Tampa Tree Worker Killed in Chipper Accident

[cerviarborist]

TAMPA --
A tree trimmer died while working with a wood chipper in Tampa on Saturday afternoon.

The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office said they pronounced Miguel Vargas, 44, dead on the scene around 3:30 p.m.

Vargas was working with four other crew members from the Dwayne Wilson Tree Service at 12911 Golf Crest Trail.

According to deputies, Vargas was at the rear of the wood chipper and was feeding bundles of tree branches into the chipper when he became entangled in a rope that was wrapped in the tree branches.

Deputies say Vargas died from fatal injuries caused by the force of the rope pulling against him. He was not pulled into the wood chipper.

"The rope had entangled around his body as the force, the weight of that machine pulling that rope against him, and him getting wedged up against the trimmer, that excessive force just basically crushed him and killed him," Deputy Larry McKinnon of the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office said.

The accident happened so quickly, that none of Vargas' co-workers even had time to try and save him, according to deputies.

http://www.baynews9.com/article/news/201...ng-wood-chipper

 

[Blinky]

It happens ridiculously fast once the rope passes the feed wheels.

Sorry to hear about Vargas.

Had a 9/16" rigging rope get chipped once, it was amazing how fast it went tight, took several seconds before it melted and broke. At first I thought it would snap the leader we were rigging from.

 

[kiwitreeman]

Saw a co worker pulled about 15 metres through an elm one day after a groundie fed his rope to the chipper . Lucky his TIP was strong and the rope fairly quickly melted . Yep the chipper sure did eat the rope fast ,I was only 10 metres away from the mc and it was all over before i could get to the rope to cut it . My view is chipping should be done well away from climbers at all times ,not just for those reosons , also communication is difficult with them going . Another thing I'm wondering is when will it be illegal to feed large chippers by hand . A lot of the fatalities and injuries i hear about seem to involve twelve inch or larger chippers . Chippers are excellent but man they can be vicious .No easy answers but so many of these injuries seem avoidable ,like don't dance on the feedtable .

 

[SirTreeRat]

Here is another report on this accident.



Miguel Vargas was killed after being decapitated when a rope around his neck was dragged into a wood chipper.

He fought to avoid being pulled into the chipper after the rope was fed into the churning mechanism.

As the noose tightened around his neck it decapitated his head from his body.

Other workers made the discovery when they shut down the machine.

The gruesome accident happened in Tampa, Florida, USA, where Vargas, 44, was part of a five man crew trimming trees on a suburban street.

He was feeding branches into the chipper when a rope that had been used by one of the tree trimmers somehow slipped over his neck.

Unable to reach the emergency shut off button, Vargas desperately tried to avoid being dragged head first into the machine where he would have been chopped to bits.

According to his boss Dwayne Wilson the force of the rope looped around his neck was so great that he was decapitated.

Mr Wilson said: "I heard a piece of metal and I ran back to shut the machine down and when I did, I looked and saw him on the ground.

"The force of the wood chipper pulling the rope, Miguel struggled against the rope trying to escape the chipper but was decapitated within seconds."

He said he hit the emergency stop button after hearing a metal clip on the rope grinding against the chipper blades, but by that time Vargas was dead.

Police said Vargas had worked as a tree trimmer for seven years and had four years experience operating the wood chipper.

They have ruled his death an accident.

 

[easyphloem]

Shocking. Gruesome. Preventable. Tragic.

SZ