OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14250625
CHEST,TREE FELLING,WIRE ROPE,WORK RULES,BROKEN CABLE,CONSTRUCTION,STRUCK BY
Event description
EMPLOYEE STRUCK IN CHEST BY END OF BROKEN CABLE
Investigation abstract
A CLEARING CREW WAS CONSTRUCTING A NEW FOREST SERVICE ROAD. IN A TREE FELLING OP WAS CUTTING THE TREE, IT SHIFTED, PLACING ADDITIONAL STRAIN ON THE WINCH CABLE. THE CABLE BROKE. THE END OF THE CABLE ATTACHED TO THE TREE SNAPPED BACK AND STRU CK EMPLOYEE #1 IN THE CHEST, KILLING HIM. ERATION, THE SAW OPERATOR'S CHAIN SAW WAS SQUEEZED IN THE CUT OF A 2 1/2 FOOT OA K TREE. THE SAW OPERATOR (EMPLOYEE #1) DIRECTED THE BULLDOZER OPERATOR TO HOOK H IS WINCH CABLE TO THE TREE AND PULL IT BACK, RELIEVING THE PRESSURE ON THE SAW B LADE. IN ORDER TO GET A PROPER CONNECTION IT WAS NECESSARY FOR THE DOZER OPERATO R TO POSITION THE DOZER OUT OF VIEW OF EMPLOYEE $#1, SLIGHTLY OVER A BANK. THE S AW OPERATOR AND A LABORER HOOKED THE CABLE AROUND THE TREE, 16 INCHES ABOVE THE SAW CUT. THE SAW OPERATOR DIRECTED THE DOZER OPERATOR TO MAINTAIN TENSION ON THE CABLE AFTER THE SAW WAS FREED SO THAT HE COULD CONTINUE TO CUT. AS EMPLOYEE #1
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 35 M
- Nature of injury
- 3
- Part of body
- 5
- Event type
- 1
- Source
- 27
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 5
- Task assigned
- 1
Codes shown verbatim from OSHA's accident-investigation database. A human-readable decoder is coming in a future release once the accident_lookup2 dictionary is loaded.