Brandon Lee Vandyke, Phenix Lumber Company worker in Phenix City, Alabama, killed after being sucked into a wood chipper while trying to unjam it.
An Alabama lumber yard employee has died after being sucked into a wood chipper while trying to unjam it.
Brandon Lee Vandyke, 34, was responding to a jam alarm at the Phenix Lumber Co. in Phenix City, Al, early on Wednesday morning when he was killed, police said in a statement.
The father one’s partial ‘partial remains’ were found ‘entangled’ in the machinery according to the report cited by AL.
Vandyke had gone to service the machine following an equipment malfunction and became stuck and tangled in it.
Phenix City Police said they responded to a medical call at 5am.
Investigation pending
Vandyke was pronounced dead at the scene, with his death being treated as an accident, Capt. Darryl Williams said in the press release.
There is no criminal investigation, he said, but other agencies will be conducting independent safety investigations into the operation of the mill.
It remained unclear if there had been prior incidents at the lumber plant and what safety protocol was in place and being adhered to.
According to an online obituary, Vandyke was the father of a young daughter, and worked as a boiler operator for Phenix Lumber Company.
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an average of three people die in wood chipper accidents every year in the U.S., and another 204 are injured.
