Incident at Dealer Site

When Jeremy and I went out to Beisser Lumber, we experienced a near-miss incident while out in the warehouse so I thought it would be good to share it with all of you.  

Towards the end of cutting a batch on the Hundegger saw, one end of a 26’ TJI got caught in the gripper.  The unsupported end swung down and crashed into the platform hosting the computer and saw operator.  I was standing next to the platform viewing the monitor to determine if it was properly refreshing as each piece went through the saw.  The associate handling the outfeed was paying attention but he was also in the process of loading the previous TJI onto the cart. He was able to call out to warn me prior to the TJI making contact, as I was standing exactly where contact would be made.  The TJI hit the platform hard enough to shift it several inches over plus it cut through the cord of the industrial-sized fan which then blew the fuse of the breaker.  Immediately following, the fan was unplugged from the socket and the plug cut off to ensure no further use.  

Several observations/solutions stemmed from this incident.

1. There was a delay on the plunger/gripper in comparison to the rollers supporting the majority of the TJI.
2. Upon further inspection, it looked as though the plunger had been hand-welded on at some point in the past and was not necessarily connected properly.
3. Not enough barriers were installed at the front end of the outfeed station – to either catch the front end of the TJIs or protect the platform from impact.

Beisser has since informed us that the plunger is now completely detached.  Hundegger came out to inspect and new parts are being ordered.  They are also considering additional protection barriers.

Additional observations that we made have to do with Beisser’s safety requirements being much laxer than Weyerhaeuser’s.  While Jeremy and I were outfitted in full PPE, Beisser employees were not.  The saw operator wore shorts, a t-shirt, and sneakers – no gloves or glasses were worn despite constant handling of wood product.  There also seemed to be no protocols in place for when visitors were on site – they had no method of tracking who was in the warehouse and when.  It was easy enough to see across the warehouse but that is certain to change once they move more of their inventory to that building.