Fatality Narrative: Timber Faller Struck by Falling Tree

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Washington (State). Department of Labor and Industries
• Description:
  On July 30, 2003, a timber faller was killed when a tree that he felled struck him. The 39-year-old victim was working for an employer who was hired by a landowner to clear trees from his land. The employer, another worker, and the victim began working at the site at about 7:00 AM. At about 7:45 AM the employer found the victim lying under an alder tree. It seems that the victim had attempted to fall a tree but it had gotten hung up on another tree at about a 45-degree angle. He felled another tree so as to knock down the hung up tree, but instead the second tree slid down the hung up tree and pinned him to the ground. The backcut of the second tree was not above the facecut, as it should have been. The tree slid down the hung up tree and ended up hitting the ground about 45 degrees to the left of where the victim had intended it to fall. He had not cleared out an escape path. The victim was relatively inexperienced as a timber faller. Description provided by NIOSH
• Subjects:
  • Accident Prevention
  • Accidents
  • Accidents, Occupational
  • Education
  • Mortality
  • Occupational Health
  • Personal Protective Equipment
  • Safety
  • Staff Development
  • Workplace
• Keywords:
  • Workers
  • Work environment
  • Tree trimmers
  • Protective equipment
  • Protective measures
  • Hazards
  • Fatalities
  • Traumatic injuries
  • Safety
  • Safety education
  More +
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Report
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 10 ; Washington
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20051913
• Citation:
  Olympia, WA: Washington State Department of Labor and Industries, 71-19-2004, 2004 May; :1
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2004
• Performing Organization:
  Washington State Department of Labor and Industries
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Fatality narrative: timber faller struck by falling tree
• End Date:
  20260630
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/228854/cdc_228854_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 17.24 KB]
• Collection(s):
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Program ; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:384f6b3b6911d51a310ba856039d139c76f3d68da5c99954945f6847a423087ef5471337d50dac54892ce5c63ed1b0299a56ffb7fb268c67519bd2058b3924e3