# I never knew wood chippers were this dangerous. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 10, 2012, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-never-knew-wood-chippers-were-this-dangerous/618409 "2012-04-10T21:34:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2012, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-never-knew-wood-chippers-were-this-dangerous/618409/41 "2012-04-11T14:59:02Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > All the more reason he should have known better. A professional _especially_ should realize the dangers of a wood chipper and practice appropriate safety measures. I don’t want to pile on to a guy who’s suffered a horrible loss, but Christ, this just never should have happened. I mean, seriously. The kid would almost certainly have been better off at home alone. I got a bad feeling about it when we were getting estimates from a pest control company, and one of them brought their kid along. It seemed Just Not Right, somehow. And that was only to look around our yard and give us an estimate, no dangerous machinery or chemicals involved. I’d really worry about how much attention these people were paying to safety on the job if a tree surgeon or pest control person brought their kid to work _when they knew there would be dangerous machinery or chemicals involved in the work_. If they’re cavalier enough about safety to let their 6-year-old hang around a wood chipper, do they care if a giant branch falls on my house? Are they taking precautions so that the people and animals in my household will not get hurt by what they are doing? If they bring a 6-year-old along on what they should damn well know is a dangerous job, I’d question their judgment in other aspects of the job, too. ---
**Author:** ![FlyByNight512](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/82dd89/32.png) [@FlyByNight512](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyByNight512)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2012, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-never-knew-wood-chippers-were-this-dangerous/618409/42 "2012-04-11T15:39:45Z")
> [@eldowan](#): > > I agree with the above link talking about sawstop, it uses the inherent electrical charge of skin to immediately stop cutting. > If you hadn’t seen, here’s a video in action: > [YouTube](http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dq9OLIzMa4Oo&v=q9OLIzMa4Oo&gl=US) > [http://www.sawstop.com/](http://www.sawstop.com/) My impression is that the ‘electrical charge’ detected is really the skin’s better conduction of electricity (due to moisture content). Skin carries an electrical charge way better than dry wood, so it works well for a table saw. Wood chippers, though, are working outside on freshly cut wood and possibly in wet conditions, so the same approach would have way too many false positives to be feasible. It’s a good idea, but not going to work in this situation. I like the idea of a panic button, though I wonder how one could be located where someone getting dragged in could reach it, but it wouldn’t get hit by stray branches. Maybe something inside the chute, but with a cover on all sides but the one facing the grinder? A dead man switch isn’t terribly practical, since you need both hands to load branches. ---
**Author:** ![Whammo72](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/77aa72/32.png) [@Whammo72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whammo72)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2012, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-never-knew-wood-chippers-were-this-dangerous/618409/43 "2012-04-11T16:02:22Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > I can’t help but feel like he should be prosecuted for being so careless. Oh yes, by all means lock him up! We dont need a crazed mad man running around throwing children into chippers… society would feel be so much safer with this childless grieving father behind bars! :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2012, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-never-knew-wood-chippers-were-this-dangerous/618409/44 "2012-04-11T16:14:59Z")
> [@Whammo72](#): > > Oh yes, by all means lock him up! We dont need a crazed mad man running around throwing children into chippers… society would feel be so much safer with this childless grieving father behind bars! :rolleyes: Fans of The Wire might recall an analogous scene, when that jerky, lazy chubby detective (not a main character) redeemed himself in a display of humanity, by letting Bubbles go free after Bubbles turned himself in after accidentally contributing to his best friend’s death by OD poisoning. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2012, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-never-knew-wood-chippers-were-this-dangerous/618409/45 "2012-04-11T17:16:52Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > … > I bet that father wishes more than anything that he had paid a professional to do that job, no matter what they might have charged. Apparently the father was the professional, hired as a contractor to work at the site. And he inexplicably brought his kid to the job with him. Yes, IMO he deserves to be prosecuted on some kind of negligent homicide charge. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2012, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-never-knew-wood-chippers-were-this-dangerous/618409/46 "2012-04-11T17:36:57Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > I mean, seriously. The kid would almost certainly have been better off at home alone. … … with a pack of matches and a can of lighter fluid. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2012, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-never-knew-wood-chippers-were-this-dangerous/618409/47 "2012-04-11T18:13:33Z")
According to [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodchipper#Safety), > [@](#): > > Thirty-three people were killed in wood-chipper accidents between 1992 and 2002 in the US, according to a 2005 report by the Journal of the American Medical Association. A few years back, a teenager working for a landscaping company in Virginia was sucked into one of these things. And I vaguely recall an incident in Northern Virginia in which an immigrant teenager fell into the hopper of some kind of tree-grinding machine, but cannot find the details online at the moment. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2012, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-never-knew-wood-chippers-were-this-dangerous/618409/48 "2012-04-11T19:54:39Z")
I would be very curious about how many of the accidents with this kind of machinery happened to people who owned the machine or used it professionally, versus people who rented one for the weekend. And how many happened to the machine operator as opposed to bystanders. There are a million ways to screw up and hurt yourself (or someone else) using farm equipment, heavy machinery, saws, chippers, and so forth. It takes more than just a few minutes of training before you turn someone loose with this kind of gear. On the other hand, it’s VERY easy to get complacent, and that’s a recipe for disaster, too. > [@Becky2844](#): > > I went flying out of the house and tore thru the barb (bob) wire… “Barbed wire” ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2012, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-never-knew-wood-chippers-were-this-dangerous/618409/49 "2012-04-11T23:03:49Z")
[quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:48, topic:618409”] I would be very curious about how many of the accidents with this kind of machinery happened to people who owned the machine or used it professionally, versus people who rented one for the weekend. And how many happened to the machine operator as opposed to bystanders. [/QUOTE] Just guessing, but I’d think the pros are more likely to get injured just because of the amount of time spent using the equipment. The rate of injury per hour of usage is probably higher for the amateur though. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-never-knew-wood-chippers-were-this-dangerous/618409/50 "2012-04-12T02:09:17Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Just guessing, but I’d think the pros are more likely to get injured just because of the amount of time spent using the equipment. The rate of injury per hour of usage is probably higher for the amateur though. Excellent point. I was thinking about injuries per hour of usage, but you’re quite right. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-never-knew-wood-chippers-were-this-dangerous/618409/51 "2012-04-12T02:20:58Z")
> [@Becky2844](#): > > I see I should have invited **Reply** over, too. > > Anybody’s who’s worked on/grown up on a farm knows that this kind of thing can happen if you’re not super careful. What happened to that child is horrible. I agree that he may have been giving “an extra push” to be helpful. I agree that no punishment society could want to extract can ever be as bad as what the father is dealing with now. > > In my school we watched films on how to drive a tractor correctly around hills etc. Even so, (mostly) men are still crushed underneath over-turned machinery. > > My stepfather was cutting hay one day when I visited. My young son eventually wandered away from the kitchen table talk of women and went outside to play. I looked out every now and then to check on him. > > Then I saw that he’d crossed the fence. (Between the yard and the field.) I went flying out of the house and tore thru the barb (bob) wire (having crosssed the two acre house-site in the blink of an eye) without noticing it. The family dog was loping ahead of me. I was running/stumbling thru dry growth that “poofed” as I pounded by, screaming all the way. I could see my son’s bobbing head. > > A strangled yelp cut thru the din and my stepfather killed the engine. Finally I caught up, behind my son. The dog’s left hind leg had been sliced off. We all panted in the sudden silence and the heat. > > We drove the dog up to the vet, who fixed him up. (Later he was fine, as if he hadn’t lost a limb.) > > It wasn’t my son, that time. > > Terrible, awful things can happen while we just pursue life. The survivors tell the next one, “…and be careful about…” I’ve read and re-read this, but I still don’t quite get it. Your son and the dog were both running toward a big piece of farm machinery, neither one seeing it, and the dog loses a limb because he runs into the blades? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-never-knew-wood-chippers-were-this-dangerous/618409/52 "2012-04-12T02:57:06Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > OSHA makes sure the machinery sold and used in the US can be used safety. I don’t know about wood chippers (having never used them) but while this is true to an extent, it’s often very idealized. A lot of the manufacturing equipment at the pharmaceutical companies I worked at were actually heavily modified for safety after they were purchased. Additional (more logically placed) panic buttons, deadman switches, panels to cover pinch points or crush areas, additional lighting of internal components, etc. Basically, it’s unrealistic to expect workers to be 100% safe on their own in terms of following procedures, as people become complacent in time, and so there needed to be a much more serious use of engineering controls in order to reduce the risk of injuries. I was part of the committee that reviewed the engineering modifications in order to approve the equipment for entry into service (though I wasn’t really involved in it, being a very young and inexperienced chemist on the committee!). It was fascinating. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-never-knew-wood-chippers-were-this-dangerous/618409/53 "2012-04-12T02:58:45Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > I’ve read and re-read this, but I still don’t quite get it. Your son and the dog were both running toward a big piece of farm machinery, neither one seeing it, and the dog loses a limb because he runs into the blades? 😕 They probably saw it but didn’t realize the danger - but yeah, that sounds right otherwise. Her son got out of her eyesight for long enough to slip away and risk being killed by the farm equipment. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-never-knew-wood-chippers-were-this-dangerous/618409/54 "2012-04-12T03:32:28Z")
> [@Whammo72](#): > > Oh yes, by all means lock him up! We dont need a crazed mad man running around throwing children into chippers… society would feel be so much safer with this childless grieving father behind bars! :rolleyes: Ha, I laughed. Seriously though, don’t you think we should punish people who can be proven beyond reasonable doubt that they acted negligently towards the care of a child? I assume you’d want to prosecute someone who left their baby in a car on a summer day, or left their infant in the sink/tub to answer the phone only to come back and find them drowned, or something similar. While I admit that this wood chipper case isn’t nearly as clear-cut, it must at least be considered to be in the realm of possible negligence. Especially since this man was supposedly a professional who brought his son to work with him. ---
**Author:** ![Jamicat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c67d28/32.png) [@Jamicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamicat)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-never-knew-wood-chippers-were-this-dangerous/618409/55 "2012-04-12T03:47:37Z")
I worked with 2 types of chippers. Whisper Chipper and Eager Beaver. Whisper Chipper tries to rip your arms off, while the Eager Beaver has a set of rollers prior to the cutting blade that turn slowly and has a breaker bar at the opening that will shut off the rollers when pushed in, but tends to get jammed easier. Nothing like tossing in a 50 ft vine into a Whisper Chipper. :eek: I did a year with Asplundh. [http://www.asplundh.com/index.htm](http://www.asplundh.com/index.htm) ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-never-knew-wood-chippers-were-this-dangerous/618409/56 "2012-04-12T05:27:16Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > Ha, I laughed. > > Seriously though, don’t you think we should punish people who can be proven beyond reasonable doubt that they acted negligently towards the care of a child? I assume you’d want to prosecute someone who left their baby in a car on a summer day, or left their infant in the sink/tub to answer the phone only to come back and find them drowned, or something similar. While I admit that this wood chipper case isn’t nearly as clear-cut, it must at least be considered to be in the realm of possible negligence. Especially since this man was supposedly a professional who brought his son to work with him. on the contrary, i can see how one going about your daily routine, might forget a sleeping baby in the backseat or get complacent about innocuous bath water that is less than an inch deep. these are unconscious mistakes that could happen to anyone who is not aware of the dangers. on the other hand, making a decision to bring your kid to the vicinity of screaming, whirling blades of death that eats trees for a living, is quite something else altogether. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-never-knew-wood-chippers-were-this-dangerous/618409/57 "2012-04-12T05:46:04Z")
> [@shijinn](#): > > … > on the other hand, making a decision to bring your kid to the vicinity of screaming, whirling blades of death that eats trees for a living, is quite something else altogether. I didn’t really want to look at the article. Does it give the whole story? Maybe someone else was supposed to be watching the kid. And kids get run over by cars far more often than they get chipped to death, but kids play near those steel rhinoceri all the time. This guy may never have a moment of sober tranquility for the rest of his life, which will likely be greatly shortened as a result of this horror. How will prosecution further the interest of justice in a case like this? ---
**Author:** ![MaltLiquor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/858c86/32.png) [@MaltLiquor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaltLiquor)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-never-knew-wood-chippers-were-this-dangerous/618409/58 "2012-04-12T06:13:38Z")
Why would you want this man punished? I think he has learned the lesson that came from this event. I really do not see the benefit of punishing this man further. He made a mistake and it cost him and his family, it happens all the time and is as tragic this time as it was the last time. This is a case of local non-news making the big stage and ruffling feathers. I know that sounds cruel and I am sorry. ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-never-knew-wood-chippers-were-this-dangerous/618409/59 "2012-04-12T06:14:38Z")
it is a short article and i do not really want to click on the video. all it said was that the father had “turned his back momentarily”, so it is implied that he was supposed to be watching the kid while he worked. i do not know if the father should be prosecuted, but there is a visceral difference between a manned machine designed for transportation and an unmanned machine designed to chew things up. ---
**Author:** ![azraiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@azraiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/azraiel)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-never-knew-wood-chippers-were-this-dangerous/618409/60 "2012-04-12T07:07:28Z")
> [@Becky2844](#): > > Anybody’s who’s worked on/grown up on a farm knows that this kind of thing can happen if you’re not super careful. What happened to that child is horrible. I agree that he may have been giving “an extra push” to be helpful. I agree that no punishment society could want to extract can ever be as bad as what the father is dealing with now. **Amen, sister.** To answer **Jim’s** point, we take our kids along to teach them, the same way we were taught. To charge the father with anything would be a gross miscarriage of justice, as if he isn’t suffering enough as it is. I couldn’t tell you the first time I rode on an open-wheeled tractor, or climbed around and through baler belts to grease nipples. I remember vividly having myself, my brother, and three of my cousins riding on an old Oliver my grandfather was driving, one of us working the clutch, another the brake, two sitting on the open tire wells (bouncing our hands on six-foot tire treads), and the last standing on sway bars at the back. And I recall the awe and dread we gave to the PTO. As a child, I crawled over, under, and through every bit of farm equipment you can imagine (the threshing belt on a neighbor’s old combine was a favorite). But as soon as a piece of machinery started moving, I was taught to treat it like a rattlesnake. PTO shaft, wood chipper, table saw–it can bite you as soon as you turn your back on it. I have no problem with this guy taking his son on site. I have a problem with him not putting the fear of god (powered machinery) into his son first. Hell. I’m 35 and you still won’t find me within three feet of an active PTO. No thank you. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-never-knew-wood-chippers-were-this-dangerous/618409.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-never-knew-wood-chippers-were-this-dangerous/618409.md?page=4)