Abstract: On September 19, 2013, Employee #1 and two coworkers were trimming palm trees. Employee #1 used a 30 ft extension ladder to climb part of the way up a 50 ft tall palm tree. He was going to cut the fronds at the top of the tree. Employee #1 used a lineman's belt with a positioning strap and a rope, with both of them attached around the tree. He was also wearing climbing gaffs and a body harness. After stepping from the ladder, he continued to climb the rest of the length of the tree until he reached the point where he would cut the fronds, which was a height of 45 ft. Employee #1 was using a box cutter to cut the fronds along with a handsaw. After cutting one of the fronds, Employee #1 attached the climbing rope through two fronds at the base of the crown of the palm tree. The climbing rope was also attached to his body harness and a coworker on the ground was holding the other end of the rope. After completing the cutting, Employee #1 started to descend the tree in a repelling motion using the rope. He had detached the positioning strap and rope from the lineman's belt. As he descended, the crown of the palm tree broke off and he fell approximately 40 ft to the ground. The surface he fell upon was concrete with a green artificial grass cover. The fall resulted in injuries to his head and broken bones. Emergency medical personnel were summoned. They arrived and transported him by ambulance to a county medical center. At the hospital, Employee #1 died approximately six hours later after surgery to relieve pressure and bleeding in the brain.