Current Events > Pennsylvania company fined after 17yr old employee killed by woodchipper

(+) Yeah! (+)

On a Tuesday afternoon in the summer of August 2022, federal workplace safety inspectors responded to a police report that a 17-year-old worker had suffered fatal injuries after being pulled into a woodchipper at a work site near Allentown.A U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigation determined that the teens employer a Lehigh Valley tree service company owned and operated by Adam Atiyeh could have prevented the incident by following required federal safety standards.
OSHA learned that the young worker was partially pulled into a woodchipper as he fed entangled material into the machine on Aug. 9, 2022, at a Schnecksville site and later died from his injuries. Investigators were told the company had allowed three minor-aged workers to operate the woodchipper, a hazardous occupation forbidden by federal child labor laws.
Agency investigators found the employer, which operates as both Adams Tree Service and Adams Tree Removal and Trimming, failed to:

• Provide and make sure employees used personal protective equipment including safety shoes, safety glasses, gloves and hard hats.
• Train workers to safely operate a woodchipper.
• Have personnel at the work site with first aid training.
• Maintain portable fire extinguishers at the work site.

The agency issued the company and Atiyeh citations for 10 serious safety violations and proposed total penalties of $124,987.
The dangers of tree-trimming and operating a woodchipper are obvious and widely known, and yet this employer exposed a teenager to deadly risks. Now his family, friends and co-workers are left to mourn, said OSHA Area Office Director Jean Kulp in Allentown. The willingness of this company and its owner Adam Atiyeh to expose workers without proper safety equipment and training to such hazardous work is hard to understand. Employing minors to do this work is unconscionable.
OSHA has referred the alleged child labor violations to the departments Wage and Hour Division for further investigation.
Based in Schnecksville, Atiyeh and his company provide services for property owners in Bethlehem, Schnecksville and throughout Lehigh County.
The employer has 15 business days from receipt of citation and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHAs area director, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

https://www.osha.gov/news/newsreleases/region3/02132023

Don't worry, after the GOP gets their way they won't get fined when underage workers get killed.

Its insane the manager and owner aren't on manslaughter/negligent homicide charges.

We need

-Criminal charges for physical harm caused by illegal or negligent policies/orders, death, wage theft, union busting, serious or repeated safety violations.
-Higher fines. Both fixed AND ones that scale with revenue AND profit.
-Shareholders that vote to enact illegal policies face the same charges as well and large shareholders at the time of the crime also must personally pay lesser fines when the company itself does.
-Failing to pay the fines within 1 year results in the company being seized. Personal assets of CEOS or majority shareholdets are seized if payments are incomplete or ignored
-Automatic reperations to victims/families if criminal cases succeed.

Only a fine and no jail time?

UnlikedMonkey posted...

The agency issued the company and Atiyeh citations for 10 serious safety violations and proposed total penalties of $124,987.

A minor dying and you only have to pay 125k? Seems cheap. I wonder how the family would feel if the company told them their son was worth 125k.

It sounds like the perfect crime to murder somebody is to just do it at their work

RIPes

America is messed up, we still suffer a lot of labor rights violations across many industries

UnlikedMonkey posted...

and proposed total penalties of $124,987.

probably make more than that in profit in a month

badjay posted...

A minor dying and you only have to pay 125k? Seems cheap. I wonder how the family would feel if the company told them their son was worth 125k.

Hopefully hopefully this is just a fine from OSHA and the family can sue personally.

These OSHA laws always seemed inconsistent to me. I had my deck hand license when I was 16 and did more dangerous work on a commercial trawler than stuffing branches into a wood chipper.

"Provide and make sure employees used personal protective equipment including safety shoes, safety glasses, gloves and hard hats."

He got pulled into a wood chipper, it's just too bad he didn't have his safety goggles on?

I mean, realistically, would anything OSHA cited them for have prevented this? I don't see how a hard hat, goggles, first aid training, or a fire extinguisher would have helped. He fell into a fucking wood chipper. Wood chippers take in logs and spit out nothing but saw dust. What were any of those safety measures going to do?

FAQ-Checker posted...

He got pulled into a wood chipper, it's just too bad he didn't have his safety goggles on?

I mean, realistically, would anything OSHA cited them for have prevented this? I don't see how a hard hat, goggles, first aid training, or a fire extinguisher would have helped. He fell into a fucking wood chipper. Wood chippers take in logs and spit out nothing but saw dust. What were any of those safety measures going to do?

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/9/5/4/AAfZi4AAELkS.jpg

Eh gloves shoes or the hat might buy a second by going in first. You might be able to pull free before it finishes chewing through.

They also help protect from possible sharpnel.

I mean, you seem to gloss over the obvious point that could have made a difference. That is failure to train workers on how to safely use a wood chipper. Not to mention its illegal for minors to operate the woodchipper in the first place.

A_Good_Boy posted...

Only a fine and no jail time?

And only a paltry $124K fine too

They need to outfit all wood chippers with some kind of kill switch RFID bracelets or something.

If it passes a point inside the chipper it just E stops the thing

Etna posted...

They need to outfit all wood chippers with some kind of kill switch RFID bracelets or something.

If it passes a point inside the chipper it just E stops the thing

Sawstop wood chippers maybe? Imagine buying a whole new chipper though because the saw stop triggered and demolished all the saws.

Unsuprised_Pika posted...

Eh gloves shoes or the hat might buy a second by going in first. You might be able to pull free before it finishes chewing through.

Highly disputed. Once it's got you, it's over.

__starsnostars posted...

That is failure to train workers on how to safely use a wood chipper.

How was he using it incorrectly? The article doesn't mention that. I just saw a freak accident on Reddit where a sewer worker died by being sucked in a pipe by vacuum pressure. I'm assuming he was well trained, but accidents happen. So my question would be, did this kid do something wrong or was it just an accident?

I say that because I don't believe 17 year olds using wood chippers is that uncommon. Around here, some of the youngest workers start out in lawn care. My friend's first business out of high school was a lawn care business. And don't get me started on the high school kids who picked tobacco over summer break or the wood shop kids who built houses for the poor during school hours and did roofing with no tie offs.

badjay posted...

Sawstop wood chippers maybe? Imagine buying a whole new chipper though because the saw stop triggered and demolished all the saws.

Better to buy a new chipper than to buy a new person.

A_Good_Boy posted...

Better to buy a new chipper than to buy a new person.

I don't understand the magic of sawstop or why it won't cut a hotdog or how it knows it's a hotdog. But I'm assuming the magic doesn't work for wood chippers?

UnlikedMonkey posted...

On a Tuesday afternoon in the summer of August 2022, federal workplace safety inspectors responded to a police report that a 17-year-old worker had suffered fatal injuries after being pulled into a woodchipper at a work site near Allentown.A U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigation determined that the teens employer a Lehigh Valley tree service company owned and operated by Adam Atiyeh could have prevented the incident by following required federal safety standards.
OSHA learned that the young worker was partially pulled into a woodchipper as he fed entangled material into the machine on Aug. 9, 2022, at a Schnecksville site and later died from his injuries. Investigators were told the company had allowed three minor-aged workers to operate the woodchipper, a hazardous occupation forbidden by federal child labor laws.
Agency investigators found the employer, which operates as both Adams Tree Service and Adams Tree Removal and Trimming, failed to:
* Provide and make sure employees used personal protective equipment including safety shoes, safety glasses, gloves and hard hats.
* Train workers to safely operate a woodchipper.
* Have personnel at the work site with first aid training.
* Maintain portable fire extinguishers at the work site.
The agency issued the company and Atiyeh citations for 10 serious safety violations and proposed total penalties of $124,987.
The dangers of tree-trimming and operating a woodchipper are obvious and widely known, and yet this employer exposed a teenager to deadly risks. Now his family, friends and co-workers are left to mourn, said OSHA Area Office Director Jean Kulp in Allentown. The willingness of this company and its owner Adam Atiyeh to expose workers without proper safety equipment and training to such hazardous work is hard to understand. Employing minors to do this work is unconscionable.
OSHA has referred the alleged child labor violations to the departments Wage and Hour Division for further investigation.
Based in Schnecksville, Atiyeh and his company provide services for property owners in Bethlehem, Schnecksville and throughout Lehigh County.
The employer has 15 business days from receipt of citation and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHAs area director, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

https://www.osha.gov/news/newsreleases/region3/02132023

$124,987

That's how much you can kill someone for huh

badjay posted...

Sawstop wood chippers maybe? Imagine buying a whole new chipper though because the saw stop triggered and demolished all the saws.

Honestly, with the way wood chippers work, I'd just be something like a car brake. It's basically a few hundred pound disk with heavy duty blades that spins and slices up the wood.

It's more like a meat slicer than a saw and it's hooked up to a car engine

badjay posted...

Sawstop wood chippers maybe? Imagine buying a whole new chipper though because the saw stop triggered and demolished all the saws.

Something like that.

It would have to be something that could retrofit current chippers. A module that cuts all power to the engine like a normal Estop, and engages a brake to the feeding part of the chipper to minimize any damage. The "barrier" that kills the engine wouldnt be right at the feeder. Maybe 8 or so inches out. And if your bracelet passes this zone (have it clearly painted on the inside so you know where it is), it engages this system.
For newer, high end machines, you could have something like a sawstop where it would kill the power and spring open the feeder to release anything from the inside.

Im sure something like this exists out there.

Mibahlzitch posted...

$124,987

That's how much you can kill someone for huh

A CHILD no less

FYI

What triggers a SawStop?

The blade carries a small electrical signal. When skin contacts the blade, the signal changes because the human body is conductive. The change to the signal activates the safety system.

A_Good_Boy posted...

Better to buy a new chipper than to buy a new person.

You insane? It's cheaper to buy a new person, right here it's just 125k. So much cheaper than a new chipper.

VampireCoyote posted...

RIPes

Wow. So funny.

These companies acting like 3rd world shit.

WingsOfGood posted...

probably make more than that in profit in a month

Thats insane. I got 190k for a work car accident. They took a minors life and paid way less. Jfc

FAQ-Checker posted...

He got pulled into a wood chipper, it's just too bad he didn't have his safety goggles on?

I mean, realistically, would anything OSHA cited them for have prevented this? I don't see how a hard hat, goggles, first aid training, or a fire extinguisher would have helped. He fell into a fucking wood chipper. Wood chippers take in logs and spit out nothing but saw dust. What were any of those safety measures going to do?

I'm familiar with the specific rules that lead to citations, but I'd say yes - a citation for employees not practicing safety measures (distance from equipment, only carrying one item at a time, etc) might have prevented this. I agree the citations around safety equipment may not have a large correlation with the accident though..