California FACE Program Action Page - Preventing Wood Chipper Fatalities
The California Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) program investigates work-related fatalities to identify the causes and prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.
This video explains how Antonio Barajas, a 33-year-old tree trimmer, was killed when he was thrown against a wood chipper... and what can be done to prevent this from happening again.
Digital stories are best used as educational triggers that can kick off a worker training session and facilitate discussion. See below for video discussion questions, fact sheets, the corresponding FACE investigation report, and video download instructions.
| Wood Chipper Video (3.48 minutes) |
Spanish Wood Chipper Video (4.38 minutes) |
 |
 |
Additional Educational Materials
Wood Chipper Digital Story Discussion Questions
- What caused Antonio to be thrown against the wood chipper?
- Have you or someone you know ever faced a similar work hazard? Please tell us about it.
- What are some of the different safety precautions that could have been used at Antonio’s jobsite?
- What needs to be done to identify potential workplace hazards prior to starting a job?
Wood Chipper Fact Sheet (PDF)
… Spanish
Wood Chipper Fatality Investigation Report
To obtain copies of the videos
Download from Vimeo (links below), or order by calling 510-620-5772 or e-mail FACE@cdph.ca.gov.
We appreciate your feedback! To evaluate the FACE wood chipper video, please complete this short form: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WoodChipperVideo . To sign up to receive future FACE fatality reports: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FACESign-up.
FACE Digital Stories main page
California Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation home page
Occupational Health Branch home page