Abstract: On February 11, 1995, Employee #1, an employee of RLO Contractors, Inc., was clearing a site in Ellicott City, MD. A tree cut by Employee #1 split and fell onto a John Deere excavator. Employee #1 climbed on top of the excavator to survey the damage at the same time a coworker began to pull the felled tree with a John Deere grapple skidder. The tree became wedged between two standing trees, one of which was dead. The dead tree fell over and a limb struck Employee #1 in the head. He was transported to MD Shock Trauma in critical condition. He suffered a fractured skull resulting in internal bleeding of the brain. He also suffered a broken right arm. According to witnesses, Employee #1 was not wearing a hard hat. Documents indicated that he had been trained in hard hat safety.