Abstract: Employee #1, a saw operator, was working with a truck driver, a loader operator, and a skidder operator, to cut 100 acres of mixed hardwood for saw logs and pulpwood. Employee #1 lodged a relatively small (60 to 90 ft) cottonwood in a larger cottonwood. The skidder operator, who was working in the vicinity, noticed the problem and stopped his skidder. He told the saw operator to take a break and that he would return shortly to pull down the lodged tree. When the skidder operator returned, the larger tree had been cut and both trees had fallen. Employee #1 was pinned under the smaller cottonwood and killed. It appears that he became impatient and violated the company's policy against cutting down lodged trees.