Inspection Detail

Inspection: 308771625 - R & D Logging, Llc

Inspection Information - Office: Jackson Area Office

Investigation Summary

On July 24, 2006, five employees of R & D Logging, LLC, after attending a site safety meeting, returned to harvesting storm-damaged hardwood logs. Employee #1, a saw hand, gassed up his Stihl MS 440 chainsaw and proceeded to cut trees, which had been downed by Hurricane Katrina the following year, in an area approximately 300 yards south of the loading ramp. He was instructed to cut the downed trees off at their root wad, and allow the skidder to pull them out onto flat ground before he cut off their tops. A coworker, the skidder operator, backed up to a 20-inch. diameter white oak log, who's top had fallen over and onto the root wad, after the tree trunk had been cut away from its top. The white oak was the tenth tree to be hauled to the loading ramp that morning. The skidder operator grabbed the oak with the massive skidder jaws, and picked up the tree's butt end. He then pulled the 46.5-ft log up the slope and into a clearing. He did not hear or see Employee #1 when he picked up the last log, so he dropped the log from the skidder's grapple jaws, and turned to drive back to the area where he had picked up the log. This area was the last place that Employee #1 was seen. The skidder operator turned off his machine, got off, and started looking for Employee #1. He found him crushed under the location where the top of the white oak log was laying. The skidder operator called for another coworker, who was on his parked bulldozer, and he ran over to Employee #1. He felt for a pulse, found none, and called 911. The Lauderdale Coroner pronounced Employee #1 dead at the scene.

Keywords: FRACTURE, BACK, CRUSHED, TREE, SKIDDER, STRUCK BY, FALLING OBJECT