Wood-chipper Fatality Hits Close to Home 

A 24-year-old landscape worker died on Nov. 7 in Tustin, Calif. when he was pulled into a woodchipper. The tragedy occurred two miles from the offices of landscapearchitect.com. It was an unfortunate reminder that woodchippers and other equipment require constant vigilance to avoid injury.

The victim was Gabriel Gonzales-Ferrer, 24, of the city of Orange, Calif., authorities said.

More than 30 landscaping workers have died in chipper incidents since 1992, according to a Journal of the American Medical Association report.

Thirty-one people were killed in wood-chipper accidents between 1992 and 2002, according to a 2005 report by the Journal of the American Medical Assn.