Arborist Dies in Fall from a Tree after being Hoisted by a Crane to the Tree - Massachusetts

Details

• Personal Author:
  Davis, Letitia ; Fiore, Michael A.
• Corporate Authors:
  Massachusetts Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Project (Massachusetts FACE) ; Massachusetts. Department of Public Health
• Description:
  On September 26, 2011 a 43-year-old male arborist (victim) was fatally injured when he fell approximately 70 feet from a pine tree. The victim was wearing a harness and had been hoisted into the tree by a crane's load line. After attaching the crane's sling to a section of tree being removed, the victim fell approximately 70 feet to the ground below. A co-worker placed a call for emergency medical services (EMS). Personnel from the local fire and police departments arrived within minutes of the call. The victim was transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead. The Massachusetts FACE Program concluded that to prevent similar occurrences in the future, employers should: 1. Ensure that when employees are located within a tree, they use a minimum of two means of being tied in the tree at all times
  
  2. Ensure that climbing/personal fall protection equipment, both supplied by the employer and owned by the employee, is in good condition by performing routine inspections, including an inspection before each use
  
  3. Ensure that employees are never hoisted into a work position in a tree by a crane's hook or load line, except in uncommon situations as outlined by OSHA
  
  and 4. Develop, implement, and enforce a written safety and health policy and written company operational policies as recommended in ANSI Z133.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Accidental Falls Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Forestry Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Safety Safety Management Staff Development

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• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Accident-potential Accident-prevention Fall-protection Forestry-workers Injuries Injury-prevention Occupational-hazards OSHA Region 1 Protective-measures Safety-education Safety-measures Safety-practices Safety-programs Training Traumatic-injuries Work-practices

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• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  FACE ; Falls ; Landscaping Services
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  State
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHSFACE11MA031
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Massachusetts ; OSHA Region 1
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-8
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20044100
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2014-105925
• Citation:
  Morgantown, WV: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, FACE 11MA031, 2013 Sep ; :1-8
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2013
• Performing Organization:
  Massachusetts State Department of Public Health
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  56 - Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  2005/07/01
• End Date:
  2026/06/30
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:444bea1685479b14e0cac026b56f223333fce7e751116f0773500897cfec5fb30e9fab1d38337bd3343150e0ac152595e853cb668af9ea10d4ef8b3f08104b2d
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/165147/cdc_165147_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 582.65 KB ]