# Ontario arborist dies due to wood chipper accident



## woodchuckcanuck (Mar 17, 2022)

Ontario arborist dies following incident involving wood chipper, witness says


An investigation is underway after a fatal industrial accident involving an arborist in Ontario on Wednesday.




toronto.ctvnews.ca


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## mbrick (May 19, 2022)

That's a really bad situation, ugh.


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## Parkerpusher (May 19, 2022)

I don’t cringe often, but I did reading that. That’s so sad and unfortunate all the way around. There’s already nothing glamorous about this work, getting hurt sucks. Losing a life is just unreal. I’ve lost a friend to this business, and 5 years later I still think about it every day.


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## Captain Bruce (May 19, 2022)

I'm from Ontario, and know friends of the Family. Please fellas, lets end this thread.


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## Parkerpusher (May 19, 2022)

Out of respect, I’m out. Prayers said.


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## Dudders (May 20, 2022)

Some good can come of accidents like this if it makes the rest of us reassess the dangers around us when working with machinery. We trundle along from day to day, unwittingly getting complacent, until something awful happens that forces us into a mental reset.

When feeding my chipper, I know always to be holding the extreme end of the material to push it forward into the machine. This because if I'm holding it part way down the stem, a snag sticking out of the stem behind me can grab my clothing as it goes past and pull me in with it. OK, it's a modern chipper with a safety bar at the back that will immediately stop the pullers if I even nudge it, but accidents can still happen in unforeseen ways, so I *must* maintain this discipline. Nonetheless, occasionally I realise I've just put a stem into the machine holding it part-way down, instead of at the end. I guess it's the fact of doing the same thing again and again, hundreds of times without a break, and your mind gets somehow numb to it, so you unconsciously start cutting corners. Got to stay alert and never do anything for too long without a break - mental tiredness is probably more dangerous than physical.


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## arathol (May 20, 2022)

Dudders said:


> When feeding my chipper, I know always to be holding the extreme end of the material to push it forward into the machine. This because if I'm holding it part way down the stem, a snag sticking out of the stem behind me can grab my clothing as it goes past and pull me in with it.



Thats wrong......
Take a chipper safety course if you can. The right way to feed a chipper is hold the branch somewhat down from the butt end, walk along side the right side of the chipper feed tray (If its a disk chipper), feed it in and keep moving in the same direction. That way you can't get snagged by anything being pulled in behind you.


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## lone wolf (May 20, 2022)

arathol said:


> Thats wrong......
> Take a chipper safety course if you can. The right way to feed a chipper is hold the branch somewhat down from the butt end, walk along side the right side of the chipper feed tray (If its a disk chipper), feed it in and keep moving in the same direction. That way you can't get snagged by anything being pulled in behind you.


I always operate the chipper with 2 men one can watch to stop the wheels with the controls.


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## Dudders (May 20, 2022)

arathol said:


> Thats wrong......
> Take a chipper safety course if you can. The right way to feed a chipper is hold the branch somewhat down from the butt end, walk along side the right side of the chipper feed tray (If its a disk chipper), feed it in and keep moving in the same direction. That way you can't get snagged by anything being pulled in behind you.


No way would I do that - I will *not* have anything behind me at any time when feeding the chipper, period. Each stem has to be entirely in my line of sight. Also, my chipper doesn't have tapered sides that allow you to walk past whilst feeding it. Sorry, I should have made clear what I do - not chipping brush, or lop and top, and not any big stuff that I can process into firewood. It's all clean 1-3" stems, anything up to 10' long, but plenty of stubs sticking out, so the whole stem is in front of me as it goes into the feed. I'm also standing off to one side, rather than dead centre, when feeding.


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## arathol (May 20, 2022)

What sort of chipper do you have that doesn't have some sort of feed tray that you can walk on the side of?
Standing behind the piece trying to push it from the back end is a good way to get hurt. I've seen a lot of guys get whacked in the hand and face trying to feed a chipper like that. The tail end of fairly small diameter straight branch can whip upwards suddenly with out warning. Even a piece a couple inches in diameter has enough mass to give you a good smack in the chin that you won't soon forget. Always feed from the side of the feed tray.


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## JimR (May 20, 2022)

Butt end first and get the hell out of the way. I used to own a Chuck and duck with no safety anything. Man that thing was dangerous at throwing pieces at you.


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## BrettS (May 21, 2022)

Dudders said:


> Some good can come of accidents like this if it makes the rest of us reassess the dangers around us when working with machinery. We trundle along from day to day, unwittingly getting complacent, until something awful happens that forces us into a mental reset.
> 
> When feeding my chipper, I know always to be holding the extreme end of the material to push it forward into the machine. This because if I'm holding it part way down the stem, a snag sticking out of the stem behind me can grab my clothing as it goes past and pull me in with it. OK, it's a modern chipper with a safety bar at the back that will immediately stop the pullers if I even nudge it, but accidents can still happen in unforeseen ways, so I *must* maintain this discipline. Nonetheless, occasionally I realise I've just put a stem into the machine holding it part-way down, instead of at the end. I guess it's the fact of doing the same thing again and again, hundreds of times without a break, and your mind gets somehow numb to it, so you unconsciously start cutting corners. Got to stay alert and never do anything for too long without a break - mental tiredness is probably more dangerous than physical.


Aye, you have to keep your wits about you at all times when working on chippers.


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## MattRBritton (Jul 18, 2022)

JimR said:


> Butt end first and get the hell out of the way. I used to own a Chuck and duck with no safety anything. Man that thing was dangerous at throwing pieces at you.


I’ve used one of them, an old Wayne(?) or something. 

Frightening experience...but used it for a year or two. Used to just ‘suck’ the branches in, and if anything was too big, it just threw it back at ya.


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## JimR (Jul 19, 2022)

MattRBritton said:


> I’ve used one of them, an old Wayne(?) or something.
> 
> Frightening experience...but used it for a year or two. Used to just ‘suck’ the branches in, and if anything was too big, it just threw it back at ya.


I had a Fitchburg 9 inch and a Wayne 12 inch. Both were very dangerous machines. Hence the name chuck and duck.


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