I worked for a tree company as a teen and had an incident that I'll never forget. While feeding a chipper a large limb grabbed my belt loop and started to drag me towards the feed chute. Of course the owner had bypassed the safety-bar long ago. Thank goodness it snapped the belt loop before chewing me up. I quit on the spot and never did that kind of work again.
ChopFooey
I've been in trees for 25 years (ie: complacent) . This early winter I took off my coat exposing my bib suspenders.. Carheat don't break away. My ground guy may have saved my life. It happens fast. He stopped the chipper and even with nothing moving it took me a few moments to get freed. If I was alone, this comment would not exist.. keep up the message Bino!
treeassassin
I was in the rental equipment industry for many decades and chippers were part of our inventory. The rules were simple. Whoever was running the machine had to come to our store and I would spend as much time as I felt they needed to be safe with the machine. And it was always me doing the demo’s …If they interrupted me or pulled the ‘ man.. i know it works..I don’t need a gd lesson’. My response was ‘ Heres your money back..go elsewhere’ Most people appreciated my dedication to safety. Had a lady call who wanted to reserve one and I would always ask..’who is going to be the operator’ Her brother was driving in late but he was the one but he want have time to come by there. ‘ you can show me and I’ll show him’. Nope. Not how it works..I was great at customer service but where Chippers come in you will listen to me or ‘get lost’. Anything less gets people killed or maimed.. Amazing how many terrible situations happen each year with these things. All avoidable!
shawncosmos
I was working for a tree cutting company when a younger dude got pulled into a chipper and died on his first day. It wasn't the company I worked for, but we talked about it a lot. When I first started I used to run the chipper and I would wear a button up shirt with it unbuttoned and sometimes branches would catch my shirt and start pulling me. I learned real quick not to wear loose fitting clothes.
azdrifter
The clip you showed at the very beginning of the california arborists demo of feeding a line into a chipper is exactly what happened in an incident I investigated when I worked for OSHA. A crew was feeding a chipper after topping a bunch of trees. It was mid november and snowing (Alaska). The crew had played out the winch line to haul some larger pieces closer but the winch was siezed so they just tossed the line off to the side. When their newest crew member went to feed a piece into the chipper, the winch line somehow got entangled in the branches and fed through the rollers. That same worker happened to be standing in a bight of the braided nylon line when the line hit the chipping drum. The line spooled around the drum so quickly that it amputated the worker's leg just below the knee with enough force to send the limb a good 5 feet up an embankment next to him. The orthopedic surgeon said the cut was so clean it looked like it had been done surgically.
PRC
I just bought an older chuck and duck chipper. No safety features on any kind. This video has opened my eyes. Thank you!
thebestofbelltowneasthampt
When I first started tree work, we were working a job one day where we were having to open the feed wheel and push logs in. Being a young hard-on I was throwing (not sliding) the logs in, while another guy held the feed wheel lever open. The log actually shot back out like a missile. Thank God no one was standing in the way. Great vid brother, keeps up the awareness. I shared it with my ground man.
AwsomePossum
Thanks for putting together this video. In our industry a lot of times After using our equipment day in day out we lose respect for the power it has and get negligent videos like this Are there to humble us and remind us to keep on our toes with our equipment.
rstreeservicellc
Our policy is the chipper never runs when the climber is in the tree.
awheel
Thanks for your video always an important thing to remember how dangerous equipment can be. My Grandpa was killed 8 minutes before quitting time after putting in for retirement. At the Quesnel BC sawmill. Long time later a machinist came forward and said they were paid to make something on the chipper that day and installed it. He said he knew it was illegal according to worksafe BC. Apparently it made it so there was no safety or hopper infront of the chipper. The mill of course denied everything though. But my grandpa went through the chipper being pulled by his coat. So important to be aware of safety
calebandres
Had an accident working a chipper last year. Only smashed my thumb and lost the tip of it but even that was eye opening. I still do tree work and plan to for a long time, so your videos are great ! Thanks Bino 😎
gus
I am a bricklayer over in England, I have never used a chipper, but I considered hiring one on a recent job, after watching your informative video I am glad I got in a chipping company to clean the bushes. I knew they were dangerous, but that rope scene pulling the dummy was scary shit.
chrisbow
Yeah, I can relate...back in '93, maybe '94 I was climbing for a reputable tree service in St. Louis Missouri...and their moto was "The finest in Tree Care" ...Hell! ... Hadn't been there for a while week and one of their 10 year veterans had the insane idea to back a whisper chipper less than 20 ft. away from the tree trunk...I told him that doesn't look too safe to me!... He said, aww! it'll be awite!!...ten minutes into operations my climbing rope jerks my right leg & spike out of the tree and bruised my right thigh muscle ...I looked it back and motioned me for him to shut down the chipper...he did so and asked, " What's wrong?"...Now I was climbing with a standard 120 ft. safety rope and 60 ft. of it got sent through the chipper... they had the audacity to inquire about coming in on Saturday for a little overtime...I said, " No thanks!" The finest in Tree Care just became the furthest from Tree Care!...seen the writing on the wall the next day when they held their first recorded "Safety Tailgate meeting...idk...idk
duanereising
I own a decent domestic chipper and that thing always intimidates me when in use. Absolute alertness and respect needed when using these machines as they are no joke. Always prepare your branches beforr hand and never stand behind the feed hopper. Great video 😊
kahuna
Broke my nose this past summer from my chipper. Respect these monster machines . Vines in my opinion are the worst … good video man.
elizabethreed
I've been in the industry for thirty years and have seen a lot. I've seen felling accidents, chainsaw accidents, climbing accidents, rigging accidents and everything else. We used to run the chuck and duck all day long and the whole time I would be filled with fear. You had to be hyper vigilant and it was always an unpleasant experience. One time, a groundie fed a hammer into a chipper and the sound it made was like hell unleashed on Earth. Another ground guy fed a steel shovel through a chipper and it must have been heard for miles. Years ago here in Denver a poor soul got sucked into a chipper and the coroner stated it was "complete morselization". Be safe out there.
lastincarnate
Years ago i worked as a groundsman for my dads friends tree company. I was brand new and i followed the rules set by my boss. One day i went to feed a spar into the chipper and the next moment i was yanked backward by the collar by my boss like a ragdoll. (Hes a pretty big guy). I got up and was pissed about it, then he explained how the spar had a branch that hooked behind me and he saw it coming. I was quite a bit wiser after that and a bit shaken by the thought of what could have happened.
Wood chippers scare the shit out of me.
werewally
You comments are worth a lot more than two cents, don't sell yourself short, that was excellent education value.
paulgraham
Excellent description of just how serious these machines are. I've been guilty of getting too comfortable around them, pushing brush in by hand, just inches away from the feed wheels. As horrible as it is, we need to see videos like this to keep us aware of the gruesome capabilities of chippers, no matter what type. Makes me shudder to think about.
ianmoone
Worthwhile vid, thanks for posting.
I'm an ecologist, but I work with tree gangs (and run saws myself) and have done for over 30 years. Most of our chippers over here in the UK are blades mounted on a vertical spinning flywheel with horizontal feed rollers in the throat of the feed chute. There is an emergency stop bar that runs around the bottom and vertical sides of the feed chute outboard of the edge of the chute. It sometimes trips when a branch hangs out the side of the chute. There are separate controls on the body that stop, change the feed roller direction or start it again when the emergency bar has been tripped. Good system, but I have an active imagination.
When I'm on site feeding a chipper, the first thing I do is cut some pushers. Small diameter straight branches, often with a small fork at the far end and about 5-6' long. If small stuff won't feed in or a chunk won't feed, the pusher pushes it against the feed rollers until they grab on. I shout at people when they reach a hand into the feed chute. I really shout when the some dozy f*ck deliberately chips the pushers.... The pushers are sacrificial. If one gets grabbed, cut another. End of the day, the pushers get chipped. Simple. Paranoid? I've never seen a chipper accident when I've been on site. Yet. Touch wood.
If I'm working as a groundy for a climber and there are just the two of us, one of my jobs is to make absolutely sure that his/her ropes are clear of cut material and coiled at the base of the tree at all times.
