Tree Trimmer Dies After Falling 65 Feet From Tree in Virginia

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Program
• Description:
  The case of a 34-year-old male tree trimmer who died after falling 65 feet from a tree was investigated. The victim was employed full time as a tree trimmer by a tree care service. During his off time, he and his brother continued with tree trimming activities. The victim and his brother had been contracted by a general contractor to remove a large oak tree from the yard of a private residence. The victim had successfully topped the first two forks of the tree and was beginning to work on the third and final fork when he fell to the ground from about 65 feet. The cause of death was massive internal trauma. Investigation of the incident revealed that the connectors on both ends of the climbing cradle ropes were fastened with wire and electrical tape. While the victim was leaning back making a cut, the pressure caused the rope to pull loose and the victim fell to the ground. The connector was still attached to the D-ring on the harness. It was recommended that correct fastenings be used at the connectors for all climbing cradle ropes
  
  that workers inspect all fall protection equipment
  
  and that the feasibility of a redundant fall arresting system be considered.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Accidents, Occupational Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Safety
• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis FACE-91-30 OSHA Region 3 Personal-protective-equipment Safety-equipment Traumatic-injuries Work-practices
• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  FACE ; Falls ; Landscaping Services
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  NIOSH (In-House)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHFACE9130
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Virginia ; OSHA Region 3
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSR - Division of Safety Research
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  3 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00206927
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB92-193663
• Citation:
  Morgantown, : U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1992
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  56 - Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  1991/09/03
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:cbfc51137acc242fc80a46e02385000cd21d791f05c8cc0b781c6a762d6f71ea2073c23f9149d0fc6b4cc5dcb7505d4e3fae6b9fcc2fed5bc0c0a833a7464c31
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/167550/cdc_167550_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 231.61 KB ]