Inspection Detail

Inspection: 300088200 - Philip Picard

Inspection Information - Office: Hartford Area Office

Investigation Summary

On April 13, 2002, Employee #1 and other coworkers were removing a standing tree from the yard of a residential lot. To remove the tree, a coworker from an elevated bucket of a bucket truck started cutting the branches. The branches dropped to the ground as they were cut. Employee #1 and other employees then gathered the falling branches and took them to the chipper, or to the firewood pile. After removing many of the tree branches, the coworker in the elevated bucket begun to cut large sections of the tree trunk. The coworker had finished cutting a 35-ft section of the tree and then pushed it off the trunk, when he noticed Employee #1 walking close to the tree. The coworker yelled at Employee #1 to warn him about the falling tree section, but it was too late. The tree section struck Employee #1 in his head causing a concussion. The tree section weight approximately 40-lb. He later died from complications due to brain trauma sustained in the accident.

Keywords: HEAD, TREE FELLING, TREE, TREE SECTION, STRUCK BY, CONCUSSION, FALLING OBJECT, TREE TRIMMING