UNITED STATES
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

At 1:00 p.m. on May 8, 2018, a crew of three employees, including a supervisor, was cutting a tree (California Pepper) in front of a two-story home. The employe e was holding a rope (75 feet long) which was tied to a limb of the tree and he had wrapped the rope around his left hand for better grip. A brush chipper (VER MEER, BC-1000, License Plate Number 94140E1) was parked on the road and was runn ing. The accident was reported by the homeowner. The employee had been employed as a permanent full-time employee at the time of accident. The employee's immed iate supervisor was present at the time of accident, and he witnessed the accide nt. The employee was holding the rope in his left hand and ready to pull the lim b from the ground. The employee had wrapped the rope around his hand for a bette r grip. The brush chipper was parked near by and another employee was feeding th e branches to the chipper. The employee was using about 40 feet out of 75 feet a nd the rest of the rope was laying on the ground near the pile of branches being fed to the chipper. Somehow, the rope got entangled in the branches and got pul led into the feeder of the chipper. The rope pulled the employee's hand and arm and employee was thrown out in the air and landed on his feet. The accident inv estigation revealed that the rope was too close to the branches being fed into t he chipper and was too long. The accident resulted in an amputation of the emplo yee's index and pinkie finger, fractures on middle and ring finger of his left h and and dislocation of his left shoulder. Employee #1 was taken to Rancho Sprin gs Medical Center, where he was hospitalized for four or five days. Three surge ries were performed on his hand.