OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14443568
D. L. ALLEN SAWMILL
MONTVALE, VA·
Event description
TREE FELLER STRUCK AND KILLED BY TREE BUTT
Investigation abstract
EMPLOYEE #1 WAS CUTTING DOWN A POPLAR TREE, 18 INCHES IN DIAMETER AND APPROXMATE LY 50 TO 60 FEET TALL. AFTER HE HAD CUT A 9 AND 1/2 INCH NOTCH ON THE LOWER SIDE , HE STARTED TO CUT THE TOP SIDE. (HE WAS WORKING ON A VERY STEEP SLOPE, ABOUT 5 0 TO 55 DEGREES.) WHEN THE UPPER CUT WAS NEARLY COMPLETED, THE TREE STARTED TO F ALL. THE TREE TOP STRUCK ANOTHER TREE, CAUSING THE BUTT OF THE TREE BEING CUT TO KICK BACK TOWARD EMPLOYEE #1. HE WAS STRUCK IN THE LOWER LEFT STOMACH AND KNOCK ED TO THE GROUND. HE WAS WORKING ALONE AT THE TIME. THE SKIDDER OPERATOR HAD TAK EN A DRAG TO THE SAWMILL, ABOUT A 30 TO 45 MINUTE ROUND TRIP. WHEN THE SKIDDER O PERATOR RETURNED, HE FOUND EMPLOYEE #1, STILL ALIVE, AND WENT FOR HELP.
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 51 M
- Nature of injury
- 12
- Part of body
- 1
- Event type
- 1
- Source
- 43
- Occupation code
- 496
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 6
- Task assigned
- 2
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.