Leg nearly severed by a stump grinder

[Tree Machine]

Thank you guys. No matter what the situation, I'm likely to keep optimism engaged, and work through it with a positve outlook; at least if there's a choice. And ya know what? There's always a choice.

While in the surgury room, they had just injected this fiery hot stuff into my vein."Yow! What was that?"

"Anesthetic. You'll be going to sleep in a minute."

"What if I choote NOT to go to sleep?"

"You don't have any choice."

"Oh yea?" and I start singing, "I'm not goin to sleep, La la la, not goin to sleep, la la...."


OK, some things in life you have no choice over. ATTITUDE, however, is completely in your individual power. It's not caused by some outside force. Events and actions don't 'make you' fell a certain way, though we use this excuse very casually. It just gives us something or someone to blame. Look around you. Watch

:angry2: Man, my situation sucks!

:angel: Man, I just cant believe the blessings, and miracles every day.

 

[Jumper]

Gotta love that sodium pentathol!!

 

[Thirdpete]

I had a nother question....that metal piece hanging over the wheel that is held back with a bungie, would that have helped anything?

 

[Davidsinatree]

Tree Machine
This brings back vivid memories of my accident in 86. Almost lost arm to a bad chainsaw cut.

I sit here stunned and speechless reading & looking at pics.
I would not let your pride get in the way of getting local & gov assistance.
We pay into these programs for times like this.....go get what you can my friend.

I am praying for your complete recovery.

David

 

[Stumper]

Jim, Glad to see your are maintaining good spirits.(Hey, ups and downs are normal but you can still smile-that is good.) You know buddy, I think that is gonna leave a scar.

Regarding: "Pull off, shut off and bury the wheel into the ground". What can be done depends upon the machine and it's specific design. In my case I shut off, run the wheel into the stump remnants or hole and then pull off.-And the little punk, Rayco RG12 has a deadman switch-release the handlebar and you switch the engine off.

 

[Tree Machine]

Questions about the machine

A couple guys had questions about the bungee. No idear.

 

[Tree Machine]

Redline is a genius

And ???? lucky that really effective medical care was close enough to make a difference.

I was so oooooo greatful for that. Only the first hour was true, traumatic suffering.

A couple of years ago I worked for the parks department of a large municipality in southern Ontario. Part of my job was developing the equipment training for seasonal staff, and then training the trainers on how to train the newcomers.

You were a Trainer's Trainer training trainers. Ba ha ha aha ha a ha a

But I was working from a database of previous acidents and incidents and I made a case for working in all knowledge from prior incidents, after all, if we ignore what we know, and don't pass it on, how diligent can we claim to be?

PASS IT ON, BROTHER!

From my files:

Hazards:

Additionally instruct the user that the backpack blower, due to the proximity of the power unit and fan to the users head, robs him/her of normal hearing awareness. Stress looking around 360*. Repeat use of phrase: Head on a swivel.

Point out to user that normal operation of the backpack blower requires the operator to back-up, or walk backwards a few steps. Stress the need to look around 360*. Repeat use of phrase: Head on a swivel.

----------------------------------------------

Holy COW , Red! This wasn't fully a stump grinder accident. It was in part a BLOWER accident.

This is really important, you guys. I have to state, for the public record, a formal new truth:

BLOWERS CAUSE ACCIDENTS

Redline, thank you so very much for bringing this IMPORTANT realization up to front. I think this is a major contribution to the industry.

Blowers contribute to accidents. Who da thunk?

 

[Tree Machine]

Let me share a near-miss, one that is still burned into my psyche.

It was a safety meeting with an apprentice, I was talking about traffic and power blowers. I was preachin this, calling it safety etiquette.

I told him, "You have two jobs you have to do at once: Communicate with traffic, and power blow the street. By far, the most important is the communicating with the traffic."

"And how do we do that?"

Well, we already have cones out, so that communicates to the drivers that we have a work zone, but it gives them no information beyond that."

"Why do they need to know more than that?"

Because you are occupying their street, and the drivers have no idea what you might do next. You are out walking in the street and you have a responsibility, for the sake of both safety and good working etiquette, to inform approaching traffic of what to do.

First, be looking for traffic whenever you are in the street. Make eye contact with the approaching driver, look back the other direction for another oncoming car. If there are two cars coming, get out of the street immediately. If one is coming, eye contact, then large, over-dramatized arm gestures, motion telling them to come on past. That simple eye contact / arm wave makes drivers feel at ease. They now know what to do. They know for sure that you see them coming. And you can keep on working."

He did absolutely great, had a big cheesy smile on his face, tipping his helmet, bowing to passing traffic. (I love that guy). He was blowing the area between the chipper and the truck where the spray chips tend to collect, running the blower full out, making short work of it.

He turned left, and took one step to within centimeters, I swear, of having his kneecaps taken off by the bumper of a passing car.

That's the vision that haunts me. He didn't hear the car coming because he was running a blower.

 

[Tree Machine]

This just amazes me....

Could a Backpack Power Blower actually be one of the more dangerous power tools to operate?

 

[spacemule]

I would say it's dependent on the situation, obviously. A blower will be more dangerous when operated in the middle of a New York City street as opposed to the saw being used to buck large diameter, well-supported logs. A saw will be more dangerous when limbing than a blower used in an empty back yard. In essence, each is a different type of danger, the saw in explicitly dangerous for obvious reasons, while the blower is implicitly dangerous because it breeds a more relaxed working environment, masking dangers more effectively than a saw. I think the important thing to remember is that any object is only as safe as the attention of the operator and the environment it is used in.

 

[2Coilinveins]

Holy Hell, Tree Machine! Glad you lived, much less kept your leg! Best wishes for a speedy recovery. Many thanks for posting about your ordeal and possibly keeping someone else out of a similar situation. If I was anywhere near Indiana, I'd offer to help out.

I'll second the hazards of a blower. Once I was blowing off a parking lot and nearly got smooshed by a garbage truck that was backing up. Shadow passed over me, looked up, jumped out of the way. Missed me by maybe 2". Idiocy on my part for not keeping better track of what was going on around me(It was a GARBAGE TRUCK fer cryin' out loud, how'd I miss that?). Idiocy on the driver's part for missing me with a noisy blower and backing up way faster than he should have.

 

[ray benson]

Jim, The Vermeer website shows guards around the cutting blade on all the models.
http://www.vermeermfg.com/vcom/EnvironmentalEquipment/Line/PrdlnID/3610/stump-cutters.htm

 

[Tree Machine]

We're truly making progress

No doubt using a blower makes it harder to keep track of what going on around us but I would still rank the chainsaw as a more dangerous tool.

Definitely agreed.

each is a different type of danger, the saw in explicitly dangerous for obvious reasons, while the blower is implicitly dangerous because it breeds a more relaxed working environment, masking dangers more effectively than a saw.

Well said!

I think the important thing to remember is that any object is only as safe as the attention of the operator and the environment it is used in.

Attention of the operator. That's what it ultimately boils down to.

That's the thing that I keep beating my own self over the head over. I am outwardly an attentive, careful tree worker, not perfect, but obsessive for sure.

There was a baseball player years back, that when he stepped up to the plate (he was a right-handed batter) he'd flap his right elbow sharply, as his own means of making himself AWARE that his forearm and bicep needed to be horizontal, level with the ground. Just a few degrees of dip in the point of the elbow, and strikeouts increase and batting control diminishes.

I can't remember what my point was there. OH!, simply that I remebered it at all. Why did I remember that? Why did it stick in my head as a 'lesson' ? After all, I was mebbe 12 years old, it was an announcer desribing the behavior I was seeing, and it only took like 10 seconds to explain. I knew some day I'd have my own version of that to make me remember EVERY TIME to do whatever it is I'm needing to absolutely do.

My version of that (on the ground) has always been :
1. Safety meeting with any person occupying my jobsite (apprentice, employee, firewood guys, homeowner). Make sure they have access to, and use ear protection, eye protection and helmet (if applicable).
2. Require that person to wear gloves. I gift them a pair, theirs to keep, and often will ink their initials on them (ugly gloves).
3. No one within 4 paces of me when I'm running a saw (no exceptions).
4. And my new one, yet to be used, will be; Whenever I myself picks up the blower, or anyone on my jobsite picks up the blower, I will voice OUT LOUD, HEAD ON A SWIVEL!

 

[Tree Machine]

And for the guys using stump grinders....

 

[Tree Machine]

But if you chose not to shut the motor off, just stop the wheel from spinning, the song would sound like this:

 

[CJ-7]

Wow, what an experience. We all learn, not only by our own mistakes, but by the misfortune of others. You are a great contributor to this forum, heal soon.

You know, it does look a bit like a shark bite...it might be easier explaning it that way years from now after the trauma wears off...

 

[Trinity Honoria]

thank you for posting the pictures!!!

since i am in the midst of having trees cut down next door, i know a stump grinder is yet to come... i just sat my son down and showed him pictures of your leg, TM, and the picture of the stump grinder... and explained why we are NOT going out there to watch it work...

i think i mighta gone on a bit-- he finally looked at me and asked if he could go back to his room ... but your story made an impact on him as well!!!

 

[treeweasel]

TM, best wishes for a full recovery. Thanks for having the heart to share the "result of 1 second of inattention". That can't be stressed enough. My ground man will be made to sit down and view this entire thread/post, as well as the attached photos. I've been away from the site due to the "summer rush". Needless to say, I won't be rushing as much at the end of the day any more. You have the right attitude about the entire situation and its individual parts. Again, I wish you the best.

 

[turnkey4099]

Trinity, thank you so much for your concern. You send healing energy, and I can feel it. It makes a difference. Welcome to the site.

Ughhh.....Thanks FJR for that little reminder.... the catheter.

For those who haven't personally experienced this little joy, when the medical team wants you flat on your back and not getting out of bed AND they're going to be pumping you full of I.V. fluids AND they're going to be anesthitizing you and don't want you pee-ing yourself on the operating table or in your recovery bed, they offer you this non-negotiable option called a Foley Catheter.

This warm, fuzzy description alone should keep guys from wanting to enjoy a little R and R in the hospital.

A Foley is an insertable pee tube that goes from your bladder to a plastic container. It's wonderfully convenient for the patient....., except for the insertion and extraction of the device.

You're probably imagining a mildly gruesome scene already, aren't you?

As if your condition isn't dire enough, some stranger takes hold of your Willy and forces a sizably diametered tube right up into your Johnson. There is, of course, a sort of initial shock, tainted with fear, melded with genuine personal concern and a sprinkling of "You're not REALLY doing what I think you're doing....?"

But they do. No apparent respect for your masculine side, they're all business. They do the seemingly impossible and reverse direction on a one-way street by slipping a tube into your tube and when your eyes blaze wide open, they just keep pushing.

Wouldn't it be kind if they would do this procedure while you were on the operating table under anesthesia? Nnnnoooo. They do it while you're awake, and you get to watch . Same for the extraction, another spine-tingling, jaw-clenching few moments where they just pull and pull until you witness this thing popping out of your thing.

Thanks FJR, for rekindling this memory I'd so conveniently buried in the hidden dark spots of my memory...., you Freak.

Good description. I have had it twice. I particularly like the local version of the removal. "Take a deep breath..." Halfway through inhaling, without warning, YANK!!

Harry K

 

[sedanman]

Tree Machine, As the saying goes, "That which does not kill you makes you stronger" You have an unfair advantage in that regard as you already have a strength many envy and few fully understand. Godspeed good man.