# Arborist dies after fall from tree



## Booshcat (Dec 22, 2010)

http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/face/stateface/ky/09KY059.html



In the fall of 2009, the Kentucky Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation program was notified via a coroner of an occupational fatality involving an arborist removing trees at a private residence. A site visit was conducted, and photographs were taken. Interviews were held with the homeowner, coroner, and the local police. 

A homeowner was concerned that four mature Siberian Elm trees located in the back yard next to a wooden fence on the property line, created a possible hazard to neighboring property. A driveway and garage were located under the tree canopy on the neighbor’s side of the fence. The trees were approximately 50 feet – 60 feet tall and were approximately 70 feet from the homeowner’s house. A residential power line ran from the neighbor’s property through the trees to the homeowner’s house. The ground was flat. To abate the hazard to the neighboring property, and the power line, the homeowner hired a tree removal company to cut down the four trees. The arborist was to remove all limbs, branches, tree trunks, and debris from the property. 

On the day of the incident, the arborist finished his eight-hour day at his full-time job and arrived at the residence shortly after 5:00 PM in a pickup truck hauling a wood chipper behind. He had with him one ground person, climbing spurs, a tree climbing saddle, a small chain saw, and three ropes: an orange 12 – 16 strand braided rope used for climbing (climbing line); a blue 12 – 16 strand, braided rope, 7’ – 9’ long, that was used as a safety line (personal lanyard); and a white, three-strand twisted rope that was used for pulling/ lowering tree sections to the ground (work line). 

Upon arriving at the work site, the arborist donned his spurs and climbing saddle then met briefly with the homeowner. Three of the four trees to be removed were in a line and close together. Facing the wooden fence and the three trees grouped together, the tree on the left was 14” – 16” in diameter, the middle tree was approximately 18” in diameter, and the diameter of the tree on the right was unknown. There was approximately three feet between the tree on the left and the middle tree, and approximately eight feet from the middle tree to the tree on the right. The arborist used his climbing line to climb the middle tree and secure himself to a fork in the middle tree. The personal lanyard’s length could be adjusted by being pulled in or out through a prussic knot in a short piece of rope tied to a snap or carabiner affixed to a side D-ring on the climbing saddle. The lanyard went around the tree and the other end of the lanyard was affixed to the D-ring on the opposite side of the saddle, allowing the climber to secure himself in position, and the climbing line (when the lanyard was detached from the tree) allowed him to move freely around the canopy of the three trees. 

The chain saw was pulled up the tree on the orange climbing line. The arborist then used the chain saw to cut away branches from the three trees. As the limbs fell to the ground, the ground person hauled them to the wood chipper. The arborist had completely removed the canopy from the left and middle trees and some of the canopy from the tree on the right. Sections of the left and middle tree trunks had also been removed and lowered to the ground. The arborist had tied one end of the work line to the tree on the left approximately 16 feet up the trunk, and tied the other end of the same rope to the fork approximately 20 feet high on the middle tree. The arborist had secured his lanyard through a fork where both the work line and lanyard were tied. The arborist signaled his ground person to pull the cut tree trunk section to the ground. The tree trunk section and arborist both fell to the ground. 

The homeowner was inside the residence visiting with a neighbor. At approximately 7:10 PM, the neighbor said that something outside did not sound right. The homeowner and neighbor went outside and found the arborist at the base of the tree and the assistant administering medical aid. The climbing rope was found wrapped around the tree trunk and the arborist’s hand and body; the lanyard was wrapped around the tree trunk at the fork, and the work line was wrapped around the fork of the tree trunk as well. The homeowner contacted emergency medical services who arrived and found the arborist without vital signs.


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## pdqdl (Dec 22, 2010)

I don't get it. Experienced climbers seem to get killed more by cutting off the log they are tied to than any other reason.

Does anyone know why this happens?


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## jefflovstrom (Dec 22, 2010)

Loggers aren't climber's?
Jeff 
IDK


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## Jumper (Dec 23, 2010)

Prolly starting this job at 1700 hrs after putting in an eight hour day someplace else was not the best of ideas......


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## stihlkicken (Dec 24, 2010)

*keep looking down on loggers.jefflovstrom..*

best fun I ever had was under cutting a tree with a climber in it.


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## Treepedo (Jan 2, 2011)

Almost happened to me. Long day in a big Poplar lots riggin in the rain, last cut, bone tired, started up saw for the back cut, pushed it in a couple inches and just rembered my tie in, really scared and just managed to unclip my biner and a second or two passed before the hinge let go. I was tired plain and simple and should have been more careful. Check and re-check, people who work with me think its crazy but I suggest talking outloud to your self so brain actually hears what you are thinkin. Seriously!


stihlkicken said:


> best fun I ever had was under cutting a tree with a climber in it.


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## tree md (Jan 2, 2011)

I've started my cut a few times before and remembered that I was still tied in. Every time I was either rushing to get the job done or exhausted from long hours of work. It happens. It happened to the first guy I worked for. He got lucky and was not seriously injured, just really sore.

I tell all of my ground guys to keep an eye on what I am doing and tell me if I start to make a cut while I'm still tied in. I tell them as stupid as it sounds it happens. I will sometimes cut my notch while I am still tied in above so I can swing around, make my face cut and get into position to make my back cut quickly. Invariably one of my guys will always stop me until I explain to them what I am doing.


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## jefflovstrom (Jan 2, 2011)

They die everyday, sad.
Jeff


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## Rickytree (Jan 2, 2011)

Treepedo said:


> Almost happened to me. Long day in a big Poplar lots riggin in the rain, last cut, bone tired, started up saw for the back cut, pushed it in a couple inches and just rembered my tie in, really scared and just managed to unclip my biner and a second or two passed before the hinge let go. I was tired plain and simple and should have been more careful. Check and re-check, people who work with me think its crazy but I suggest talking outloud to your self so brain actually hears what you are thinkin. Seriously!


 
Been there, Done that. But cut through, looked up stupid ass ground twerp stood there and watched me put the tag line in then make my knotch then make the back cut. Said Nothing. I saw after cuz I am a GET R DUN kinda guy, then grabbed my knot as it hit the ground. I tore a strip out of that idiot.. He's long gone and good ridence..Right RAY!!


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## pdqdl (Jan 5, 2011)

I can't quite see the point of firing a groundie for not stopping the climber's mistake. Even if you were the climber.

Don't the climbers always yell at the groundies for being stupid and not understanding what they want? For all that guy knew, you were going to show him something he hadn't seen before. ...I guess you did, too!


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## jefflovstrom (Jan 5, 2011)

pdqdl said:


> I can't quite see the point of firing a groundie for not stopping the climber's mistake. Even if you were the climber.
> 
> Don't the climbers always yell at the groundies for being stupid and not understanding what they want? For all that guy knew, you were going to show him something he hadn't seen before. ...I guess you did, too!


 
Well said!
Jeff


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## ropensaddle (Jan 5, 2011)

stihlkicken said:


> best fun I ever had was under cutting a tree with a climber in it.


 
Be your last mistake if it were me.


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## ropensaddle (Jan 5, 2011)

It is sad, wonder if pot was involved?


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## jefflovstrom (Jan 5, 2011)

ropensaddle said:


> It is sad, wonder if pot was involved?


 
Thanks for the pic change! You're back!! Now your post make's sense. 
Jeff


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## Greener (Jan 13, 2011)

pdqdl said:


> I don't get it. Experienced climbers seem to get killed more by cutting off the log they are tied to than any other reason.
> 
> Does anyone know why this happens?




This is a very sad story and my heart goes out to the climber's family. I appreciate that his story is being shared.

I, too, have seen several instances where cutters mistakenly tie in to the same part of the tree that is being cut away. All I can say is that it is easy to get distracted when performing multiple tasks in a job at the same time. A good example is the other day when my daughter saw the "up" and the arrow on one of my ascenders and thought it was funny, "everyone knows which way is up." I told her it is easy to lose track of the lock direction when using multiple rigs. Something so simple is not always as simple as it seems.


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## andrethegiant70 (Jan 16, 2011)

Yep, this was a bit hard to read. I'm in the aircraft industry and we can never afford to let our guard down when it comes to safety. There are three things I always think are unquestionable.

1. *It is possible that circumstances can gang up up you no matter what you do.* The environment and/or the equipment can conspire to do you in. Not that there aren't a million things you can to do to REDUCE the risk of this happening.

2. *Sometimes, a very good guy can make a mistake.* You need to figure out why this happened.

3. *Sometimes, you just have the wrong guy.*

It does not appear that case number 1 applies. So, on to number 2... if he was "the right guy for the job," there was a reason he made the mistake, the most obvious being that he had already worked an 8-hour day. We probably don't even need to chat about what fatigue does to your thinking and abilities. He may have been racing the sun. Whether this was circumstance or bad judgment is up for debate. So there is plenty of room for number 2 here. 

Number 3 is always a conversation piece, because we all at least halfway believe the old adage that "if you put your mind to it, you can do anything you want." This sounds pretty attractive, but when it comes to safety, it becomes clear there are certain personalities that should steer clear of safety-sensitive jobs. Some folks just have hazardous attitudes. Of course, none of us know this man, but it is certainly possible that he was just not the guy who should have been doing this sort of thing. Someone always retorts that "he's been doing this for years" but the argument doesn't hold up well. I've know several pilots who's luck held out for years... then ran out. They just weren't good pilots, but the environment and the equipment made up for their shortcomings for a long time. The other variation on the same theme is "we've always done it this way and there's never been a problem." If safety is an issue, always question what you are doing and why you do it.

When these things happen, they are very sad... but they present an opportunity of sorts.... to help the industry (and self-aware individuals, though these are not usually the folks who need the help) take steps to save lives, whether it be training, certification, checklists, rules-of-thumb, etc.


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