By Stephanie Stilwell, Greensboro, NC -- One teenager is dead after an accident with a wood chipper he was operating at the time. Now many people are left wondering, should the teen have been operating the machine in the first place?

One safety expert says even if everything was working as it should have been, simple mistakes can often carry deadly consequences.

Jon Wallace has made a living making sure that companies and people stay safe as a consultant for Workplace Group.

“A lot of companies are proactive. They want me to come in and look at what they are doing and enhance their overall safety programs,” Wallace said.

But safety took a turn for the worse late Tuesday afternoon in Greensboro when a teenager operating a wood chipper at Pallet Express was killed.

Nery Castanedo Valenzuele, 17, was operating the machine at Pallet Express in Greensboro at the time of the accident. Officials at the Department of Labor say they are investigating whether or not Valenzuele was even old enough to be operating the equipment.

“My understanding is he would have to be 18 years old to operate equipment like that. I will say that even if it's not a federal law, my professional opinion is that somebody under the age of 18 should not operate equipment that has that much energy,” Wallace said.

Wallace also points out that wood chipper fatalities are not isolated incidents.

“If you get on the Internet, if you get on the OSHA website, do a search. You'll find multiple fatalities especially involving mobile wood chippers, and this was likely a stationary wood chipper, but the hazards are similar. You've got a piece of equipment with lots of moving parts, lots of power and it can pull somebody straight into the equipment,” Wallace said.

Officials at Pallet Express declined to comment on the accident. OSHA officials say it may take as long as six months to complete their investigation.

A spokesperson for the Department of Labor says they have forwarded the information about this accident on to the Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor. That division is responsible for looking into the age of the worker and if that played a factor.

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