Incident Investigation: Potato Harvester Amputates Farm Worker's Forearm | WorkSafeBC

[@worksafebc]

Are you ensuring safe work procedures on your farm? Learn about working safely with potato harvesters in B.C.: www.worksafebc.com/en/health-safety/tools-machinery-equipment/potato-harvesters

[@alquinn8576]

that whole machine looks like a medieval torture device

[@samsngdevice5103]

I was trying to find the words..... Thanks.

[@NoName-gn4rn]

@@samsngdevice5103 no, you lied samsng.

[@NoName-gn4rn]

You just try to type the word incoreectly

[@davidbailey2921]

Am surprised one of these wasnt used in a saw film years ago

[@Lsthnbrd]

Moral of the story: If your parents name you Worker 1, you’re in trouble

[@UraniumFever3]

lol

[@variable7833]

Lmao this comment is funny as hell

[@woodsplitter3274]

That's terrible. Funny, though.

[@ThePizzaGoblin]

Same way if you're named "crewman number six."

[@jtveg]

One look at that machine tells you that there isn't merely a potential for accidents but that they were ultimately inevitable. Virtually every moving part is exposed, gears, sprockets, chains, belts and shafts. Any loose clothing, lapse in concentration or even losing your balance and reaching for something to prevent a fall will more than likely cause a similar accident.

[@michaelmccarthy4615]

That old machine wasn’t up to new world reality

[@jasontuck-smith3896]

Poor lady having to wait 1.5hrs before she got to hospital :(. Hopes she's doing okay.

[@sfsmrspacepizza2737]

I’m sure that won’t happen to me on Farming simulator

[@UKMike2009]

I used to work in the machine guarding industry in the UK. Hopefully lessons have been learned from this incident, but sadly not everyone takes action to prevent things like this happening.

[@RideAcrossTheRiver]

A friend told me about a farmer who saw a wisp of hay caught near a tractor's pulley, spinning, with a drivebelt on it. That farmer reached to remove the strand of hay and lost a forearm. Don't.

[@BushCampingTools]

No no no! I worked as a safety officer for almost ten years, that farm equipment shown here could never meet safety standards in any country.

[@Atom_gun]

Yes it’s good for some countries

[@noturkill9879]

Lol. This is old school equipment that's probably 100 or so years old. Safety regulations didn't exist at the time.

[@mercoid]

Just because the farmer/machine owner tells WorkSafe BC investigators, “I didn’t know” as answers to their questions, doesn’t mean he didn’t know the machine is a death trap and the procedures he dictated to workers weren’t dangerous AF.

[@pathosfear6290]

You dont need any training to spot the dangers of that darn thing, so ofc they knew, they just didn't want the extra costs to make it safe, or god forbid, buy modern equipment. Im not saying they are cartoons villains, they likely hoped nothing would happen, its not as if they thought of their workers as expendable or nothing.... but the effect is the same.

[@BushCampingTools]

it's the same thing in Australia, most industrial accidents are farm equipment related.

[@toomanymarys7355]

Most in the US are fishing related, by percentage of workers injured.

[@manuelbonilla546]

No stop switch next to the employees, no passive stop bars, no training/ guards/ safety barriers, that sure was an expensive potato.

[@debaronAZK]

I wonder if the potato was salvaged. imagine eating a potato that cost someone an arm

[@jcbbb]

....It's being pulled by a tractor genius and by the way... how do you let an outer glove suck your body into something when you can pull them off with your teeth?

[@jennyjohn704]

@@jcbbb "how do you let an outer glove suck your body into something when you can pull them off with your teeth?" Are you really that stupid? Her arm was pulled into the machinery. How was sticking her head in there supposed to help?

[@welcometothemonkeyapezone7797]

I've worked on a machine like this for Garlic bulbs except it was being pulled at like 10kmph by a tractor. Right next to and driving parallel to the harvester that I was balancing on while using both hands to sort was another tractor only a few cm away with wheels at least 6' in diameter, I was around 2' off the ground. A slip or fall in either direction and I'd have been well seasoned ground beef.

[@TheMattc999]

@40 seconds- that's the problem right there- you NEVER want to be worker one....NEVER.

[@maestrovso]

Whenever I know in advance there will be an accident, I am the worker-absent.

[@jobro6779]

All of the above contributed to the accident. As workers, we need to think and plan ahead. I tell myself a machine may be designed to harvest a certain crop but it prefers human flesh. Know where not to put your hands. Stay in control. I've seen too many farmers missing hands and arms.

[@Wayoutthere]

Good videos, great informative channel.

[@nohandleforme....]

Most of the safety issues on that machine seem like common sense to me. The farmer should have known a serious accident was inevitable.

[@nokithecat]

This negligence is appalling in industry! Totally avoidable serious injuries devastate the victim for life. Disgustingly poor excuses for clearly obvious dangers never void responsibility. These companies and foreman need to be held accountable. Its so clearly obvious this equipment is a violation of safety with no guards and open hazards. I personally have seen all to often serious safety violations take a back seat to production. This must stop!!!

[@toomanymarys7355]

You mean the small farmer???? The potato equipment was probably 50 plus years old.

[@teslainvestah5003]

Learning not to grab a runaway object is very difficult. I put books on a conveyor belt. If I accidentally put it on upside down, it will fail to scan and show up in a reject chute later. It doesn't happen often, but when it does, I try to chase the book and grab it but always fail. I'm supposed to press the stop button. It's 2 feet from my head. I can't learn to press the stop button. I've been trying for months. It's so natural to try to take back a mistake by physically reversing the action. Grabbing what you just dropped. But if you're dropping something into a moving machine, it never works the way you intended.

[@bobsinger7127]

Damn Canada is scary y’all

[@HarryHafsak]

The backwards glove animation is money

[@JohnDoe-oo9ll]

ONE AND A HALF HOURS. I am amazed she is alive.

[@novistion]

1 Potato > 1 Arm

[@makingtechsense126]

Just because a machine still functions and does a job doesn't mean it should be used. I don't blame the worker as they were likely a minority, migrant worker that was poorly educated and were working hard in unsatisfactory conditions. I do have to say that as a modern society we have become quite dumb when it comes to respecting dangerous machines and hazardous situations.

[@rzmonk76]

Doesn't apply directly to me but the verbiage can be used for general safety lessons.

[@lindsaytruscott3002]

I like that background music

[@esteemedmortal5917]

Music to this was a little too jaunty for a video including the word ‘amputated’

[@deadmanwalkin_0422]

I'm no expert, but should the belt have been hanging that low?

[@gregatkinson7276]

Losing the forearm is bad enough but at least she did not lose the hand on the same arm...

[@tubester4567]

That machine is a death trap and should have been guarded. Its even more dangerous how the machine is constantly moving, and the ground is not flat. Everybody knows you cant have unguarded sprockets and chains even in a stationary environment. The farmer was negligent.

[@John-yy1oy]

"The injury would result in the amputation of her forearm." Good thing it was just the forearm and not her hand too.

[@02Tony]

A very late reply it means amputation from the forearm down including the hand. They do not say forearm and hand amputation as it is unnecessary wording.

[@debaronAZK]

@@02Tony r/whoosh

[@jmoa5758]

@@02Tony lol I think Johnjohn was being sarcastic

[@jesusmylordsaviorking3726]

impossible to lose your forarm and still have a hand attached.

[@jennyjohn704]

@@jmoa5758 I think JohnJohn is not very good at sarcasm.

[@mrmofo36]

upbeat music

[@tedcrilly46]

But she got the dropped potato, right?

[@glenblackbourn2224]

Don't stick your tongue in a fan or fork in an outlet or toaster. In short don't stick any body part in machinery

[@ElTurbinado]

I can’t wait until you get you lose a finger on a table saw or something some day.

[@researchandbuild1751]

Every single video so far has shown just how many things are done the dumbest way possible

[@theaxsys21]

Moral of the story dont be worker 1

[@ocaprocha]

Excellent!!!

[@Happy357mag]

This is why you don't wear 2 pairs of loose fitting gloves. It sucks she had to find that out the hard way.

[@justinandsheba]

Oh hell no.

[@SandyCrinklesack]

lesson: dont wear gloves!! they always cause more injuries than they prevent!!

[@Cubesnice]

The machine realy doesent look very safe

[@rampage3337]

it is if you treat it right

[@iaincowell9747]

The pot calling the kettle black. Funny that your spelling and punctuation tell me that you shouldn't be near any moving machinery either, unless it's the back of the school bus.

[@watchgoose]

so the machine didn't amputate, it was done at hospital.

[@samueltaylor4989]

Well..... did she save the potato?!!!!

[@southwestxnorthwest]

The music is nice and uplifting; kinda makes me want to go amputate my arm

[@justanobody1726]

my father lost his ringfinger in one of those

[@thejasonknightfiascoband5099]

What can I say🤷‍♂️ I hope the person was compensated handsomely.

[@klousy58]

Lack of common sense is the reason worker 1 lost her arm. Sadly too many people lack common sense these days

[@paulbroderick8438]

Some idiot supervisors allow removal of safety guards on machinery to allow the work to be done more 'efficiently' and meet production figures for the front office. Jail time needed!

[@bend1119]

That little piece of junk was clearly used on a small family farm. Most likely the few guards that old machine had were damaged or removed for maintainance and never replaced. He is liable, but you need to prove intent to be criminal

[@welcometothemonkeyapezone7797]

yum yum potates

[@boardingpass04]

I grew up running stuff like this on a farm, never stick your hands were they shouldn't be and you will be fine some people just don't have the common sense

[@rampage3337]

yeah some of these videos are made by retarded people who dont know how real work works. just use common sense and dont stick your damn hand in where it dont belong

[@Duvmasta]

boardingpass04 i know right

[@samesamel]

some amputate says that also in the hospital

[@milesedgeworth132]

You grew up on the farm. A lot of people who work on farms didn't, and its up to whoever owns the farm to educate them. Common sense doesn't apply to old machinery that looks like it was made to separate meat from bones.

[@afa78djd]

All to try and save a fallen potato? Very smart lady, damn.

[@maestrovso]

Like the Marine, the farm leaves no potato behind.

[@orlandojohnson5742]

Poor lady?! Guards should be in place & training!!! If a potato is caught here.... let it go!!!! Do not reach in this area!? Simple as that ?!!!

[@dsandoval9396]

Although I agree with her not using common sense that machine should have had chain guards/covers and E-stops at a few places. Farm ground is uneven and even if this perticular incident didn't happen who's to say a worker wouldn't have fallen, tripped, or lost their balance on that uneven ground and in the process gotten their hand, sleeve, hair, or any other part of their clothing caught in gears/chains. I remember seeing a video of some kid/young man working at a factory where they roll up spools of wire/cable. A loose part of his pants or his belt got caught in the spooling machine in front of him (the actual spool or the cable going into the spool) and it had so much force/torque (going about as fast as a dryer) it pulled him around the spool so we was rolled along with the cable. The machine looked almost like a rotisserie in that the spool was about 3 - 3 1/2 feet off the ground and only the bar going through the center, not much more around it. That machine grabbed him and started to swing him in circles and the first two or three times he made a full revolution it slammed him on the ground but he was still conscious, as he wasn't able to free himself and no one could find the fucking OFF button he lost consciousness from smacking the ground, every time he hit the ground more and more blood started to stain the hard concrete floor. By the time they finally did stop the machine his body was nothing but a smashed lump of oozing blood and broken bones. The ground underneath the spool looked like the area around a tire that's been stuck in the mud and there's mud sprays in a circular pattern only this was a big puddle of blood. If they had a E-stop it might not have happened. But we'll, production over safety.

[@colonbianoalaorden4123]

he save the potato

[@cancel1913]

You need training to recognize those hazards?! You gotta be kidding me. SMH

[@MIKEDUZZI420]

To us farmers who were born and raised on the farm we just know things like fuck that 1 potato rolling around in that dangerous part of the machine. I really do hate to see anyone get hurt especially city folk when they come to work on the farm/ranch. Hydraulics and PTO powered equipment is extremely dangerous. You only get 1 chance and once it's got a hold of you it's already too late. With anything rotating like gears and chains or conveyor belts are best worked on with out gloves and mosttimes the manuals even tell you this. Gloves, long hair, rings, watches, loose fitting, long sleeves.... I have personally witnessed people getting fucked up because of wearing each of these. After seeing my buddy have his ring finger torn off his hand with a tendon from his forearm on it I tattooed my wife's name on that finger instead. All he done was jump out of the back of his jacked up pickup and it caught juded the inside of the bed and ripped it out.

[@comcfi]

Was the worker held responsible for the damage to the harvester

[@hereallyfast]

Worker. Freaking. One

[@el_pato_fino]

A mí no gusta el pitou

[@jcbbb]

So an outer layer of gloves that were too big were on tight enough to suck your hand in? I find that hard to believe

[@lsf7591]

Lucky she only lost a forearm...she could've lost her hand, her wrist, and all her fingers too. I think they can stitch up a forearm?

[@spuriusscapula4829]

Huh?

[@NicholasLittlejohn]

I hope they get sued.

[@CowSaysMooMoo]

Who? The potatoes? They got French Fried....

[@camjones3723]

The woman was too weak to pull her hand out , only problem here