Timber Cutter Dies After Being Struck From Behind by a Tree Which Became Entangled with the Tree He was Felling in West Virginia

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  West Virginia Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Program (West Virginia FACE) ; West Virginia University. Center for Rural Emergency Medicine ; West Virginia. Department of Health & Human Resources
• Description:
  On January 6, 2004, a 68-year-old male tree feller (victim) died of injuries sustained when he was struck from behind by a tree which became entangled with the tree he was felling. He was in the process of felling a 65 foot red oak with substantial back lean. As he began cutting the tree, the victim did not use a hinge to control the fell and wedge to compensate for back lean. He was unable to use his wedge because it became buried under the butt of the tree he had felled earlier. As he finished his final cut, the tree set back and began falling opposite of the intended direction. Accordingly, he changed his escape path and retreated in the opposite direction. He stood approximately 12 feet from the stump to watch the fell, but as the tree fell, its top became entangled with a small diameter 70 foot tall black birch whose root system was weak. The oak pulled the birch over, striking the victim from behind. Witnessing the incident, his son responded by running down to the victim, cutting the birch off of him, and lying him down. Realizing the extent of his father's injuries, the son went to the landing and told a log truck driver to call 911. The driver stayed with the victim while the son waited to direct the ambulance. Approximately 30 minutes passed from the time of the incident until EMS arrived. The victim died shortly after their arrival and was transported to the nearest medical facility where he was pronounced dead. The WV FACE Investigator concluded that, to reduce the likelihood of similar occurrences, employers should: 1. Ensure that tree fellers utilize proper directional felling techniques. 2. Ensure that tree fellers utilize felling wedges in addition to proper felling techniques on trees with back lean.
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Forestry Occupational Health Safety Safety Management Workplace
• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Accident-prevention Forestry-workers Injuries Injury-prevention Logging-workers Lumberjacks OSHA Region 3 Safety-education Safety-equipment Safety-measures Safety-monitoring Traumatic-injuries Work-analysis Work-areas Work-operations Work-performance Work-practices

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• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  FACE ; Logging
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  State
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHSFACE04WV001
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  West Virginia ; OSHA Region 3
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-6
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20028690
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2006-102401
• 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 04WV001, 2004 Mar ; :1-6
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2004
• Performing Organization:
  West Virginia Department of Health & Human Services
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  11 - Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  1996/09/30
• End Date:
  2006/08/31
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:d4cd83b5d463228554c0cd4f60b88c2a5ea97332ee10a9e78e7b4a56c6166ca1f0f8d8129058294f886b055c6beadf37b94e98906752f4983343c3b91844418c
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/166459/cdc_166459_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.07 MB ]