Landscape Worker Seriously Injured After Getting Caught in Wood Chipper

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Another landscape worker was seriously injured after coming into contact with a wood chipper.

The worker was seriously injured after the worker’s arm got pulled into the machine, according to CBS12.

The worker suffered traumatic injuries and was taken to a local hospital.

This is the second serious accident to happen involving wood chippers.

The first occurred in June after 42-year-old Hernan Gutierrez somehow fell into a wood chipper and died.

Wood chippers are dangerous machines, so wearing the proper equipment and following the proper procedures are vital in the landscaping industry.

The New Jersey Landscape Contractors Association published a document detailing a few helpful hints for landscape workers who work with wood chippers: 

The following are recommended safe chipper work practices to reduce “caught-in” and “struck-by” hazards:

• Designate one or more employees as a safety watch to be stationed near emergency shut-off devices while other employees feed material into the chipper.
• Stand to the side of the infeed chute when feeding material into the chipper. This reduces the “caught-in” hazard and allows quick access to emergency stop devices.
• Keep hands and feet out of the immediate infeed chute area while the chipper is running.
• Push material into feed rollers with a wooden tool or a long branch.
• Feed branches into the chipper butt-end first.
• Place shorter branches on top of longer branches being fed into the chipper.
• Place small debris into trash cans instead of feeding it into the chipper.
• Never stand, sit or climb onto any part of the chipper while it is running.
• Shut down the chipper and remove the ignition key when it is unattended.
• Before starting a chipper, ensure that the chipper’s disc hood is completely closed and latched, and that there are no foreign objects in the infeed area.
• Ensure that the discharge chute is positioned to prevent chips from hitting employees.
• Do not stand in front of the feed table when the chipper is running.
• Check material to be fed to ensure that it is free of metal and other foreign objects.
• Use proper locking pins to immobilize the disc cutting wheel when attempting to clear a clogged chipper chute or changing chipper blades.