Inspection Detail

Note: The following inspection has not been indicated as closed. OSHA citation items will be posted 30 (thirty) days after the employer receives the citation(s), except in cases of significant public interest. Posted citation items reflect any amendments to citations that are the result of a prompt settlement, which OSHA encourages. Employers and employee representatives will continue to receive copies of the citation(s) upon issuance.

Inspection: 1559383.015 - D & L Tree Service, Llc.

Inspection Information - Office: Albany Area Office

Investigation Summary

At 9:00 a.m. on October 21, 2021, an employee was working from an Altec bucket truck using a Stihl top-handle climbing saw removing limbs from a pine tree. The truck was located alongside the driveway of a residence. The pine tree was approximately 90 feet tall with twin codominant stems. As he moved the bucket, the articulated "elbow" of the boom apparently became lodged on a stub limb on the tree, putting the boom under tension. A coworker on the ground yelled to warn him not to keep moving the lift but it was too late. The stub limb broke and the boom flexed, catapulting the employee out of the bucket about 30 feet onto the protective enclosure over the cab of the truck and then to the driveway. The employee was not wearing a harness or lanyard. He incurred multiple trauma from impact with the bucket truck and the ground and was killed.

Keywords: Aerial Lift, Blunt force, Blunt force trauma, Bucket , Ejected, Equipment Operator, Fall, Fall From Elevation, Fall Protection, Harness, Lanyard, Lift Bucket, PPE, PPE Hazard Assessment, Saw, Tree, Tree Care, Tree Trimming, Truck, Truck Boom, Truck Driver