Hispanic Arborist’s Helper Struck and Killed by A Falling Tree

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  New Jersey Fatality Assessment & Control Evaluation Project (NJ FACE) ; New Jersey. Department of Health and Senior Services. Occupational Health Service
• Description:
  On June 13, 2003, a 39-year-old Hispanic male arborist's helper was killed when he was struck by a tree that was being cut down. The incident occurred at a private residence as a tree-trimming crew was finishing the removal of 12 trees from the front yard. The owner of the company had placed the bucket of a front-end loader against the tree to help direct its fall. He then made the cuts near the bottom of the tree trunk. The tree fell approximately 90 degrees left of where he had planned, towards the helper who was standing near the front of the home to load debris into a woodchipper. The owner shouted a warning to the workers, but the victim apparently did not hear it due to the noise from the chipper. The top of the tree struck him on the head as it fell to the ground. NJ FACE investigators recommend following these safety guidelines to prevent similar incidents: 1. Employees should use proper tree removal and communication methods as outlined in the ANSI Standard Z133.1-2000. 2. All employers and employees involved in tree work should receive training in arborist methods and equipment use. 3. Employers should conduct a job hazard analysis of all work activities with the participation of the workers.
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Forestry Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Safety Staff Development Workplace
• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Accident-potential Accident-prevention Forestry-workers Injuries Injury-prevention Logging-workers Occupational-hazards OSHA Region 2 Safety-equipment Safety-practices Training Traumatic-injuries Work-analysis Work-areas Work-operations Work-practices

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• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  FACE ; Hispanic ; Foreign Born Workers ; Prevention through Design (PtD) ; Landscaping Services
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  State
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHSFACE03NJ043
• 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:
  8 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20026745
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2006-112825
• 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 03NJ043, 2004 Nov ; :1-8
• 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-512:093fa9f32eddc61b68d648eddf0cbc7e76bc3cc40c33e29a18b6a73f265fc8e58000369a6d6cd2cee092bec89ab48f22202c495ccc685af66ed7c29c172e3be9
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/169212/cdc_169212_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 605.49 KB ]