Inspection Detail

Inspection: 1532827.015 - International Tree Management, Inc.

Inspection Information - Office: Sacramento District Office

Investigation Summary

At 12:20 p.m. on April 15, 2021, an employee was working for a tree trimming service. He was a foreman. He and two coworkers had been sent to work in a county forest. No other firm was working onsite at the time of the incident. The workers were piecing down a sugar pine tree. In this incident, the employee was working aloft in the tree, piecing it down. His two coworkers were on the ground, working as groundsmen. The sugar pine was dying and had been scheduled for removal, It was some 95 feet (29 m) tall and some 26 in. (0.66 m or 660 mm) across Presumably, the diameter was taken at breast height. The employee had completed six cuts off the top of the tree with traditional cuts. He then switched to a larger chain saw, a Stihl model MS362, to make the seventh cut, a Humboldt cut this time. This would have resulted in a 16-ft by 14-in. (4.9-m by 360-mm) piece. After he had completed the cut, a pie-shaped or wedge-shaped piece remained in the tree. To remove the piece, the employee used the top of the chain saw blade to knock out the piece. The chain saw's blade kicked off the surface of the tree and cut both of the employee's safety lines. The employee fell nearly 45 feet (13.7 M) onto a bed of pine needles. He suffered a fractured wrist, a dislocated shoulder, and some fractured ribs. He was hospitalized. DOSH learned of the incident at approximately 11:00 a.m. on the following day, April 16, 2021, when the employer reported it with a phone call. The employer reported the incident within the required timeframe. DOSH arrived at the incident site at approximately 9 a.m. on May 20, 2021. The site was no longer active. Because the employer was located in Southern California, an opening conference was conducted over a phone line that day. No accident-related citations were to be issued.

Keywords: Arboriculture, Arborist, Broken Bone, Chain Saw, Chest, Climbing Line, Cut, Dislocated, Fracture, Kick Back, Misjudgment, Misjudgment of Hazardous Situation, Rib, Rope, Shoulder, Tree, Tree Trimming, Wrist