By Connor Lynch
CAMBRIDGE — A 22-year-old farm worker was airlifted to hospital after getting his hand nearly severed by a wood splitter.
Branden Jones, who’s been working at Brian Domm farms at Cambridge for more than a year, was splitting firewood using a wood splitter March 5, a job he’d done hundreds of times.
Farm owner Brian Domm said that Jones himself isn’t sure what happened, but “there must’ve been a distraction of some sort,” because Jones’ hand was underneath the wedge on the wood splitter when it came down.
The farm clears brush and splits wood as part of some of its rental agreements, said Domm, who also grows hay and rents out land himself.
The damage was extensive, including multiple bone breakages and severed nerves. The wedge severed Jones’ hand, “about three-quarters of the way through,” Domm said.
An airlift to a Hamilton-area hospital and quick work by doctors saved the hand. Domm said that the last he’d heard, Jones had recovered feeling in three of his fingers. It will be months before the feeling fully returns, possibly years before he recovers full use of his hand, and his full strength may never return, said Domm.
The Ministry of Labour is investigating. An order was given to the farm on March 20, regarding employee training, and an investigation is ongoing, said spokesperson Janet Deline.
