OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14305551
HEAD,HARD HAT,TREE FELLING,TREE LIMB,TREE,STRUCK BY,FALLING OBJECT,LOGGING
Event description
STRUCK BY FALLING DEAD TOP OF STANDING TREE
Investigation abstract
ON MAY 14, 1987, AT APPROXIMATELY 2:45 PM, EMPLOYEE #1 WAS FELLING A 120 FOOT TA LL HEMLOCK TREE WHICH WAS STANDING APPROXIMATELY 3 FEET DOWNHILL FROM A SMALLER 70 FOOT TALL HEMLOCK. THE SMALL HEMLOCK HAD A DEAD SPIKE-TOP, WHICH WAS PARTIALL Y ENCIRCLED BY A LIMB OF THE LARGE, 120 FOOT TALL TREE. WHEN THE LARGE TREE FELL , ONE OF IT'S LIMBS BROKE OFF A PORTION OF THE DEAD SPIKE-TOP FROM THE SMALLER T REE. THE BROKEN TOP, 13 FEET LONG AND 5 INCHES IN DIAMETER AT THE LARGE END, FEL L, STRIKING THE EMPLOYEE ON HIS HARD HAT. THE AREA ADJACENT TO THE TREE WAS CLEA R OF BRUSH, PROVIDING THE EMPLOYEE WITH AN ESCAPE ROUTE. HOWEVER, HE FAILED TO M OVE BACK AND AWAY FROM THE STUMP WHEN THE TREE STARTED TO FALL.
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 49 M
- Nature of injury
- 12
- Part of body
- 13
- Event type
- 1
- Source
- 39
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 6
- 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.