ECN Forum Forums Safety Discussion and News Occupational Safety Discussion Guy gets caught in shredder

Here's the story guys:
(Please bear in mind that the link could go dead)
Here it is .
It's not pretty.

However, what do you think contributed to this accident?.
Lack of guards?.
Lack of attention?.
Your thoughts?.

A few things to keep in mind:

1) In packinghouses, there are machines that take a cow in one end, and grind hamburger out the other; and,

2) I have seen shreders, fed by cranes, that take in whole, full-size trees (A telephone pole is but a toothpick for these machines).

Quite simply, either machine will also tak in a person, and not even burp.


That said, I have also seen more than my fair share of "safety equipment" that was poorly designed, and seemed intended to prevent any work from getting done.
I have seen many work sites whose layout, lighting, and cleanliness were such as to interfere with safe work. Sometimes, this is something as simple as a lack of heat in the winter; winter clothing provides much more for machines to grab!

Mike, I clicked on the pic with some trepidation, but thank goodness, no nasty shock. The reporter might have phrased his copy a bit better. I thought his description of the multiple amputee's wife, holding his arm at his bedside, just plain tasteless.
Just the night before I'd watched a late-nite 'FBI File' on a killer who was executed for a series of truly evil murders in Texas. One victim's corpse had been put through a towable hired tree-shredder to dispose of the evidence, so a gigantic machine is not necessary to cause total disintegration of a person.
The FBI diligently collected all the bits as evidence from the surrounding acre or so of land and up in the trees, and identified the victim from dental records and DNA.

Alan

[This message has been edited by Alan Belson (edited 03-05-2006).]

Yeah Alan,
I saw the same episode on Discovery here.
Under the name of "Modern Detectives".
No need to be silly, a guy lost limbs in this disaster.
What annoys me the most is the fact that this will probably go un-punished.
The family will get (if they are lucky) NZ$10,000.
Accident Compensation Corporation here puts $20,000 on your life.
Most of that is usually soaked up by lawyers.
It's sad, us Fire-Fighters are starting a fund for him and his family.
The bills don't stop because you have an accident at work.

We are raising money, we have had a whip round amongst the Mid Canterbury FF's and got $3500.
I'll head down in the weekend and see what I can (ahem) get out of the Career crews in Washdyke and Timaru, they've got plenty of gorse.
I'll draw the line at going to Waimate though, no money there, and for God sakes I won't be wearing wool.