Inspection Detail

Inspection: 306440975 - Funke Bros. Logging, Inc.

Inspection Information - Office: Boise Area Office

Investigation Summary

At approximately 7:20 a.m. on September 23, 2004, Employee #1 was involved in yarding operations. He was working as a choker setter and was a part of a six-employee crew operating in the area that day. This tree-harvesting operation required logging on steep terrain. Once the area to be logged was located, a sawyer would find his way down the mountain side while shooting an azimuth. The distance was dependent on many factors. While moving down the terrain, he would flag trees to be cut down, thus forming a corridor or trail. Once he reached the corridor's end, an anchor tree would be selected and a wire rope attached from the yarder. A red fir was used as the anchor tree in this case and was guyed using two additional lines. This established the skyline, which was used for a carriage to descend and ascend the corridor. An additional wire rope, the mainline, came from the yarder and went to and though the carriage. This provided an attachment point for chokers. The chokers were already attached to the trees to be yarded. This was commonly referred to as a drag or a turn. The accident involved two chokers set up on this drag. The carriage was used to help yard logs (drags) up through the corridor and onto a landing next to the yarder. The logs were then skidded, trimmed, and bucked before being loaded onto trucks. There were two sheaves in the upper area of the carriage, which allow it to ride along while suspended from skyline. The weight of the carriage and skyline allowed the carriage to move downward. The movement back to the landing was done with the yarder's mainline, which pulled the carriage upward. To maintain carriage position at any given point, internal clamps held onto the skyline. These clamps were electrically controlled and hydraulically actuated. At various times, the mainline was also used to hold the carriage using similar clamps. Once the carriage was positioned for the hooker, the skyline was clamped, and the mainline was fed out. This allowed the hooker to set his chokers for the drag. The yarder operator fed the mainline cable with an internal-carriage motor. Sometimes the yarder operator was close enough to see what's going on so he would assist the hooker with handling the mainline prior to setting the chokers. Signals (beeps) were also used to maneuver the mainline into position. On the day of the accident, the yarder operator had received the signal from Employee #1 to stop the carriage. After stopping the carriage, the yarder operator set the clamps and began to lower the carriage by slacking the skyline. He stopped when he received the next signal (beep) from Employee #1. At that point, the mainline was no longer being used to hold the carriage in position. The yarder operator then extended more mainline cable, allowing Employee #1 to hook up his chokers. Once Employee #1 got his chokers set, he gave another signal (two beeps) and the yarder operator began to tighten the mainline. As the mainline was being pulled through the carriage, it drew the drag closer to the carriage. Once Employee #1 determined the drag was close enough to the carriage, he signaled again (beep). The yarder operator then stopped taking in the mainline and set the mainline clamps. The yarder operator then released the skyline clamps. Employee #1 then gave the final signal for the yarder operator to move the drag up the corridor. This is done as the yarder pulls the mainline and drag to the landing. The yarder operator was just starting to move the drag out to the corridor when the accident occurred. Employee #1 was supposed to be out of the way or in the clear. The yarder operator stated that, after hearing the go signal, he tightened up, the carriage went out of sight, and then he saw a flash (a standing tree that had fallen). The yarder operator and a skidder operator immediately went down to the site, where Employee #1 was found near the fallen tree's top with serious injuries to his head and chest. Employee #1 was given fir

Keywords: HEAD, YARDING, STEEP GRADE, TREE, LOGGER, STRUCK BY, LOAD LINE, FALLING OBJECT, LOGGING, COMMUNICATION