Mexstan

Here is an amazing story that is in the news right now. I have trouble believing that he is still alive.



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.

Justwannabeme

wait......where's Bark!

NE frmhnd

The fact it took him in from 0 RPM probably saved him. With his body slugging it, it probably couldn't get up to speed quickly, either. If it had been at speed when it grabbed him, it would have been game over.

j_martin

What happened to the OSHA required lock out and tag procedure?

chaikwa

It probably wasn't a conventional chipper like we all envision, such as what a tree service would have. It was more likely a hammer mill type shredder. And what caused most of his injuries was most likely the feed rollers that bring material into the mill. Still nothing short of a miracle he survived it, but a conventional chipper has NO interior clearances that a person could survive.

patdaly

It wasn't a chipper as well, it was a descaler ( bark remover ).

Just flat amazing he is alive, gives me the chills just reading about it.

soulezoo

There's your answer Heidi!!

scuzman00

Anyone pay attention to this guy's last name????? I think he had his "Arce"
handed to him and he is lucky his arce survived...........



Sorry, I just could not pass that one up!!! lolol

Gary

Chrisreyn

Depending on how many employees they have , they may not call under OSHA, tho that's sure No reason to be that careless

Sorry folks, I can't be amazed at his survival, to busy being amazed at the stupidity involved in this whole mess and hoping the thing castrated him before he passes those genetics on

SIXSLUG

If they are a legitimate company, they fall under OSHA out here (no pun intended).

Lock out procedure should be common sense...

My friend's buddy went thru his mini mill a few years back and survived.

These two should get together, (pun intended)!!

Starting the Darwin's early this year......

Chrisreyn

is it too cliche to say " common sense is uncommon"??

Bark

Saw an interview with him. He seemed fairly intelligent. Just complacency on everybody's part. He said his co-workers’ training allowed him to receive care quickly. Of course these are the same co-workers who turned the machine on with him in it.

Trying not to laugh--serious subject.....mmmfftt

Hvytrkmech

I actually agree with this. Even if there is no OSHA requirement according to the original post he climbed into a drum size machine. I guess no company policy with regards to securing equipment prior to service.

In the end I think the story is bs. A human in a debarking machine or chipper doesn't stand a chance.

chaikwa

There are a few types of debarkers. One kind rolls the logs thru a basket style kinda thing that has spikes inside it. I could see someone making it thru that but I have no idea where the rollers that crushed his pelvis would be used. The roller debarkers don't use feed rollers.

SIXSLUG

I guess my buddy's friend that got caught in his mill shouldn't have made it either...he got himself out, crawled to his golf cart and made it to the sofa where his son found him...

Adjectives that come to mind are: dumb, stupid, brainless, tough, resilient, inhuman, ridiculous, amazing, expensive, dumb b-tard, etc.!!