OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #221438377
PENN LINE CORPORATION
CATAWISSA, PA·
Event description
Employee fractures vertebrae in fall from tree to ground
Investigation abstract
At 3:30 p.m. on February 15, 2022, Employee #1 and two coworkers were performing tie-in location for the first lanyard) broke about 6 ft below the tie-in point, causing the employee to fall approximately 13 feet to the ground. When his coworkers heard a noise and a yell, they responded and called 911. Employee #1 was hospitalized to treat compression fractures to L1 & L2 vertebrae. utility line clearance tree trimming work along a 7.2 kilovolt distribution line. Employee #1 had climbed a cherry tree approximately 35 ft high by 7 in diameter at the base. One lanyard of his personal fall arrest system (PFAS) had a tie-in location approximately 29 ft from the ground. As he descended the tree, Employee #1 removed the second lanyard of his PFAS so he could reattach it and continue his descent. Before he could reattach the second lanyard, his climbing line position and the outward lean of the tree caused his body to move away from the main stem of the tree. When his weight shifted, the limb (serving as a
Victim
-
#1 Hospitalized Age 31 M
- Event type
- 5
- Occupation code
- 869
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.