OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #221368780
75055 - CHARLESTON TREE EXPERTS LLC
CHARLESTON, SC·
Event description
Employee is killed while felling tree
Investigation abstract
At 3:15 p.m. on June 28, 2021, an employee was felling a forty foot palmetto struck the lower section of the tree, causing the tree to break and fall over a neighboring wall. As the tree fell over the wall, the part of the tree truck that the employee was on inverted toward the ground. The employee fell off the tree and onto a cobblestone courtyard head first. The employee suffered extensive head trauma and a large laceration to the forehead. The employee was transported to a local hospital and pronounced dead a short time later. tree when he climbed up the tree and was positioned approximately thirty-two feet above ground level. The employee was attached to the tree by a climbing rope and harness, climbing spikes, and a lanyard around the tree approximately six (6) inches below the area to be cut. Two coworkers were on the ground holding tension on the lowering rope attached through a pulley below the employee lanyard. The employee made a cut through the tree with a chainsaw, and lowered the chainsaw via an attached rope. The cut tree section was pushed off of the tree trunk. The eight foot section that was cut swung out and down and
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 28 M
- Event type
- 5
- Occupation code
- 999
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