Annual plea: Don’t use hands to clear snowblowers
January 12, 2011 by Fred HosierPosted in: In this week's e-newsletter, Injuries, Latest News & Views, working in heat or cold
Mario Gianfrancesco has a warning for users of snowblowers: Don’t put your hands or feet anywhere near the machines’ blades. He should know: Two of his fingertips had to be reattached.
Gianfrancesco, a 34-year-old carpenter from Mineola, NY, made the comments at a news conference with doctors from the hospital ER where his fingers were reattached.
He says he shut the snowblower off, but there was still torque that was stored in the machine.
Its sharp blades grabbed the tip of his gloved hand and pulled it in.
He should get full use of the two fingers back in about three months.
There are about 600 finger amputations per year in the U.S. from snowblower incidents, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
The best bet for workers when the machines get clogged: Use a wooden or plastic strip to clear the jam.
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Tags: amputation, consumer product safety commission, snowblowers
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January 18th, 2011 at 10:29 am
Ya think?
January 18th, 2011 at 6:22 pm
That sounds like the snowblower manufacturer’s fault - he should probably sue! The snowblower industry has flown under the radar for too long (plus, I hear they’re rolling in money this year - we all need to get ours)!
January 19th, 2011 at 10:04 am
“He says he shut the snowblower off, but there was still torque that was stored in the machine.” I don’t buy it. I’ve not known a snowblower to store torque. On any machine I’ve used, once you shut them off the impeller - both if 2-stage - stops within a split second. Something else was going on here. He’s lucky to get his fingers back.