On Feb 11, 11:41*am, wrote:

snip

If they do somehow get caught by the machine, LET GO OF THE TRIGGER. You don't have to sit there paralyzed in fear while your assistant is slowly sucked in and ground into hamburger by the snowblower... Of course if it's running at an idle, it will stall immediately, and if it's running full-bore, it will shear a pin long before your assistant gets hurt.

snip

Found on numerous websites and stolen without permission...

"The Consumer Products Safety Commission reports that with 1000
amputations and 5000 hospital emergency room treated injuries per year
related to snowblower accidents; the snowblower ranks as the fourth
leading cause of finger amputations each year.

In most of these accidents improper handling of snowblowers is the
main cause for such injuries. Hospital staff indicates that patients
report injuries after they attempt to clear the auger or discharge
chute manually with their hand. As the individual attempted to clear
the obstruction, their hands and fingers many times get caught up in
the rotating blade of the snowblower with severe tissue damage
resulting. Even in cases where an individual’s fingers or hands are
not completely severed due to the original injury; physicians treating
such wounds explain that quite commonly there is such serious damage
that it is simply not possible to repair or re-attach the injured
parts."

I'm thinking that shear pins don't shear quite as easily as you claim
they will.

When I think about how much snow gets packed into the EOD pile after
the plow goes by, and how my Ariens just chews right in and tosses it
aside - without shearing anything - I can't image that any part of my
body is going to shear a pin before some serious damage is done.