UNITED STATES
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Abstract: At 12:27 p.m. on July 15, 2022, an employee was performing site clearing on a re sidential plot of land. A coworker was operating an excavator nearby to bring do wn trees onto a tree pile. The employee was tasked with cutting the felled trees into smaller pieces that could be transported off site after the excavator had knocked down a few trees. The employee was to stand in a safe zone while the exc avator would then bring down a few more trees. The employee was to stand in a sa fe zone until the coworker operating the excavator gave him approval to approach the pile and start cutting. The coworker began to work on felling two trees ne xt to each other, and after felling the first tree he verified that the employee was in the safe zone before he started working to bring the second tree down on to the pile. However, the employee moved out of the safe zone and was on the tr ee pile when the second tree was felled onto the pile by the excavator. The empl oyee was struck and killed by the falling tree, sustaining blunt force trauma to the head.