# Temp Labor worker dies while felling fir



## gitrdun_climbr (Sep 22, 2006)

Yep, happened this morning near Bonney Lake in Washington's Pierce County. The 20 year old was in his second day on the job and pulled a tree right down on himself...well, he actually pulled the tagline then as the tree started to fall he ran under it. The tree was a 3' diameter fir and the young man died on the scene.

Apparently he was an employee of a temporary labor service and had no training in arboriculture which is unfortunate. The whole thing is unfortunate because it was so avoidable. He should have been trained to think out two routes of escape, neither crossing the path of the falling tree, obviously.

Though they won't know it, I send my condolences to his family and friends.

King 5 news has a write-up along with what appears to be a photo of the guy...I know the temp-labor guys where yellow hardhats but the photo is somewhat unclear.

http://www.king5.com/topstories/stories/NW_092106WABtreeworkerEL.25e1ec2.html


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## l2edneck (Sep 22, 2006)

From the above article......


> But others in the tree-trimming industry say falling trees is considered general labor and requires no special training




Id like to know whos goin around sayin that?


Anyhow,common sense should tell ya not run under the tree.I feel for him and his family.

(Not to be rude but HTH do you run the wrong way? Im thinkin maybe more to the story.)


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## beowulf343 (Sep 22, 2006)

I don't know. But i've seen guys who have never seen a tree come over freak out a bit as it's coming down-they run away without even thinking about where they are going. Too bad seeing this happen to anyone.


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## Doctor Dave (Sep 23, 2006)

l2edneck said:


> From the above article......
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Well, I've had a saw in my hands since...1974 and I still screwed up last fall. I was topping a big fir. After dumping the top 30 ft., I was dropping a big chunk at about 40 ft., and buried my ONLY wedge, and it didn't fall. Maybe I should have brought another up with me?!! I climbed down, sweating bullets while keeping my eye on the top, and felled the whole thing from the base, nearly hitting a garage. 

Fill in phrase about "Nervous as..." here:

"While giving that ridiculous amnesty speech on how he's going to guard our borders against illegal aliens last Monday," Los Angeles radio talk show host Terry Anderson said, "Bush looked as nervous as a whore in church."


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## Jumper (Sep 23, 2006)

Sad, I wonder if he received any instruction at all other than "hold this rope and pull". Stats prove it, workers new to a job, and especially younger ones are more likely to have accidents in the workplace. I try to keep this in mind when dealing with both types.


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## woodchux (Sep 23, 2006)

Jumper said:


> Sad, I wonder if he received any instruction at all other than "hold this rope and pull". Stats prove it, workers new to a job, and especially younger ones are more likely to have accidents in the workplace. I try to keep this in mind when dealing with both types.




I know a kid here in SC, who on his first day at new job with a sawmill, Been there about 3 hours and reached for a piece of wood. Stuck his hand into the plainer. Needless to say lost many of his fingers.

You wouldn't think that you would have to tell a guy not to run under a falling tree though.


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## Jumper (Sep 23, 2006)

Having dealt with young soldiers much of my working life..................

I can not enforce common sense or what goes on in one's head when faced with a threat, but at least I can try to influence the outcome, and if something happens I have a clear conscience.

I do know that government agencies here are VERY interested in worker safety, and your arse had better be covered when they start to ask questions about the training you provided or confirmed the individual had, the safety equipment that was provided or decreed, whether or not your own procedures were negligent etc etc etc. 

I still remember one construction site I worked at in 2001 where I was thrown into jobs requiring fall arrest gear.....no one ever asked if I had any fall arrest training (I did albeit involved with wearing "monkey harnesses in military aircraft). Even more shocking was being tasked to set up three stories of scaffolding. Not rocket sciences for most, but something that should never have been thrown at a temp worker who may or may not have had any training. 

I would suspect this poor worker in Seattle was pretty clueless as to the hazards involved with even being labour in a tree service workplace.


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## Jumper (Sep 23, 2006)

woodchux said:


> I know a kid here in SC, who on his first day at new job with a sawmill, Been there about 3 hours and reached for a piece of wood. Stuck his hand into the plainer. Needless to say lost many of his fingers.
> 
> You wouldn't think that you would have to tell a guy not to run under a falling tree though.



Did anyone ever show him what a planer did to wood, let alone soft tissue? You hit it on the nose "kid" and "first day", warning flags should have been up for the boss in that place from minute one.

Many are full of piss and vinager, just want to please and if that involves shortcuts....recipe for disaster in many cases.


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## smokechase II (Sep 23, 2006)

*training*

*"But others in the tree-trimming industry say falling trees is considered general labor and requires no special training. Royse says maybe it should."*

Bingo!

Look, it isn't an office temp job where paper cuts are a leading problem.

Of course there needs to be a basic level of training. (There seems to be lots of video showing people doing fairly zany things at the dumb end of the rope.)

I was in charge of a group cutting down hazard trees in a Campground yesterday. This one second year employee, who can do a rubrics cube briskly, was going to be dropping a snag and I had them walk through the escape route. I'm aware of their intelligence but just wanted to be sure. Not a big deal but I did have them turn a different way and some other stuff.

Never hurts to share knowledge if you can make a decent non-condescending effort.

Just because some milk toast government agency doesn't make or enforce reasonable things like rudimentary training doesn't mean we can't do the safe thing in the field.
Fortunately, my employer has no qualms about safety. Hope yours is the same.


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## Ekka (Sep 23, 2006)

A few years ago I quoted a customer and he already had some trees down.

His wife had urged him to get the pro's in after he pulled one onto himself ... the old SRS got him! (short rope syndrome).

Apparently as it was coming over the (wife tells me) he just kept looking up and froze! The tree bowled him over and luckily no major damage.

It's difficult when you need temp labour for a day and go thru an agency to get an experienced sort. And they send out zero experience. Over here under general WC the agency cops it but the employer still gets done under OHS for "failing to provide a safe workplace". Maybe the law needs to change so agencies cop it for "failing to provide a safe worker"?

Sad incident, but to common to read.


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## l2edneck (Sep 23, 2006)

> he just kept looking up and froze! *The tree bowled him over *and luckily no major damage.




Now that is funny


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## woodchux (Sep 23, 2006)

Jumper said:


> Did anyone ever show him what a planer did to wood, let alone soft tissue?



Poor kid didn't even realize that there were blades spinning in there. Stuck his hand right in. Swears that he heard his fingers hit the wall when they flew off.


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## Jumper (Sep 23, 2006)

I guess my point is someone should have shown him with a piece of wood-young and inexperienced workers will do the damnest things.


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## gitrdun_climbr (Sep 24, 2006)

*Totality of circumstances...*

Totality of circumstances led to this incident I fear. The kid was young and likely eager, excited, scared, uninformed and inexperienced all in one. He likely didn't realize how fast a tree gets going and thought he could out run it...may have slipped/tripped...with a split-second decision like that he would be hard to stop by anyone. I hate to speculate. I will try to research further details, I'm curious about just how much training these temp guys receive and where the liability spills most. 

Many years ago I was a temp laborer while moving into a new city and they just made me sign a paper saying I had been trained in all aspects of safety...which consisted of reviewing a couple of pages in a three-ring binder rambling about safe ladder use and hard hat protection, etc. That place was busy, crowded, chaotic, loud, smelly with one staff member handling maybe 50 people, phones, faxes, directions, gear, rides, clients, fights...he sure doesn't have time to sit down with you and go over all safety aspects of tree service (which are maaany as we know). Tree service and temp-labor workers just seem like a bad combination to me at this point. Who's gonna take the time to properly train them?

I'm truly bummed this happened to the guy. Hope his loss of life will somehow impact others in a way that keeps them more safe.


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## VTclimber (Sep 25, 2006)

the most interesting part of that article to me was the fact that the company does not have employees. they use temp work for everything. it would be interesting to see how many other temps have been injured working for them with no training. 

i'm guessing its legal to run a company with no "employees" and only temp workers, but common sense is telling me its not the safest way to do things. stupid call by a lot of people. the one that can be placed with the least amount of blame is the poor kid that died.


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