# He lived



## preach it (Jun 9, 2003)

In Devils Lake, North Dakota, there is a small family lawn mowing business. On tuesday, June 3, 2003, the father was trimming some large limbs from a tree about twenty feet up on a ladder. He wasn't wearing any kind of protection or safety gear, ie no tree saddle, no head protection and not tied in at all. He cut off the last limb and suddenly fell from the ladder twenty feet down to the concrete. He had hit the concrete face down. The home owner saw it happen and called the ambulance. He was concious and very badly hurt. He had broken his right upper arm, his left leg was broken near the ankle, his nose was broken, and a laceration on the forehead just above the eyebrows. He was in the hospital for four days and was shortly transferred to a neurological center during that time. They feared that he may have had some brain injury also as he is seeing double. It is now been six days and he is home and has to use a walker to get around and he is still seeing double. I drove by today and spoke with his daughter and he doesn't feel very well right now. Safety gear and being properly tied in can save alot of pain and suffering. His wife just stopped working at the local Walmart they still had insurance.


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## monkeypuzzle (Jun 9, 2003)

A head injury is a bad thing. My girlfriend is a dietitian at a hostpital in Chattahoochee,Fla.,, yall may have heard about it.

Slap full of young men that have fallen from the backs of pick-up trucks,roofs,you name it and hit head first. 

Lots of cool trees there also.


-----OR----- land on your feet.:angel:


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## treeman82 (Jun 9, 2003)

They are all right when they say PPE is cheap insurance.


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## jblimbwalker (Jun 9, 2003)

...and people wonder why I tie, or safety in at such minimal heights...


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## Jumper (Jun 9, 2003)

You see people taking short cuts all the time-I was working at a tennis court last week and a City Bucket truck came around to check the lights. The worker was not wearing a hardhat (though the guy driving was and was not wearing a fall protection harness. One bad reach and he could be out of there. It is the law here that bucket operators have to wear a harness, so I did email the City to reminnd them of their obligations as an employer. Stupid stupid stupid.


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## NeTree (Jun 9, 2003)

Hindsight is 20/20... no pun intended.


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## John Paul Sanborn (Jun 12, 2003)

> _Originally posted by treeman82 _
> *They are all right when they say PPE is cheap insurance.  *



I got knocked to my knees once by a small peice of deadwood that came out of a willow on a removal. Don't want to think what woulda been without the brain bucket.


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## John Paul Sanborn (Jun 12, 2003)

One storm i worked in another state, the bucket guy with the primary contractor went up without out riggers, hardhat, or harness.

It just aint worth the extra minuets gained


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## NickfromWI (Jun 13, 2003)

*no ????....*



> _Originally posted by jblimbwalker _
> *...and people wonder why I tie, or safety in at such minimal heights... *




I was at work the other day, getting ready to prune a 30' Norway Maple. I get my helmet, glasses, (no ear plugs...all hand saw work) and my saddle and rope. One of the guys says, "What the hell are you doing?" Then he goes on about how this tree has a a lot of branches...enough to hold on to when you need to, and that it's a waste of time and he could do it faster than me. I informed him that I, too, could prune the tree without rope. However, you never know........ Then I told him, "shut the hell up and go chip those Hickory branches."

If you can trim a 30' tree without rope, than could you do a 31"? If 31", then could you a 32"? and so on and so on.....where do you draw the line. I draw the line at "a distance I don't mind falling."

It's frustrating sometimes. Thanks for letting me rage. I love you guys.

love
nick


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## jblimbwalker (Jun 13, 2003)

I watched a Marine Corps lineman (electrician) take a gaff almost an inch into his heel, this from a fall of only five feet up a pole. Witnessing this injury made me a believer in strapping in a tree upon ascending, when applicable. Knowing how to take a (short) fall may keep your gaffs out of your flesh, but often times it's the other potentially lethal objects below. I'm sure most of you guys have seen climbers who (spike) climb and don't even bother safteying in until they reach their TIP. But nobody here would be guilty of _that_ , now would they? Take care.


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## John Paul Sanborn (Jun 14, 2003)

Very seldom will i free climb these days, I just find it easier on my body to FL to where I can get a limb then tend hitch. I cna position better and never worry about not using 2 hands when cutting.

Then it is always easier to get down when you have the rope too.

Tom D. talks about the sneez test, Mike Wendt about a bad sandwitch. But the point is, what about those times when for one reason or another you loose control of your body. As anyone who has run into a hornets nest


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