Inspection Detail

Inspection: 311078679 - Abc Professional Tree Services

Inspection Information - Office: Cleveland Area Office

Investigation Summary

At approximately 10:30 a.m. on April 26, 2007, Employees #1 and #2 were employed by ABC Professional Tree Services of Houston, Texas. They were members of a crew that had been sent to work on a project clearing trees for FirstEnergy Corporation, the northern Ohio electrical utility, just outside Chagrin Falls, Ohio. FirstEnergy's power lines made a crossing of the Chagrin River at that location, and the crew faced the task of "skidding" or raising three sections of logs up a 70- to 80-foot embankment. To do this, they had devised an arrangement of two 0.625-inch nylon ropes, a metal pulley system, and two bucket trucks. Employees #1 and #2 were guiding the skidding. One end of a 6- to 7-foot red long 0.625-inch nylon anchor line was attached to the rear of bucket truck #1 at the top section of its roof. The rope's other end was attached to the hook of a metal pulley that was acting as an anchor point. Passing around this anchor point pulley was a much longer white 0.625-inch nylon rope. One of its ends was attached to the tow hook and bumper of bucket truck #2, which was located approximately 30 to 40 feet away from bucket truck #1. The other end was attached to the logs, down the embankment. Bucket truck #2 was being used to skid the logs up the embankment. Employee #1, a site supervisor for the project, and Employee #2, a tree trimmer, were on a sidewalk, directly behind bucket truck #1. They were standing "in the bight;" that is to say, they were standing inside the angle made by the long nylon rope as it bent around the pulley. They were observing and guiding bucket truck #2 as the logs were pulled up the 70- to 80-foot embankment. Suddenly, the red 0.625-inch nylon rope attached to bucket truck #1 failed. With that release of tension, the white 0.625-inch nylon rope, its lower end attached to the three logs being raised, was free to fly through the air, taking the pulley and hook with it. The metal pulley and hook serving as an anchor point struck Employees #1 and #2 in their heads and facial areas, knocking them over a 3-foot guard rail. They landed about 13 to 15 feet from the point of impact. Coworkers onsite called emergency medical technicians. The Bentleyville Police Department and the Chagrin Fire Department responded. Employee #1 was transported by the paramedics to an emergency room in Solon, Ohio, where he was pronounced dead at approximately 12:01 p.m. Employee #2 was transported to Hill Crest Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio, where he was treated for injuries to his neck and facial area. He was released later that day.

Keywords: HEAD, RIGGING, ROPE, LOG, EQUIPMENT FAILURE, ELEC UTILITY WORK, STRUCK BY, FLYING OBJECT, PULLEY, TREE TRIMMING