OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14379622
HEART,ASPHYXIATED,WORK RULES,FATIGUE,RUPTURE,TREE,FALL,TREE TRIMMING,INATTENTION
Event description
EMPLOYEE KILLED IN FALL FROM TREE BEING CUT
Investigation abstract
EMPLOYEE #1, THE OWNER/OPERATOR OF A TREE SERVICE COMPANY, WAS REMOVING TWO LARG THE HIGHER LINE. AFTER MAKING THE SECOND CUT HE INSTRUCTED THE GROUND MAN TO PU LL THE LIMB DOWN. HE WAS PULLED TO THE GROUND (ABOUT 30 FEET) ALONG WITH THE TRE E LIMB. THE LOCAL EMERGENCY SQUAD RESPONDED IMMEDIATELY, TRANSPORTING HIM TO TO A LOCAL HOSPITAL. HE DIED OF TOTAL ASPHYXIA DUE TO A RUPTURED AORTA. E ELM TREES FROM A CUSTOMER'S BACK YARD. REMOVAL BEGAN AT 8 AM. THE ACCIDENT OCC URRED AT 4:28 PM. THE EMPLOYEE WAS TIED OFF USING A CLIMBING ROPE ATTACHED TO TH E STUMP OF A PREVIOUSLY SAWED LIMB. HE WAS USING A CHAIN SAW TO MAKE CUTS, MOVIN G DOWN THE TREE AS THE TOPPING PROCEEDURE PROGRESSED. HE WOULD DISCONNECT HIS SA FETY BELT FROM THE LINE ABOVE HIM BEFORE MAKING HIS SECOND CUT, CONNECTING TO A CLIMBING BELT WHICH SURROUNDED THE TREE AT A LEVEL BELOW THE CUTS. AN ASSISTANT ON THE GROUND WOULD THEN PULL THE SEVERED TREE LIMB TO THE GROUND. EITHER THROUG H INATTENTION OR FATIGUE, OR BOTH, EMPLOYEE #1 FAILED TO DISCONNECT HIMSELF FROM
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 32 M
- Nature of injury
- 2
- Part of body
- 5
- Event type
- 5
- Source
- 42
- 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.