Inspection Detail

Inspection: 313664302 - John Johnson Dba Johnson Tree Service

Inspection Information - Office: Tennessee Osha Chattanooga Office - Safety

Investigation Summary

On September 8, 2009, Employee #1, the employer of a tree service company, and three employees were removing a large oak tree from the backyard of a private residence. The oak was approximately 30 inches at its base and approximately 40 feet tall. The Employee #1 first had one of his employees use a bucket truck to reach up into the top of the tree to remove all the branches of the tree and to remove the top portion of the tree. Once this was completed, Employee #1 removed the bucket truck and brought in a small Ford crane truck with a boom that was approximately 40 feet long. The Employee #1 placed mud sills down and extended the two outriggers of the crane truck for support. The Employee #1 attached the cable of the crane to the top of the tree and applied tension to the cable. This required the boom of the crane to be fully extended. He then had an employee use a chain saw to cut through the base of the tree. The Employee #1 then moved the tree from in front of the crane truck to its right side and began to lower the tree to the ground. Once the Employee #1 started to lower the tree, the crane truck became overloaded. This caused the crane truck to rollover to the right, fatally crushing the Employee #1 who was operating the crane between the felled tree and the overturned crane truck.

Keywords: TREE FELLING, ROLL-OVER, CAUGHT BETWEEN, CRUSHED, TREE, CRANE