Inspection Detail

Inspection: 1472055.015 - Wright Tree Service Inc

Inspection Information - Office: Wichita Area Office

Investigation Summary

At 3:00 p.m. on April 7, 2020, an employee was working for a tree service. The employee and two coworkers were performing line-clearance tree trimming. The two coworkers were working from a lift truck, but the employee was climbing trees to do his work. The three workers were on the northwest side of a property, trimming a group of some four cedar trees, running north and south. At the time of the incident, the employee was going from one tree to another. He tried to hook one of the lanyard legs to the new tree. He positioned himself to go to that tree. He did not notice that the hook of his lanyard had not grabbed the new tree as intended. When he tried to move to the next tree and disconnected the lanyard leg from the original tree, he fell. He had climbed the first tree without using the main climb line. That is, he was free climbing. He was descending when the fall occurred. He fell about 10 feet (3.1 meters) from where he had been standing and landed on the dirt or ground beneath the tree. He suffered a fractured sternum. He was hospitalized for 24 hours. He was not using his work-positioning system properly. On and after April 1, 2015, work-positioning systems were to have rigged so that an employee could free fall no more than 2 feet (0.6 meters). The citations were deleted.

Keywords: Broken Bone, Chest, Collarbone, E GI II (no ppe), Electrical, Fall, Fall From Elevation, Fall Protection, Fracture, Lanyard, Line Clearance, PPE, Rib, Rope, Tree Trimming, Work Rules