Abstract: At approximately 12:00 noon on November 18, 1998, Employee #1 was gathering scion wood from the top of an approximately 70 ft tall sugar pine tree. A coworker had removed the extension ladders that Employee #1 had used to access the crown of the tree, so he attached his rappel line to a branch on the same side of the tree that he was rappelling down. As Employee #1 was descending, the rappel line slipped outward on the tree branch, and the branch broke. He fell approximately 50 ft to the ground and sustained multiple injuries, from which he died. Company policy required employees to attach their rappel line around the bow of the tree branches.