104,543Records 70,659Employers 84,666Hospitalizations 27,563Amputations 2015-01-01 2025-09-30
Safety Incidents OSHA Severe Injury Reports · 2015–2025

OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14444244

HEAD,TREE FELLING,TREE LIMB,CHAIN SAW,LODGED TREE,CRUSHED,LOGGER,STRUCK BY,FALLING OBJECT,LOGGING

Event
HEAD,TREE FELLING,TREE LIMB,CHAIN SAW,LODGED TREE,CRUSHED,LOGGER,STRUCK BY,FALLING OBJECT,LOGGING
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
14444244
Report ID
355111

Event description

EMPLOYEE STRUCK BY FALLING TREE LIMB

Investigation abstract

ON MARCH 21, 1984, AT APPROXIMATELY 11:30 AM, EMPLOYEE #1 WAS FATALLY INJURED WH ILE FELLING TREES. HE WAS USING A HUSKIE SAVANNAH CHAIN SAW WITH A 20 INCH BAR. THE EVENTS LEADING TO THE DEATH OF EMPLOYEE #1 BEGAN WHEN HE CUT DOWN AN OAK TRE E WHICH, IN TURN, FELL AGAINST AN ADJOINING, DEAD OAK TREE. THE TOP OF THE DEAD OAK TREE SNAPPED AND FELL INTO A NEIGHBORING PINE TREE. EMPLOYEE #1 THEN PROCEED ED TO CUT DOWN THE PINE TREE. AS THE PINE TREE FELL, THE DEAD OAK LIMB FELL WITH IT. THE OAK LIMB STRUCK EMPLOYEE #1 ON THE HEAD, CRUSHING HIS SKULL. EMPLOYEE # 1 WAS AN EXPERIENCED LOGGER, AND IT IS NOT KNOWN WHY HE NEGLECTED TO REMOVE THE DEAD OAK LIMB BEFORE BEGINNING.

Victim

  1. #1 Fatality Age 48 M

    Nature of injury
    21
    Part of body
    13
    Event type
    1
    Source
    43
    Occupation code
    496
    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.