OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14312326
A. RITZ CORPORATION
ALBANY, NY·
Event description
CONSTRUCTION EMPLOYEE CRUSHED BY TREE ROOT SECTION
Investigation abstract
ON THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1986, EMPLOYEE #1 PUSHED A MAPLE TREE OVER WITH A MODEL 977 CAT TRAXCAVATOR. HE THEN BACKED THE MACHINE AWAY TO ALLOW A LABORER TO CUT THE TREE INTO SECTIONS. EMPLOYEE #1, FOR UNKNOWN REASONS, DISMOUNTED HIS MACHINE AND ENTERED THE TREE'S ROOT HOLE. THE HOLE WAS 10 FEET LONG, 7 FEET WIDE AND 3 FEET DEEP. WHEN THE LABORER CUT OFF THE BOTTOM SECTION OF THE TREE, THE ROOT SEC TION ROLLED BACK INTO ITS HOLE, STRIKING AND CRUSHING EMPLOYEE #1.
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 54 M
- Nature of injury
- 21
- Part of body
- 19
- Event type
- 2
- Source
- 43
- 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.