Logger Fatally Injured by Falling Limb

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Kentucky Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Program (KY FACE) ; University of Kentucky. College of Public Health. Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research Center
• Description:
  A 60-year-old male logger (the victim) was killed when a falling limb struck him on the head. He had been involved in the logging industry all of his life and had been working for a small logging business for six days when the fatal incident occurred. At about 9 a.m. on the day of the incident, the owner of the company went with the victim to where he would be felling trees. The victim was not wearing any personal protective equipment (PPE). They talked for a few minutes then the owner left on the bulldozer. When he returned 20-25 minutes later, he found the victim lying on the ground. No vital signs were detected. Although the incident was unwitnessed, it was apparent that he had been hit in the head by a falling limb. A broken-off branch lying nearby was about 4 inches in diameter and 4-5 feet long. The owner ran back to the truck about 3/4 mile from the scene to call 911 using the cellular phone. The police and emergency medical services were dispatched to the scene after receiving the call at 9:54 a.m. The coroner was contacted and pronounced the victim dead at the scene. In order to prevent similar instances from occurring, FACE investigators recommend that: 1. Appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) should be worn at the logging site. 2. A hazard assessment of the logging site should be completed before beginning work to identify and control potential hazards. 3. Employers should develop and enforce a written safety program. 4. Loggers should attend the Master Logger Program for education regarding Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) logging standards and safety procedures.
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Forestry Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Protective Clothing Safety Safety Management
• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Accident-potential Accident-prevention Forestry-workers Injuries Injury-prevention Logging-workers OSHA Region 4 Safety-education Safety-equipment Safety-helmets Safety-practices Safety-programs Traumatic-injuries

  More +
• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  FACE ; Logging
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  State
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHSFACE98KY063
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Kentucky ; OSHA Region 4
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  4 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20026387
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2011-100091
• 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 98KY063, 1998 Oct ; :1-4
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1999
• Performing Organization:
  Kentucky Department of Health Services
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  11 - Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  1993/09/30
• End Date:
  2006/08/31
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:ede39993df2a85f2d94823e83081e4d91bf5416929ebd93b113f09ae6287f571626bb96ab82753e519976831dd32bc90a1919209c212f560ac6da12b5db8dd5c
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/170175/cdc_170175_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 19.73 KB ]