Panic bar law in bc canada (chippers)

[luckylogger]

workers compensation here in bc is forcing us to use panic bars on all chippers
disc or drum all years. i have a bandit disc and there is no panic bar made to fit it. anybody know how to rig one up? the panic bar has to be set up so if a worker gets pulled into the chipper, the panic bar is tripped and the machine goes into neutral somehow. the feed roller feed bar is not safe enough somehow. i dont get how a tangly apple branch can be chipped and not trip the panic bar. wcb is starting to shut down some tree services until they get a panic bar. bandit refuses to make a panic bar. i dont blame them but i dont want to be shut down either.
any help out there?

 

[outofmytree]

It would help if you could supply a picture of what your local OSH body requires. What you describe sounds like either the last chance pull cords fitted standard to all Bandits or the "trip" bar now fitted across bottom of the apron on Vermeers.

In Australia importers are compelled to fit emergency stop buttons above the feed chute but these require a second operator to engage.

 

[luckylogger]

i cant supply a picture because wcb doesnt supply a picture. they say a panic bar is a device that with 28 pounds of force applied shut down the feed rollers. it has to be in such way so that a worker does not have to reach or pull for anything. involantary action must trigger the switch. so will every damn limb i said.
i do have last chance cables installed.
this whole panic bar thing is ridiculous.
if you are dumb enough to get sucked into a slow disc chipper and are to dumb to reverse the feed rollers via the feed bar or last chance cables, then you should be chipped because you are an idiot!
wcb didnt like that when i told them that....oh well

 

[outofmytree]

Assuming some similarity in OHS procedures it is incumbent upon the authority to provide you with details of a device that complies with their requirements. Otherwise you are fooling around in the dark so to speak.

Use this link. The picture shows a red bar at the base of the apron. In Australia, Vermeer is the only company I know of that sells a chipper with this device and its operation is involuntary. You literally have to fall into or over it to engage it. Hope this helps.

http://www.vermeer.com/vcom/EnvironmentalEquipment/Index.jsp?NewsID=10772

 

[asthesun]

trade your chipper for one that complies.

 

[luckylogger]

ok good idea lend me 60,000 grand please. brand new bandits=no panic bar. new woodchucks=no panic bar.
only chipper with a panic bar is vermeer. i cant wrangle up 60,000 grand for a new chipper when my bandit chips beauty and the only reason wcb wants the panic bar is cause its some brainwave of some university educated jack azz thats never chipped a branch in his life let alone climb and dismantle a 160 foot fir tree in a back yard. one idiot gets sucked into a chipper in bc, a drum chipper no doubt, and now we all have to modify our chippers. its like saying to an axe manufacturing company," one man chopped off his fingers with your steel bladed axe chopping kindling. new wcb rule number 586 B states all axes are now to made out of soft rubber. that way no man will ever chop off his fingers again. have fun splitting wood though. "
how can a chipper be designed to chip wood wood smoothly and effortlessly but not potentially chip humans?
its impossible. just dont have an idiot as a groundman:greenchainsaw:

 

[senechal]

Worksafe BC Part 12 Tools, Machinery and Equipment - Mobile Chippers
12.70 Driven-feed chippers

A driven-feed chipper must have a guard chute or apron extending at least 90 cm (3 ft) from the feed rollers and a panic bar to stop the feed rollers.

It's the first I've heard of it but I will definitely be bringing it to the owner's attention Monday morning. We run nothing but bandit so this could be an issue. It's extremely vague as to what exactly a panic bar is, or that it even differs from a feed bar so I'd say you could contest based on that in particular.

 

[asthesun]

they should have just implemented a digital electronic blood detection device coupled with a state of the art drum and barrel brake with automatic reverse. i wouldnt be surprised if vermeer had something to do with implementing the law about the panic bar.

 

[senechal]

Yeah, good old vermeer. Well I guess it's time for BC owners to start petitioning manufacturers to produce the retrofits or threaten to get on board with the newly established government/vermeer monopoly.

 

[capetrees]

VERMEER-PANIC BAR, CHICKEN-EGG.

The safest way to stay out of the chipper is to feed the thing from the side. And to be honest, you have to REALLY be an idiot to be sucked into a chipper these days with the panic bar and stop buttons and such. Anyone that is sucked in just had it coming. I've never been even close and as a matter of fact, my groundguy and I were discussing this very topic this weekend. It's almost impossible to fall in the chipper.

 

[tree md]

I'd say a class action law suit against the Govt. for loss of wages over unrealistic and unusual regulations might help.

 

[demographic]

I have nothing to add to this thread other than to say that a grand is a thousand over here so 60,000 grand must be a tad overpriced surely?

 

[senechal]

and hey, a grand don't come for free.

 

[demographic]

and hey, a grand don't come for free.

Too right, thats why I mentioned it.

 

[BC WetCoast]

As far as I know, the Vermeer panic bar is the only one acceptable at this time. I have noticed that Bartlett and Davey are running Bandits without panic bars. Wonder how they are getting around it?

Another option I heard about is to have a second person chipping whose only job is to work the reverse bar.

This all came about because a groundie fed himself through a chipper. WCB don't give a rat's azz about your productivity or efficiency, it's only mandate is the safety of the workers. If you don't like the panic bar, come up with a better system and sell it WCB.

 

[clearance]

This all came about because a groundie fed himself through a chipper. WCB don't give a rat's azz about your productivity or efficiency, it's only mandate is the safety of the workers.

Only mandate, really, how about treating unjured workers workers like dog----? There are good WCB officers working in the field, but when you get hurt, and I don't mean allegedly, I mean blood all over the place, see how you are treated. There is a reason, actually lots of reasons (injured people who they have treated like dog----) why thier offices have security guards and bulletproof glass.

 

[luckylogger]

my point exactly
why is wcb picking on me and other little 2 or 3 man shows?
how many davey tree and asplundh trucks and chippers do they pass on the highways trimming lines everyday?
reason they dont bug them is because the big boys got big lawyers and big pull with local goverments. wcb doesn't have the balls to take them on.
bottomline.
so pick on the little guy tring to feed his family.
typical.
i told wcb that if they make davey tree abide by this rule , im game.
the wcb officer said if bandit made no retrofit, which they do not, that i have to hire an engineer to make me a system that works!!!!!
ya i got a whole research and development team in my garage. they also work for nasa.
god.
let davey and their millions make a sysytem that works. i will gladly follow suit if it means i can hire mentally handicapped dudes to run my chipper and not end up in the box in 4 million pieces.
the chipper must chip wood steady or im done.
if every curvy branch triggers the retard bar, im done.
if wcb forces this issue , we must all unite and crush this stupid theory of theirs or we will be picked off 1 by 1.
the guy i talked to at bandit said to do nothing. the wcbs down in the usa have tried to impliment this bogus law in several states and the lawers for davey tree and bandit have united to stop it every time.
i said come to bc and crush this. i will fight as hard as i can but im only 1 man.
any body else on board?:chainsawguy:

 

[clearance]

Asplundh's Vermeer chippers here have that stupid red bar, as of 2007, I can't speak about others. Only what I have personaly seen, and been pizzed off by.

luckylogger, the largest WCB fine ever was given to one of the biggest forestry companies following a fatal accident. And the WCB has fined lots of people, they even wrote up themselves for safety violations at their own biulding. Check out their website. Fines are all listed, along with accidents.

But I do understand your point, I don't agree with the panic bar, there is a reversing feed bar, and there is always common sense. But you will have people sticking thier hands in, standing on the tray kicking stuff in, and so on.

 

[ozzy42]

This sounds like what the D.O.T. did for us pipe haulers a few yrs ago,when they mandated that all concrete culvert pipe be secured thru the pipe with chains and binders every 10 ft of load.
Problem is ,you can not effectively tighten a chain coming out of a concrete pipe enough to properly secure it.All you will do is break the spigot end off chaining it down,or in transit.

When it was all said and done
we had to pull 4 chains across the top,and secure with binders[the real way to secure pipe],and then place the other chains thru the pipe,and back at a 45 degree angle,and hand tighten the chain binders,then wrap them with a bungee chord so they would not flop open,as they were doing absolutely nothing to secure the pipe to the trailer,but that made it pass DOT.
The sucky thing was ,all the thru chains had to meet dot specs for the entire load weight,they did not count the 4 grade 7
3/8transport chains across the top and tightened like guitar strings
into the equation.

Point is ,some lame brain who never strapped down or hauled one single load of pipe apparently wrote these new regs.

 

[chewbacca]

bureaucracy - ain't it great!