UNITED STATES
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

On July 10, 2008, Employee #1, a maintenance worker, and his supervisor were cutting and trimming trees along the road leading up to the Lake Casitas Dam. They were working for about four hours. The supervisor was operating a boom truck and Employee #1 was operating the Stihl gasoline powered chain saw with the bucket of the boom lift. After lunch, they started up again. Employee #1 indicated that the chain saw was not idle, when he took his finger off the trigger and the motor stopped working. After having to restart the chain saw a few times, Employee #1 decided to keep the saw running, by keeping his finger on the trigger. That also kept the blade moving at a slow speed. Employee #1 was holding the running saw in his right hand, and the saw was resting on the edge of the bucket when he reached over the saw with his left hand to remove some branches that did not fall after being cut. As he was pulling the branches away, his left arm came in contact with the moving blade of the saw and cut his arm above the wrist. Employee #1 damaged his left arm tendon, nerve, and muscle. The supervisor lowered the bucket, helped remove Employee #1's harness, and helped him get out of the bucket. Employee #1 was transported to Community Memorial Hospital, Ventura, underwent a surgery and was hospitalized for three days.