OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14541940
WAYNE RUTHERFORD
GREENSBORO, GA·
Event description
Employee killed when struck by falling tree
Investigation abstract
Employee #1 was felling trees. He cut a 12 in. diameter pine tree and it lodged between two other pine trees. Employee #1 decided to cut one of the trees suppor ting the lodged tree instead of waiting for the skidder to down the lodged tree. When he severed the supporting tree, both trees fell and the lodged tree struck him. Employee #1 was pinned between the tree and the ground. The skidder operat or, who saw what happened, removed the tree and called for help. Employee #1 die d of internal bleeding at a hospital several hours later. Employee #1 was wearin g a hard hat, chaps, goggles, gloves, and boots.
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 57 Male
- Nature of injury
- Fracture (12)
- Part of body
- BACK (3)
- Accident type
- STRUCK BY (1)
- Source of injury
- VEGETATION (39)
- Occupation
- Timber cutting and logging occupations (496)
- Human factor
- MISJUDGMENT, HAZ. SITUATION (1)
- Environmental factor
- WORK-SURFACE/FACIL-LAYOUT COND (13)
- Task assigned
- Task regularly assigned (1)
Labels are OSHA's own, from the code dictionary published with the accident-investigation file. The raw code is shown beside each one so this page can be reconciled against OSHA's bulk data. OSHA notes that nature of injury, part of body, source of injury and accident type in this file are not coded to the Occupational Injury and Illness Classification System, and that the occupation titles are not standardised — so these values are not directly comparable with the OIICS-coded severe injury reports.