Inspection Detail

Inspection: 119763233 - Rellim Redwood Co.

Inspection Information - Office: Redding District Office

Investigation Summary

Employee #1 was a hook tender at a yarder logging operation. In use was a Bendix Skagit Corp. yarder, model T-110, with a dead skyline and a gravity fed carriage with 40-foot chokers on the front and rear drops. Employee #1, in charge of the yarder site, was in the hole with two other employees setting chokers for the yarder. A turn had just gone in, and as the carriage was being gravity returned to the hole, the chokers were hitting the ground by about a foot as they neared the choker setters. The chokers were hitting the ground because of a lack of lift caused by the flatness of the ground. The front choker wrapped once or twice around a standing tan oak at about the time the rigging slinger whistled for a stop. As the carriage came to a stop, it eased tension on the choker, which came unwrapped and swung downhill, hitting Employee #1. He was found on the ground lying below the log on which he had been standing. This spot was measured to be 23 feet from the skyline. Employee #1 sustained serious head injuries and was taken to the intensive care unit at Rogue Valley Hospital in Medford, Oregon. The main cause of the accident was the failure of the employees to be in the clear while the chokers were being returned to the hole. The employer was cited for a serious violation of 6270(i)(2) for employees not being in the clear.

Keywords: CLEARANCE, YARDING, WORK RULES, STRUCK BY, LOGGING, CHOKER