20-Year-Old Man Killed When Struck By Tree Falling from Tree-Cutting Machine

Details

• Personal Author:
  Bost, Patrick ; Bresnitz, Eddy A. ; Gerwel, Barbara ; Lefkowitz, Daniel ; Ludwig, Gary ; O'Hagan, Emily ; Schill, Donald P. ; Valiante, David J.
• Corporate Authors:
  New Jersey Fatality Assessment & Control Evaluation Project (NJ FACE) ; New Jersey. Department of Health and Senior Services. Occupational Health Service
• Description:
  On February 9, 2004, a 20-year-old male landscaping worker was killed when he was struck by a falling tree. The victim worked for his father, the owner of a small landscaping business in New Jersey. On the day of the incident, the victim and several other workers were assigned to clear a plot of land that included many large pine trees. The victim's job was to mark and clean already felled trees, which included cutting branches and reducing the size of the logs (bucking). While the victim was cutting the branches with a chainsaw, a tree-cutting machine was being used approximately 60 feet away to cut and clear the standing trees on the plot. This tree-cutting machine, similar to a front-end loader, was fitted with a specialized attachment referred to as a feller-buncher. The feller-buncher clasps the tree in hydraulic jaws, cuts the tree at its base, and enables the cut tree to then be transported. The fatal injury occurred when a cut pine tree came loose from the tree-cutting machine and fell, striking the victim. NJ FACE investigators recommend following these safety guidelines to prevent similar incidents: 1. All ground crew should always maintain a safe distance of at least twice the height of the felled tree from its cut point. If this is not feasible, consider staggering job shifts. 2. All machines used at the work site should be maintained in serviceable condition. 3. A safety and health plan based on job hazard analysis should be developed and followed.
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Forestry Manufacturing And Industrial Facilities Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Occupational Injuries Safety Safety Management Staff Development Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Accident-potential Accident-prevention Forestry-workers Injuries Injury-prevention Machine-operation Occupational-accidents Occupational-hazards Occupational-health-programs Occupational-safety-programs OSHA Region 2 Safety-education Safety-equipment Safety-measures Safety-practices Safety-programs Traumatic-injuries Work-analysis Work-areas Work-intervals Work-operations Work-practices

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• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  FACE ; Machine (All) ; Machine - General ; Prevention through Design (PtD) ; Landscaping Services
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  State
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHSFACE04NJ013
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  New Jersey ; OSHA Region 2
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  11 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20026752
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2005-109929
• 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 04NJ013, 2005 Mar ; :1-11
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2005
• Performing Organization:
  New Jersey Department of Health
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  56 - Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  1991/09/30
• End Date:
  2005/08/31
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:25d9e38eeac9b038108111981f72fd2b43d1f3aedb08ef83124f503264adadecfe0c2adb549f16cd352d9e259ae0f3c230b5d611e0edd38141f9d77411969840
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/169206/cdc_169206_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 418.22 KB ]