A story out of Washington State last week reminds us that life is precious, miracles do happen, and lock out tag out was invented for a reason. A man who had climbed inside a commercial wood chipper to clear a blockage was pulled through the machine when a co-worker turned it back on – and he survived.
Frank Arce, of Longview, WA is an employee of Swanson Bark and Wood Products. He remained conscious during the accident and remembers the entire 10 second journey through the machine. He sustained serious injuries, with his body being described as “shredded and crushed”. He has a broken pelvis, seven broken ribs, a shattered ankle, bruised liver, broken leg, a collapsed lung, crushed knee and a deep cut that “runs the entire length of the back of his body”.
The co-worker who turned the machine on did not know Arce was inside.
What an agonizing 10 seconds that had to be. I suspect the event, while most tragic for Arce, was a devastating one for all involved. With the flick of a switch, the lives of many people likely changed forever; all for the lack of a simple safety procedure. It was mentioned that Arce was doing something “routinely practiced” by he and his co-workers. You will find no better example to demonstrate that familiarity breeds contempt, and Arce and his fellow employees had 10 torturous seconds to learn that lesson.
The source article that brought me this story was another example of writing by a reporter who is clueless about workers’ comp. They take special care to point out that a human resources representative of the company said they “will be paying 100 percent of his medical bills”. Darn nice of them I would say. With Washington’s L&I investigating, I suspect they will be paying more than that.
The thing that most impressed me about this story was the apparent positive attitude of the man who has literally been through the shredder. He reportedly has been joking in the hospital and credits his co-workers' training for his survival, which he says allowed him to receive care quickly. He told television station KATU, “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. I felt I had a lot of angels out there with me that day – a lot of people looking out for me.”
Something was certainly looking out for him, I would agree. It is a remarkable tale of survival, but he is not finished yet. He has entered the realm of workers’ compensation, a system that has grown so complex and process-centric that the comparison might be considered ironic. Many people, from injured workers to professionals trying to maintain compliance with the myriad requirements and mandates the industry carries, feel today that workers’ comp has become a virtual shredder not always pursuing the best interests of those it was created to serve. That makes another comment he made to KATU all the more ironic. He said, “Actually going through the machine itself wasn't the worst part about it. What was the worst part (was) the not knowing what was going to happen.”
Indeed. Let us hope those first 10 seconds in the shredder turn out to be the worst part of the process.