Inspection Detail

Inspection: 1576167.015 - Arboristas Inc

Inspection Information - Office: Fresno District Office

Investigation Summary

At 4:00 p.m. on December 27, 2021, an employee was working as a groundskeeper or gardener for a landscaping service. He had worked for the firm for eight to ten months. The firm had eighteen employees. The company had expanded to a new location, where the employee was a tree climber and foreman. The employee's job sometimes required working from an aerial lift mounted to the only tree trimming truck at the new site. On the day of the incident, it had been raining. The employee had gone to the firm's equipment yard between 11:00 a.m. and noon to start the truck and keep the batteries charged. At 5:00 p.m., the employee's supervisor was called by someone from another firm, a moving company, that shared the equipment yard with the firm. The caller told him that the employee had been found unconscious. At the time, the location was monitored on a video camera. When the supervisor arrived at the scene, he was given an account of the incident by workers from the moving company. The employee was on the truck's platform, above the cab of the truck. The uppermost edge of the platform was 8 feet (2.4 meters) above the ground). The employee was not wearing PPE, though that was required. The employee said he was greasing the truck's bucket, but that was supposed to be done from another location. He did not remember what happened next. The employee fell approximately 8 feet (2.4 meters) onto asphalt. He suffered fractures of his ribs, clavicle, and skull. He was hospitalized.

Keywords: Clavicle, Elevated Work Plat, Elevated Work Platform, Fall, Fall From Elevation, Fall Protection, Fracture, Landscaper, Landscaping, Loss of consciousness, PPE, Rain, Rib, Skull, Slippery Surface, Tree Trimming, Truck, Walking Surface, Working Alone