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

29 CFR OSH ACT of 1970 Section (5)(a)(1): 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 struck-by hazards: (a) Jobsite located at 274 Glen Roy Rd, Nottingham PA: On December 22, 2020, during a tree felling operation, an employee was attempting to free a hung-up tree that was bent and under tension when the tree whipped back, striking the employee and pinning him face-down underneath the tree resulting in fatal asphyxiation. Among other methods, feasible and acceptable means of hazard abatement include following the national consensus standard requirements of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Z133-2017 for Arboricultural Operations-Safety Requirements: Section 3.4.3: 'A job briefing shall be performed by the qualified arborist in charge before the start of each job. The briefing shall be communicated to all affected workers.' Section 8.61: 'Before any tree removal operation, the chain-saw operator and/or crew leader shall carefully consider all relevant factors pertaining to the tree and site and shall take appropriate actions to ensure a safe removal operation. Factors to include may be, but are not limited to, tree day, tree lean, and wind (see Annex C3, Manual Tree Felling Procedure, for a more inclusive list).' Section 8.62: 'The crew leader shall...develop a tree removal work plan, and communicate the work plan and job task assignments in a job briefing with the crew prior to beginning the tree work removal work.' Annex B, B.2.6: 'Provide education and training in jobsite-specific hazards associated with the job, work procedures, and practices involved. Instruct employees about special precautions, personal protective clothing, and equipment requirements as applicable to employee job assignments.' Annex C: 'Before performing any work, conduct a site assessment and the following seven steps to determine whether a tree can be manually felled.' '1. Hazards and Obstacles Identification: Examples of conditions to analyze include, but are not limited to: (a) tree size in relationship to the landing zone; (e) species and shape of tree; (f) lean of tree; (l) size and terrain characteristics or limitations of work area; (w) throwback or bounceback potential; (x) potential for spring poles; (bb) potential for barber chair;'