Inspection Detail

Inspection: 313078107 - Garden Island Tree Care

Inspection Information - Office: Hi-E-Honolulu

Investigation Summary

At approximately 11:43 a.m. on October 19, 2009, an employee fell from a eucalyptus tree while he was tip tying the tree limbs and branches. He was approximately 60 feet above the lower level, and had just clipped his carabiner to his climbing rope. The employee sustained a fractured left arm, fractured right wrist, and left leg fracture. It was determined that when he reattached his climbing rope to his carabiner he inadvertently attached his carabiner to the yosemite tail wrap, instead of the bowline knot. By not dressing and setting the bowline knot with the yosemite tail finish on the end of his climbing rope, prior to reattaching the climbing rope to the carabiner, and after throwing and retrieving his climbing rope from the tree the sequences for the fall were set in motion. The Bowline and Yosemite tail finish knots had loosened from the throwing and retrieving action. The employee hooked the carabiner to the yosemite tail finish end which slipped when he put his full weight on the climbing rope. The yosemite tail finish could not hold & slipped off of his carabiner as his put his full weight on the climbing rope to descend to a lower level in the tree. The employee was an International Society of Arborist certified, and had been trained to tie, dress, and set prior to reattaching the climbing rope to his carabiner.

Keywords: FRACTURE, ROPE, TREE, FALL, LEG, WRIST