Text For Citation: 01 Item/Group: 001 Hazard: STRUCK BY

Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970: The employer did not furnish employment and a place of employment which were free from recognized hazards that were causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees in that employees were exposed to a struck-by hazard due to falling tree limbs during tree removal rigging operations: a)Yard, 11 Lawrence Trail, Long Valley, NJ. Employee working as a ground man and tasked with lowering cut limbs to the ground by use of a workline and tree wrap, was exposed to the hazard of being struck by a descending limb. No rigging points were assessed nor a rigging plan established by the employer to estimate the potential forces at any point in the rigging system being used on-site. A limb, estimated to weigh approximately 1,000 lbs, had a working-load limit not compatible with that rigging system. As a result, the descent of the limb was not controlled and struck the employee working on the ground. This condition was observed on or about 9/4/2009. ABATEMENT NOTE: Among other methods, one feasible and acceptable method to correct this hazard is to: 1:Have the rigging points assessed for their structural integrity by a qualified arborist. The rigging plan and the tree shall be considered relative to the forces being applied to any part of the tree, including branch attachments and anchoring roots, before a rigging point is chosen and established in accordance with ANSI Z133.1-2006 American National Standard for Arboricultural Operations, section 8.4.6. 2:Have the rigging system components comply with working-load limits relative to the operation and the maximum potential forces. Arborist shall be educated to understand and trained to estimate the potential forces at any point in the rigging system being used in accordance with ANSI Z133.1-2006 American National Standard for Arboricultural Operations, section 8.4.8. Additionally, as described in section 8.4.13 of ANSI Z133.1-2006, 'Only qualified arborists or qualified arborist trainees directly involved in the operation shall be permitted in the work zone when a load is being suspended by the rigging system.