Panic bar law in bc canada (chippers)

[tree md]

bureaucracy - ain't it great!

I hear ya. And the real pisser is we've got people in our own industry crying for more government oversight and regulation... I just don't get it. When the government starts turning a profit and everything they touch doesn't turn to #### then I will agree that more oversight is needed. Scratch that, I lied. I'll never be advocating more government involvement in anything.

 

[senechal]

Hypothetical situation:
Your kid was involved in an industrial accident with their employer squarely to blame for inadequately training or failing to maintain key safety features of a piece of equipment. Government oversight can be a real drag, but when it comes to workplace safety they sure throw a lot more weight than I can alone to cut down on the statistics. It's a different situation in Canada when all citizens share the burden to support a severely or chronically injured worker, obviously there is financial motivation in the equation.

As to how that pertains to this particular situation, I don't know, but I'm willing to bet that this particular casualty (who had caring family and friends I'm certain) did not watch the chipper safety video.

 

[outofmytree]

Work the chipper in pairs. It is safer than any "panic" bar could ever be. I would guess that those bottom fitted bars would be disconnected inside the first week anyway.

 

[luckylogger]

for me to hire a guy to watch a guy feed branches now doubles my costto do a job
doubling my cost now cuts my profit margin in half
i might as well go work at subway makin subs
best part is , wcb now makes zero on my payroll because i will fold my company
so instead of making 10% of my annual payroll in b.s. payments , wcb can suck it and collect zero and i will change careers
never bite the hand that feeds

 

[outofmytree]

for me to hire a guy to watch a guy feed branches now doubles my cost to do a job
doubling my cost now cuts my profit margin in half
i might as well go work at subway makin subs
best part is , wcb now makes zero on my payroll because i will fold my company
so instead of making 10% of my annual payroll in b.s. payments , wcb can suck it and collect zero and i will change careers
never bite the hand that feeds

This is as close to 100% wrong as you can get. That second pair of hands will increase your profit margin by increasing your work speed and your ability to multi task.

Give it a go. You will be pleasantly surprised.

 

[silk]

We have 5 Vermeer's and only 2 of the newer ones have the panic bars.

It will be interesting to see how this all pans out.

Side note:

Anyone see them new table saws that have this new system that uses a low current throughout the drive train, that once anything like flesh comes in contact it breaks the current and instantly locks up. I have seen the videos and it works so well that the blade stops before even cutting a scratch on a raw hot dog pushed into the blade.

If Vermeer or any other chipper company can get that type of system in place on a chipper they would make a ton of cash.

 

[BlackenedTimber]

We have 5 Vermeer's and only 2 of the newer ones have the panic bars.

It will be interesting to see how this all pans out.

Side note:

Anyone see them new table saws that have this new system that uses a low current throughout the drive train, that once anything like flesh comes in contact it breaks the current and instantly locks up. I have seen the videos and it works so well that the blade stops before even cutting a scratch on a raw hot dog pushed into the blade.

If Vermeer or any other chipper company can get that type of system in place on a chipper they would make a ton of cash.

can you find a link to that system and post it? that sounds very interesting. your right, it would be great for chippers. probly pricey as hell, but great nonetheless.

 

[silk]

Here is the video link and how the system works

http://www.sawstop.com/howitworks/videos.php

 

[tree md]

Not sure if that is the same vid or not but I have seen a vid of the saw stop in action with a table saw in a commercial on one of the home improvement shows a year or two back. They used a hotdog for demonstration purposes. Really cool concept. I think incorporating that into a chipper would be an awesome idea!

 

[BlackenedTimber]

that sawstop is a pretty cool process, great engineering and thought that went into that. If a chipper company could incorporate some similar technology, they would sell units like hotcakes. thanks for the link.

 

[silk]

I would also love to see something like that inside the clutch assembly of our saws we use every day.

That would be the holy grail.

 

[VA-Sawyer]

I can tell you a little bit about the Sawstop system. It uses a spring loaded cartridge unit that is triggered by the electronic " brain" when the sensor detects current flow above a certain threshold level. The system has a switch to turn off the sensor when cutting wood with a higher moisture content. Note: wet wood conducts current about like skin does, so it will trip when it makes contact with green wood. Once it trips, you have to get a new cartridge unit and a new blade as it 'welds' the blade into the stop block.

If they could find a way for the sensor to tell the difference between green wood and flesh then they could put the system on chainsaws. I would be happy to pay the expense of a new cartridge unit and chain to avoid a trip to ER.

 

[BC WetCoast]

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.

Just to further this point, a few years ago, WCB fined one of our premier trauma hospitals (Royal Columbian) for not having sufficient first aid attendants available. On the face of it, this seem ludicous because if any hospital staffer got injured (however minor)they could just go down to Emerg. I was on a course where a WCB officer was giving a seminar and I asked him about it. He said that even a minor trip (for a small cut or something) to the emerg would cost them thousands whereas a first aid attendant could treat it onsite and wouldn't cost WCB anything.

Everything looks different depending on your perspective.

 

[randyg]

I can tell you a little bit about the Sawstop system. It uses a spring loaded cartridge unit that is triggered by the electronic " brain" when the sensor detects current flow above a certain threshold level. The system has a switch to turn off the sensor when cutting wood with a higher moisture content. Note: wet wood conducts current about like skin does, so it will trip when it makes contact with green wood. Once it trips, you have to get a new cartridge unit and a new blade as it 'welds' the blade into the stop block.

If they could find a way for the sensor to tell the difference between green wood and flesh then they could put the system on chainsaws. I would be happy to pay the expense of a new cartridge unit and chain to avoid a trip to ER.

I guess the wet/green wood conducting the current thing will keep this device from working on a chipper? Maybe something like that thing at the door at dept. store that makes the bells and whistles go off if you try to steal something? I sometimes think about making groundie wear my dogs shock collar. . .OK that should be a different thread I spose.

 

[capetrees]

No way that saw stop concept would EVER work with a chipper. What your seeing is a blade, something that weighs maybe 8 oz. Its spinning fat but is stopped by an aluminum bracket. The rotational inertia of that blade in comparison to a chipper drum and blades is astronomically different. What would stop the drum that could be replaced and the drum not damaged? No way that could happen. :dunno:

 

[tree md]

No way that saw stop concept would EVER work with a chipper. What your seeing is a blade, something that weighs maybe 8 oz. Its spinning fat but is stopped by an aluminum bracket. The rotational inertia of that blade in comparison to a chipper drum and blades is astronomically different. What would stop the drum that could be replaced and the drum not damaged? No way that could happen. :dunno:

Good point. I just don't think I see anything stopping a drum in it's tracks...

 

[outofmytree]

Its the feed wheels you need to stop and the existing controls do that in a fraction of a second. That aside, I doubt a sensor that works on moisture would be useful if, like me, you put a lot of palms through a chipper. Lots of water there.