Posted on 01/30/2014 2:01:02 PM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
Longview, Wash. (CBS SEATTLE) – A Longview man is recovering from serious injuries after he was trapped and sent through a shredding wood chipper machine at work.
Much of Frank Arce’s body has been shredded and crushed after he climbed into a turned-off wood chipper machine to retrieve an object stuck in the bark-shredding device – something practiced by him and his co-workers at the Swanson Bark and Wood Products Company, KATU reports. However, someone was not aware that Arce was inside the barrel-sized machine, and the spikes and claws inside the device were turned back on with him inside.
Arce heard the machine click back on, but he knew it was too late for him to escape.
“Actually going through the machine itself wasn’t the worst part about it,” he told KATU on Wednesday from his hospital bed at PeaceHealth SW Washington Medical Center. “What was the worst part (was) the not knowing what was going to happen.”
Arce’s injuries are severe, and he is expected to remain in the hospital for at least the next few weeks. Arce sustained a broken pelvis, seven broken ribs, a shattered ankle, bruised liver, broken leg, a collapsed lung and a deep cut that runs the entire length of the back of his body. The cut was so deep it crushed his knee, and he remains on a heavy dose of pain medication at the hospital.
He remained conscious throughout the ten-second shredding.
Arce has remained very positive about the incident, saying his co-workers’ training allowed him to receive care quickly, and he was even sharing jokes and smiling with friends and family at the hospital.
“There was a thought (that I was going to die) but it was more like something was telling me I wasn’t going to die that day,” he told KATU. “I felt I had a lot of angels out there with me that day – a lot of people looking out for me.”
The human resources representative for the Swanson Bark and Wood Products company said that the company will be paying 100 percent of his medical bills. And although the Washington State Bureau of Labor and Industries is investigating the incident, KATU found that both state and federal regulatory agencies have found no workplace problems with the company in the past.
I agree. Chipper = DOA.
Debarker set for large log = survive.
Goodness, what a horrible thing to endure! I often had nightmares as a child about being caught/pulled into various machines, and none could possibly be as terrifying as what this guy went through.
And I agree with many others - this company better take a long hard look at its lockout - tag out procedures.
About a decade ago, at The Anaheim Theme Park, at an overworked and understaffed attraction, The Columbia Sailing ship, had a red tag removed from a cleat that was loose, on the dock, due to rotted wood. A few hours later, in conjunction with a procedural error, in docking, the cleat (similar to an anvil) sprung loose, and fatally split a guest’s head open, in front of his family, and numerous other people. It only cost them about $25M to settle :(
Reminds me of the lens grinder who fell into his machine and made a specticle of himself.
I'm even worse - I complain when you go to the dentist, too!
It makes me wonder when i hear of things like this. A man crawls into the thing with no lock out on the starter or switch.
I know the feeling.
I worked in a shipyard building navy destroyers.
I was working on the aft gun auto loader.
I was working in the tube from the ammo loading compartment to the gun. Put a shell on the tray, push the button, and it’s loaded into the gun in a few seconds.
The welder/fitter was guarding the button to make sure no one pushed it sending the loading tray up.
Some clown came in the compartment grabbed the control buttons and started acting like he was going to push the button.
The welder/fitter went nuts and started fighting with the guy.
Had he pushed that button I would have been loaded into that gun just like a shell.
After that we made them shut down that entire section of the ship and made the safety crew place a guard outside the door to make sure no one else came in while we were working.
You ought to be around a tub grinder. Them things are always spitting crap out of them. About 300 feet away is about the only safe place..if not beyond.
Absolutely. Bears repeating: ABSOLUTELY.
Official Washington Redskin mascot.
I know that safety process well........
Back in the '90's, my plant experienced an awful death when an electrician climbed a ladder at the back of our press shop to work on a control box without locking out the overhead crane.
The press operator on the line attempting to move a pallet of steel didn't see the electrician on the wall and drove the crane into him, crushing and killing him........
I had a girlfriend who got her hair caught in a lathe. It nearly ripped her head off. She had her hair tied up, but it came lose.
She didn’t have an “Ohnosecond”, she had a “Ohnonanosecond”.
She said what happened after her hair got caught happened so fast it was beyond belief.
While I was studying up on tractor safety, I ran across material on wood chippers.
The death certificate from a wood chipper incident typically lists cause of death as "total body morselization".
I know when I work on things like that, and its mostly around mobile units, I pull the wire for the injection pump. That and the key. Then lock the clutch handle so they cant throw the thing in gear.
When I worked in sawmills, I would have the electrician pull the fuses, if there were any, and, or have him lock the panel with my lock on with his and stand there.
Lockout/Tagout is your friend.
BTTT
Can’t be said enough.
BTTT
Even with proper lock out-tag out, I would still refuse to climb into a wood chipper. I just couldn’t do it.
You gotta change the knives. And that means you gotta get into it.
Failure to do that, or remove a tag that wasn’t yours, was a firing offense where I used to work. I wonder if their insurance covers stupidity?
The employer is stuck with the financial cost (medical, loss of income) of the injury which will be paid by the workers compensation insurance company and in the following three years will pay an experience modification increase in wc premium for the cost of loss > medical, loss of income > probably about $300k or more.
I disagree. A machine such as an industrial wood chipper likely would have a means to padlock the power switch as well as being red-tagged. If the injured worker did not take these steps before climbing inside, he’s not very bright. With those protections taken, the only reason why another person would be guarding the switch is that it’s a union shop and they’re featherbedding.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.