that nobody continues to think that the examiner was being "demented" or "obscene." (It's also possible he didn't know the victim's name at the time he made out the report.)
Shellbi
Re: \"Morselization\" -- Allow me to explain
Windows user! (most of us that don't use Windows have filesystems which keep themselves defragmented during normal use
Bearing in mind that this subject really is somber, the phrase "total defragmentation" would mean "completely put back together"; likely "total fragmentation" was meant, and it would be a good layman's description.
Windows user! (most of us that don't use Windows have filesystems which keep themselves defragmented during normal use
Bearing in mind that this subject really is somber, the phrase "total defragmentation" would mean "completely put back together"; likely "total fragmentation" was meant, and it would be a good layman's description.
Re: \"Morselization\" -- Allow me to explain
[ QUOTE ]
So there you have it. I hope this clears that up so that nobody continues to think that the examiner was being "demented" or "obscene." (It's also possible he didn't know the victim's name at the time he made out the report.)
Shellbi
[/ QUOTE ]
I stand corrected. Thanks to Shellbi for pointing out the coroner's choice of words to describe the tragedy was just an unfortunate coincidence.
[ QUOTE ]
So there you have it. I hope this clears that up so that nobody continues to think that the examiner was being "demented" or "obscene." (It's also possible he didn't know the victim's name at the time he made out the report.)
Shellbi
[/ QUOTE ]
I stand corrected. Thanks to Shellbi for pointing out the coroner's choice of words to describe the tragedy was just an unfortunate coincidence.
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