How to handle a sad memory ?

[pdqdl]

I had an excellent climber get killed on the job about 9 years ago, and it still troubles me today. I keep his employee picture lost in a small corner of my desk, just as an occasional reminder.

Nicest climber I ever hired, he had 12 years of experience. A deeply religious fellow, he said he was going to save us all, and would have been a preacher if he wasn't a climber.

He got a minor chainsaw cut on the first day, we had to make him go to the doctor to get stitches. When he came back to work, we emphasized that he didn't need to hurry on the job, that we were already impressed. We were, too!

3rd day on on the job, 15 minutes into the day, he was dead. No drugs, no alcohol: he was a clean living man, and post-mortem tests proved it.

This was no accident or miscalculation. Suicide even crossed our minds at the time, but he was too upbeat and positive for that. Unbelievably, he cut off the 1/2 of the 65' cottonwood tree that he was still tied to. The climbing lines were draped over a cut off branch stub above and behind him on the other major fork of the tree. When the 40+ feet of the biggest fork of the tree fell down, he was dragged upwards, off the stub he was still buckstrapped to, and through the small fork formed by the stub behind him. His 3-strand rope lanyard had one of the three strands broken as it was ripped upward off the stump of the huge limb he had just cut off. As best we can tell, he thought he had un-clipped himself from the climbing rope, or just plain forgot what he was doing. It made no sense to even cut that fork off, as he had rigged the bull rope in it for lowering the smaller fork closer to the house nearby.

We had our bucket truck there to do the whole job, and he declined to use it. We could have simply cut the tree down from the ground, but we would have had to shag the logs back up a steep hill.

His tree climbing relatives came to visit us the next day from one state away, as they could not believe that he would ever make a mistake like that. As best we could tell in the short time we knew him, he was an exceptional climber.

His common-law wife of 8 years got nearly nothing. Our worker's comp insurance only paid a $5000 death benefit. It was cheaper on my insurance to kill a man on the job than to just break his leg. (If ANY of you are not getting married, just because you don't see think you need a license to be happy together, consider that death benefits are NOT the same for the unmarried.)

Almost like a one night stand, he came into our lives and went. His girl friend and his relatives took him back home, and we never heard from them again.

I have no guilt about how we handled the job or the events that followed; so far as I know, nothing our crew could have done could have kept him alive once he climbed the tree.

I am not sure why I posted this. I only discovered this forum today. Maybe I just wanted to get it off my chest; I never have before, and this seems like a good place for it.

If I am lucky, perhaps someone will remember to pay a little more attention someday on an easy "no-brainer" tree.

 

[corndogg]

Same thing happened to my buddy. He was my boss actually. He had built a residential tree service intro a land clearing company over five years or so when the economy was good. Around 2002 or so. We were on a street reconstruction, where they were replacing sections of curb and the asphalt. We were to remove large trees marked too close to street. Most were floppers, but one would have hit some wires and had to be topped. The owner was the only climber! Myself and the other guy were just equipment operators. He spiked up it quickly tying into the center of the tree. One lead (silver maple) was far reaching and had to go to clear the wires during fell. I kept yelling to cut more and go higher. His tie in was now parallel to the ground to he retied to the branch he was on. Neighbors all watching and us waiting. He had already set the bull rope to pull it over so I was backing up the pickup to pull it over. When I got out of the truck to tie the bull rope to truck I hear "OH ####". He was in a hurry and not paying attention had forgotten that he moved his tie-in. He had notched and back cut the lead his rope was in. Just as it cracked and started goin he realized what he had done. That's when he said OH ####. I yelled to un-clip. It seemed like slow motion. He had a williams ball lock biner and couldn't't get it unclipped, he also didn't't have a lanyard on! At the last second he bear hugged the tree which did no good. The limb ripped him out of the tree from maybe 30' or so and sling shot him to the street just over the curb. He landed on his front right side HARD. Blood pouring out of every orifice. Neighbor EMT came and helped, ambulance, then 6 months in coma. One year later out of hospital but back every day for rehab. Lost business, divorce, house for sale. Said his insurance co spent over 1 million on him! Fully covered! Three years later he is alive and working. Looks a bit different, talks a lot different, different person, drives, walks a little funny. Still recovering. He's got the greatest attitude of anyone I know, happy to be alive. Grinds stumps on the side and works for a land clearing/mulch company loading screeners and grinders now. I have a hard time climbing trees with that in the back of my mind. If he would have been tied in at two places I think he would have done much better. He broke a rule and got sloppy obviously.

 

[pdqdl]

Same thing happened to my buddy.

... so I was backing up the pickup to pull it over. When I got out of the truck to tie the bull rope to truck I hear "OH ####".

Sad. I was not there when my man fell, so I got out of that part.

In a small way, you got lucky. You would have really felt bad if you had been the one to pull him out of the tree.

 

[corndogg]

I like to tell my groundies to watch the climber and make sure everything looks right. In both of these incidents if another climber or experienced groundy had been watching they could have blown a horn, like the ones they use in paintball and prevented these accidents. Even though I regret not preventing this I blame my old boss for not educating me about climbing. Had I known anything about climbing I could have kept an eye on him and prevented the accident. I think owners should not be climbing. They have so much other crap on their minds. I'm gonna try to stop climbing as soon as I can so I don't end up like these guys. Finding and hiring good climbers though, that's tough.

 

[pdqdl]

men on the ground

One of the groundmen claimed that he tried to warn Kenny at the last moment, but I don't think that is quite true. There was another climber on the job with even more experience (he was doing the sales and supervision), but he was out front moving a truck.

Granted, it sure can save a man to have someone on the ground watching, but once you are in the tree, you must presume that no one can do your safety checks but yourself.

 

[masterarbor]

i am in reverent awe of these two posts. we really need to be careful and always watch out for each other. as an owner, i have to remember that NO JOB is worth not coming home to my family and no amount of money is worth putting my men in unnecessary danger. it's unfortunate that i have to stress unnecessry danger, but this job is dangerous and there just isn't any way to avoid that. we can remember that we can be in dangerous situations without exhibiting dangerous behavior. thanks for the posts guys, i needed to hear it.

kevin

 

[Gumnuts]

PDQDL

You are a good man to still think of this incident.I really appreciate your sharing this story.Both stories really choked me up.
We are only here for a little while and it seems that man was close to his maker.
Made me think of good friends who climb,work fast, chasing the buck to meet
extended financial responsibilities.
Look after each other mate.Bury his photo in a really nice place and say goodbye.

Hope to see you round AS more - all the best

- Graeme

 

[gremlin]

reading all this will open your eyes for sure. im an inexperienced climber and have been given a rash of crap from friends and other climbers about my safety ways. im very slow right now when working in a tree. mostly because im trying to be safe. i look and rethink everything i do several times before i do it. i once worked for a cell phone tower company and watched two people die from falls. one had over 25 yrs of climbing experiance. he went up a tower with NO GEAR at all. his crew leader told him to come down and his comment was im to good for gear. 400 ft later wind caught him and down he came. everytime i climb i think about both of those men and what and how things happened. I absolutely hate to hear and read about accidents like this but they teach all the rest of us very valuable lessons. hopefully reading these threads will make another man think and maybe practice a little more safety and save someones life.

 

[pdqdl]

Thanks guys!

I appreciate the feedback.

 

[Mitchell]

thanks for the reality checkguys

I like to tell my groundies to watch the climber and make sure everything looks right. In both of these incidents if another climber or experienced groundy had been watching they could have blown a horn, like the ones they use in paintball and prevented these accidents. Even though I regret not preventing this I blame my old boss for not educating me about climbing. Had I known anything about climbing I could have kept an eye on him and prevented the accident. I think owners should not be climbing. They have so much other crap on their minds. I'm gonna try to stop climbing as soon as I can so I don't end up like these guys. Finding and hiring good climbers though, that's tough.

You do not work in this industry long before you meet some one who has been effected by such accidents as you both described. I hope the best for all involved.

I think I will invest in a boat horn, its a good idea. I keep a fox 40 whistle on my shirt collar [ a requirement for fallers in BC] which may not be enough to get some ones attention up high on a saw. Ill test it out and report back; its a simple cheap and quick way to get some ones attention. Particularly as no one is realistically going to walk around with one of those squeeze boat horn cans.

Corndog you bring a good point concerning owner operators not being a climber, but reality is that scenario wont change for most new shows for their first few years. Personally I have done some very stupid [potentially fatal] things and the common thread for me is distractions usually coupled with not eating, drinking or stopping for a break into the afternoon.

 

[JS Landscaping]

The pain of loosing someone that was apart of your life, may never go away, i know this all to well when I lost my best friend of 18 years 2 years ago when he was struck by a train while ridding his dirtbike along the tracks going to a track we practiced at daily. I was suposed to be ridding with him that day, but decided to finish out one more lawn and then meet up later. The what if's always will be present in your mind, but you can not hold it against yourself. I always wondered what If i went ridding that day, maybe the out come would have been differnt...but you will never be able to know. Accidents happen, its apart of life. When it is your time to go, its your time to go, regardless of how much you can try and prevent it. Everything happens for a reason in life. You have to look at it as your climber was doing something he probably loved to do, and in this field the risk is extremly high no matter how much pre thought, saftey and planning to into each job. Remember the good times, and that he is in a better place now. Godspeed.

 

[gremlin]

The pain of loosing someone that was apart of your life, may never go away, i know this all to well when I lost my best friend of 18 years 2 years ago when he was struck by a train while ridding his dirtbike along the tracks going to a track we practiced at daily. I was suposed to be ridding with him that day, but decided to finish out one more lawn and then meet up later. The what if's always will be present in your mind, but you can not hold it against yourself. I always wondered what If i went ridding that day, maybe the out come would have been differnt...but you will never be able to know. Accidents happen, its apart of life. When it is your time to go, its your time to go, regardless of how much you can try and prevent it. Everything happens for a reason in life. You have to look at it as your climber was doing something he probably loved to do, and in this field the risk is extremly high no matter how much pre thought, saftey and planning to into each job. Remember the good times, and that he is in a better place now. Godspeed.

Very well put. Great post and great way to look at life

 

[lt1nut]

I'm not a tree guy but have had my share of big-time oops and a fatality in front of me- a college and I were cleaning out our shop on a New Year's Day when he had a massive heart attack at age 40. NOT FUN!!! I kept him breathing by hitting his arm/shoulder until the Paramedics arrived. I told them about that but they never did it and I didn't step in because they are the pro's. He died on the way to the hospital after being shocked four times. Beating the Ambulance to the hospital one mile away is never a good sign, the Fire Station was two blocks away from our shop. That was ten years ago. I blew my back up 9 1/2 years ago at age 30 and haven't successfully worked since...

Getting it off your chest and sharing it is the first good step after realizing that it was not your fault and you could not have done anything to change the outcome. Thank you for doing so! I'd also talk to someone else about it, a pastor, friend, fellow business owner/climber, Psychologist, etc. There is peace in having someone else reinforce the fact that it sucks and is a LOSS in many ways and that you did all you could. You may also think about contacting his climber family members and talking with them or writing them. That can be a risky thing but they may just be open to it to not only help you but also help themselves. You can talk about what a guy he was, what a climber, etc. I don't know the best way about initiating that other than thinking about who would be the best to contact and then just being upfront and honest with them, letting them know they do not have to talk to you about it and that they can ask you to stop at any time and you will. It will probably also help you heal because you will feel like you are helping them too. Nothing like two people helping each other and themselves at the same time, it's an interesting topic if you think about it.

Hang his picture up in a spot that you'll see it more often, that way when you do see it you won't feel like you are trying to forget about it. It's that whole self-imposed guilt complex thing... Maybe put it in a frame with a cross, tree, smiley face, whatever on it. Go ahead and make it a "fun" frame, there's nothing wrong with that at all. From a Christian standpoint he is in a better spot now, no more pains, worries, etc and he got "lucky" being there so soon. Sounds weird and cliche-ish but that's the way it really is: a funeral should be a celebration of the person's life instead of a dirge.

Hope this, and the other posts here, help in som,e little way. Sooner or later I hope that something somewhere will spark in you and you will be at peace with it. Living with out peace is a serious buzz kill and sucks to the nth degree! Been there, done that and fight not going back on a daily basis, you aren't alone.

I don't know what else to say without sounding redundant...

 

[pdqdl]

...
Getting it off your chest and sharing it is the first good step after realizing that it was not your fault and you could not have done anything to change the outcome...

I appreciate your kind thoughts, but I don't feel any guilt. I already know it wasn't my fault. Sadly, the poor devil didn't even work for me long enough for me to get to know him well, so I don't really feel any emotional loss, either. I did feel pretty bad for his family, though. Just a bit of empathy there, I could see my own family in a similar position.

I think I just wanted to share with others in my industry what it was like on a personal level to have this sort of thing happen. Sometimes it feels good to share. Others are welcome to do the same here, too, as you have done.