105,313Records 71,083Employers 85,290Hospitalizations 27,770Amputations 2015-01-01 2025-10-31
Safety Incidents OSHA Severe Injury Reports · 2015–2025

OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14254551

UNSECURED,SAFETY BELT,BACK,TREE,FALL,TREE TRIMMING

Event
UNSECURED,SAFETY BELT,BACK,TREE,FALL,TREE TRIMMING
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
14254551
Report ID
453710

Event description

EMPLOYEE KILLED IN FALL FROM TREE

Investigation abstract

EMPLOYEE #1 (THE OWNER OF THE BUSINESS) WAS CUTTING OFF THE TOP 6 FEET OF A COMP LETELY STRIPPED HICKORY TREE. HE WAS ABOUT 30 FEET ABOVE THE GROUND, HELD IN PLA CE BY A SAFETY BELT/SADDLE ROPE SECURED AROUND THE TREE TRUNK. HE HAD CUT ABOUT 1/3 OF THE WAY THROUGH THE 15 INCH DIAMETER TRUNK WHEN THE "CLIMBERS' KNOT SECUR ING THE SAFETY BELT CAME FREE AND THE EMPLOYEE FELL TO THE HARD EARTH SURFACE. H E DIED INSTANTLY FROM MASSIVE INTERNAL INJURIES SUFFERED WHEN HE LANDED ON HIS B ACK AND BUTTOCKS.

Victim

  1. #1 Fatality Age 36 M

    Nature of injury
    12
    Part of body
    19
    Event type
    5
    Source
    39
    Occupation code
    496
    Human factor
    20
    Environmental factor
    18
    Hazardous substance
    8880
    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.