A chipper operator died October 18, 2021, in West Bloomfield, Michigan, reportedly after a gauntlet-style glove or the jacket he was wearing snagged on a branch and he was pulled partway into the machine.
The man, 48, was part of a crew working at a private residence, but nobody witnessed the incident. Police were called after one of the man’s co-workers found him in the chipper intake.
Emergency services rushed to the scene and were able to perform first aid on the man – who was still conscious – but the man died on the way to the hospital, according to a mlive.com report.
While a published mlive.com report said the man’s jacket caught on a branch, a report directly to TCIA staff by someone familiar with details of the incident said it was the man’s glove that snagged the branch, and that the man was pulled far enough into the chute to cause a serious head injury.
A Wood Chipper Safety Shield could have prevented this mans untimely death. A chipper equipped with a Safety Shield stops the feed rollers long before a person gets close to them. Simple to use and not that expensive. Works on chippers with Hydraulic feed rollers. Vermeer, Bandit, Morbark, Carlton, Salsco, and others.