Inspection Detail

Inspection: 301420626 - Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co

Inspection Information - Office: Hi-E-Honolulu

Investigation Summary

At approximately 12:30 p.m. on June 29, 1996, Employee #1 was supervising as a rubber-tired Caterpillar bulldozer was used to secure an approximately 30 ft high tree in a burnt sugarcane field. The work was delayed while vehicular traffic was cleared from a nearby avenue. The bulldozer was positioned with its blade against the tree base to allow for sufficient clearance on the avenue and to allow vehicular traffic to pass behind the bulldozer. The tree was on a 1 1/2 ft high by 10 to 15 ft wide dirt mound, and this incline caused the bulldozer's front wheels to rise up and the rake assembly at the rear of the bulldozer to strike the asphalt roadway. Employee #1 was standing approximately 5 ft from and facing the left rear of the bulldozer, apparently to survey damage to the rake assembly and roadway. He was approximately 16 ft from the tree, and there were no branches directly overhead. Without warning, a limb 18 ft long by 9 in. diameter by 18 in. circumference broke and fell approximately 12 ft perpendicularly onto the avenue. The end section of the branch struck Employee #1's head, causing multiple traumatic injuries. These included laceration of the left parietal scalp, multiple comminuted fractures of the calvarium and base of the skull, lacerations of the brain parenchyma, and subarachnoid hemorrhaging around the brain stem. Employee #1 was pronounced dead at the scene.

Keywords: FRACTURE, HEAD, TREE LIMB, AGRICULTURE, WORK RULES, LACERATION, TREE SECTION, STRUCK BY, FALLING OBJECT, BRAIN