Abstract: At approximately 10:30 a.m. on May 18, 1999, Employee #1 was struck by a 50-ft-long fir pole while waiting for a turn of logs to be picked up and sent to the landing. The rigging crew had been pre-setting chokers on both sides of the road line. They were working one hundred twenty feet below the landing on an 80-degree slope. Employee #1 had set the chokers and proceeded to a location he felt was safe. Another employee, a rigging slinger, had attached the drop line to the chokers, entered the location that was safe, and started rigging when it appeared that the drop line had gotten underneath the fir pole. Proceeding with rigging caused the pole to be thrown towards Employee #1 and struck him in the upper body and head. Seeing the accident, the rigging slinger stopped the rigging and called for assistance. Employee #1 was taken to the local hospital and later airlifted to Rogue Valley Medical Center in Medford, Oregon, where he was diagnosed with a broken vertebrae and head injuries.