OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #221758188

DODSON'S COMPLETE TREE SERVICE

MIDLOTHIAN, VA— 2025-02-23T00:00:00

Event: Blunt force, Blunt force trauma, Chest, Clearance, Climber, Climbing, Contusion, Fall, Fall From Elevation, Falling Object, Ground, Hazard Assessment, Head, Inspection, Laborer, Lanyard, Lifeline, PPE, PPE Hazard Assessment, Struck Against, Struck By, Training, Tree, Tree Care, Tree Climber, Tree Climbing System, Tree Failure, Tree Felling, Tree Section, Tree Trimming, Unsafe Position, Vegetation, Work Surface
NAICS: 561730
Inspection type: Federal Agency
Activity number: #348072893
Employer profile: DODSON'S COMPLETE TREE SERVICE
Summary number: 221758188
Report ID: 0355111

Event description

Employee is fatally injured while topping tree

Investigation abstract

At 3:45 p.m. on February 23, 2025, Employee #1 was working as a laborer for a employee was fatally injured. tree service company and was atop a tree approximately 30 feet from the ground conducting chainsaw cutting operations to remove the top section of the tree. Employee #1 was held in place by spurs, a lanyard wrapped around the tree, and a lifeline attached to another tree. During this operation, the integrity of the wood at the base of the tree become compromised and began to fall. The employee was pulled down with the tree. Mid-fall, the employee grabbed his lifeline which snapped the branch of the tree it was attached to. The falling tree then made contact with the ground with the employee landing on the fallen tree. The

Victim

#1 Fatality Age 35 M

Event type
5

Occupation code
889

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.