Leg nearly severed by a stump grinder

I'm able to describe this near-fatal injury in great detail and will do so in hopes that it will prevent a needless accident on your jobsite.


This accident was not something I read about, heard about or even witnessed. This nightmare was my own, and I'm just very glad to be able to describe it to you myself, rather than by my next of kin.

preliminary details

On June 16 I had a job to take out two good sized cottonwood trees. Normally I have a long list of people who want firewood, but nobody likes cottonwood to burn. The big wood would need to be taken to the Greencycle Station. I co-own a dual axel trailer with good friend and asked if I could use it for two days. He's the guy who owns a stump grinder, and I refer him all my stump business, which he collects and generally does on the weekends.

It was Tuesday, and since the grinder was on the trailer already, and he would eventually need to go to my site with it to grind the stumps, we agreed to bring the stump grinder there to have it ready at the end of the Wednesday / Thursday job. Since I would also need some labor help on this job, I asked my buddy if I could hire his part-time employee, Larry, the guy who would be running the grinder. He said, "Call and check with Larry; if he wants to work with you, it's OK by me." Larry said "Cool". Everything was fitting perfectly into place for the upcoming job.

The takedowns went really well. Larry's only duty was to make stacks of brush and roll out the cottonwood chunks; I would do all the cutting and all the chipping, we'd load the trailer together.

Toward the end of day 2, amazingly, we were somewhat ahead of schedule (meaning we would easily finish before dark). Larry was grinding the second of the two stumps. We were about 20 minutes from being done and I was thrilled that a two day job wasn't going to spill into a third day.

At this point, I will offer full details leading up to the accident.

I had finished power blowing the yard and Larry was finishing the first half of stump #2. If you were to think of the stump as a clock, he had approached the first half from the 6:00 position. Larry then moved the machine around to the opposite side and approached from the 12:00 position. At this point I had finished the yard and came in toward the stump to power blow the thrown chips from the yard, back into the the grind pile. All I had to do was be very complete in my power blowing. Stump chips are kind of dense and heavy, so it's a patient process to be 100% thorough. The backpack blower is really powerful, and this was the final detail of the day.

Once Larry was half way through the second half of the stump, I came in at the 4:00 position. I adopted an immediate cadence; babystep toward the stump, moving the blower tube slowly back and forth, left to right, right to left. Two steps to the left, four steps backwards, and repeat.

By the time I got around to 9:00, Larry was finished grinding and he backed the stump grinder away. I continued doing what I was doing, baby-stepping and blowing slowly toward the stump, then two steps left, 4 steps back and repeat.

I was at 11:00 when Larry walked back around to the 6:00 side of the stump, opposite me, holding a rake. I recall seeing him raking the area I had just blown clean. I remember thinking, "Why is he raking the grass I've just so thoroughly power blown?"

I was now at 12:00, considering stopping and pointing out to him that the raking he was doing was completely pointless. However, we were almost finished and I just needed to go from 12:00 around to 4:00 and we'd be done.

I took my 4 steps back when WHAM!, the back of my right leg was hit by a force so powerful I knew instantly it could only be one thing; the stump grinder.

very ugly at this point

The stump grinder had been left running, with the grinding wheel still engaged, and Larry had walked away from it to rake grass that didn't need raking. I was wearing hearing protection and running the blower, so I never heard it. I must have been stepping back with my right foot when the full-speed grinder wheel hit me square in the right calf muscle.

It hit with an amazing and instant force. I instinctively dove forward as the leg of my chainsaw protective pants was sucked off my body. My foot (with the boot still on) was turned outward to the right and the toe pointed back upward toward my hips, parallel with my leg. I was yelling, "CALL 911 !" and through the the intense pain and shock of it all I did not have the presence of mind to take a picture. The foot was almost completely severed, attached by some muscle and a few tendons. ?How I didn't get pulled into the wheel and ground into lawn fertilizer, I still don't know.?

Oh Jim...........

It's not over Stumper.

It was just as ugly as it sounds. Bleeding (luckily) was minimal, and the pain was just too much to describe. The impact of the grinder wheel removed a sizable hunk of my calf muscle and broke both the tibia and fibula, driving both those bones right through the front of my shin. The broken bones coming up out of my boot were bright white and sticking out about an inch beyond any surrounding muscle. It was the first time I had ever seen an actual part of my skeleton.

The ambulance arrived quickly. The looks on their faces wasn't very encouraging. They were swift and skilled. One asked, "How is it you have one pant leg on, and the other off?" We looked over at the stump grinder and the entire leg of my chainsaw pants, all the way up to the beltline, had been sucked off my body and was wrapped around the grinder wheel spindle.

As bad as things looked in that moment, I could already see how incredibly lucky I just was.

The end to this near-tragedy

In the emergency room they had cleared a path for me and there were doctors already waiting. There was hustle and a lot of medical jargon being voiced about. A Doc at the far end of the exam table asked "Are you allergic to anything?" I blurted out "YES!" and the room stopped.... "I'm allergic to stump grinders." That cut a lot of tension in the room. A shot of fentenyl cut my pain and let me be a normal human, under great medical care and on my way to the operating room.

I spent 12 days in the trauma unit, underwent three surgeries and now I'm home, slowly recovering, and will be unemployed until January. That's the short version of the bad news. The good news is I'm alive. I'm still quite amazed at that. That forward dive, without hesitation, was what saved me.

Would you like to see the pictures? I'm open to hearing your thoughts. Know, please, that this is not an attention-seeking ploy. I'm in no way proud of this and to be quite honest I'm very embarassed over it. I'm just hoping that if a stump grinder on any of your sites is EVER left running and unattended that you have stern words with the operator.

I thank you all, in advance, for going to work tomorrow with safety at the forefront of your minds.

Jeez mate, I hope your going to be okay! I guess chainsaw pants arent protection against everything. Have you got someone to run your biz while your up to your neck in soap operas?

Thanks for the heads-up, good luck with your recovery. It is a good reminder to all of us that one moment of inattention combined with a mistake on someone's part and things can go to hell in a hurry.

Thanks Timber. I'm not OK. I've had one accident in 12 years, and was quite proud of my safety record overall. Now I feel like an idiot. I got a hospital bill the other day for $45,000 and some change, and that didn't make me feel too good either.

The chainsaw pants that were destroyed were the Kiwi Summerweight ones I got in Invercargill after visiting you the year before last. I really liked those over any others I've had. Because they ripped out at the seams and tore free of my body, I consider that they saved my life. Thank YOU, Timber, for referring me onto those.

As far as my business goes, that is just a major bummer. I've always worked alone, so I have no crew to go out and do the work. This was only the second time this year that I had an employee. My business is sunk, but the work will be there in a few months.

Stehansen, you point out the key thing here, that it wasn't just one person's fault. I accept full responsibility for my not seeing what was going on around me. As soon as I got out of the hospital, I wrote a letter to the worker. It went like this:

Larry, I forgive you. Jim

Not that I agree that EVER it is OK to endanger another man's life by leaving a grinding wheel engaged, at full throttle and unattended, the point is when you're the boss, you've gotta be more safety-vigilant than ANYONE, for yourself, and for others.

It was my moment of inattention, ultimately, that led to the accident.

Has Larry contacted you, Jim? That's a serious blunder on his part, and it must eat at him. Did they save your foot?

I wouldn't mind seeing the pictures, but more out of morbid curiosity than any real need to. I'm amazed you were able to get away from that thing.

What a story, you are lucky mate. Hope you recover well

Wish i could help you out with your business!

damm i really feel for you.its terrible.

a guy in sydney had his calf muscle torn off in a similar accident,i feel bad for never bringing this accident up before.

i hope you recover quickly

edit your pms are full.

Wow! That's scary.

I wish you the best in your recovery.

Tree machine, how about getting a guy to help out? Im sure if we shook the arbo tree hard enough we could find you a good climber and you could keep your business ticking over in the meantime. I know you have a lot to think about at the moment but I think it would be possible to get a contract climber in.
I know its probably gone through your head a bit along with everything else!

TM that's sad and an awful accident. I've only been around a short while and you're a top operator ... I sincerely wish that you recover quickly.

I'm the only one who grinds stumps in our crew, I still reckon it's the most dangerous machine. As the operator of the grinder I've had to shut it down to keep pets, customers and even staff away. You have to be ever vigilant where the cutter wheel is pointing and what's either side plus behind you ... and try to see what the hell your grinding as well.

One day a customer walked within inches of it, I always think if some-one lost their footing and fell on it ... Another long time tree guy showed me to stop the wheel spinning by sticking it into the ground when you've shut the machine down as some of them just keep freewheeling.

Get better mate. Time to call in your favours off rellies and mates ... this is serious stuff ... ask for a hand if you need it, you were the victim of industrial neglegence ... just ask.

wow that's a traumatic story to read , i can't begin to imagine your view !!!
it seems too me, if things go wrong, its just as the job is nearing completion, a slip in attention or energy. in my experience
i sincerley hope you recover to the utmost of your doc's expectations

Oh Jeez :-( I'll pray for a full recovery without any problems TM.

When that wheel is turning I've always felt uneasy operating it. And by reading this post I will never forget the power of that machine. It's dangers will always be on the back of my mind and your experience solidifies what can and will happen in an accident. Thanks for posting this TM, because as hard as it was to read, it was a helpful eye opener for all of us.

BTW, did you get to experience the pleasure of a catheter?!

TM, i'm not one of the 'tree' crowd, just a simple home owner here to learn about my trees...

i wept reading your posts... i dread every day my young son is working on the farm with his dad-- all that equipment, no problems most the time, but it only takes that one time...

i'll be praying for your recovery, your future...