Man falls out of Bucket to Death 6-12-2003

[TheTreeSpyder]

Graves Tree Service
HAINES CITY/DavenPort,Fl. -- Mr. Robert Birdwell of Haines City died from an accidental fall Thursday (June 12, 2003). He was 24.

Fell 60'(?) from bucket, landing in quite a mess ~10' from own brother. Breaking every bone in his body, losing both eyes...... Buddy that part time worked with crew, but wasn't present, sitting here just told me about it; as the brother/witness had called him,i only could find above obit.

Not tied in, possibly rigging to bucket or mech. failure, definitely deceased! Bucket stayed up (even for 2 days during investigation), but may have tilted?

 

[NeTree]

Ah, another preventable claims a young life. Sincere condolensces to his family.

 

[treeman82]

Kenny, how many deaths in Florida does this make for the past year?

 

[monkeypuzzle]

Two here in Tally

 

[TheTreeSpyder]

Same as near you, far as i know.

Too many!

 

[treeman82]

I just thought I had heard about a lot of Florida accidents lately... I was thinking you guys might be getting up close to Jersey's numbers

 

[Mattman]

I used to stand on top of the bucket, as high as I could reach to make a cut. Pretty stupid I know, but I was ALWAYS tied in. Even if I intended to climb out of the bucket and into the tree, I would clip my flip line onto the bucket.

Matt

 

[njarbor]

the people here in jersey dont have the right training and along with it alot of drug addict bosses that dont care about much of anything except trying to get 6 jobs done in one day. the tree service i used to work for took shortcuts and would yell att me saying .. you are only 20 feet up , why do you even bother tying in?

 

[Mattman]

You did chuck your 020 at him for saying that, right?

Matt

 

[njarbor]

i just said i would wanna fall from any height .. therefore i am going to tie in and use a lanyard when i am using my saw .. why? so i dont return to earth short one knee

 

[treesurgeon]

a fall from 10 feet could be a fatal as a fall from 20. i dont want to do either. its not worth the chance, im always tied in.

 

[murphy4trees]

Friends don't let friends drive drunk RIGHT????
I know this local arborist.... I subbed some work to him in the early 90's... He's got a 65' alpine skyworker that has probably not been service or tested in a decade.. and he doesn't tie in to boot... I told him if he drops a branch or chunk on the upper boom it could catapult him like a grape off a 5 year olds spoon... or a branch could grab him and drag him out of the bucket... No hard hat or PPE... lowerring off ancient ropes.... Etc..
I only worked with him a few times many years ago and refuse to do business with him because of his lack of integrity and professional standards. Yet I like him as a person and we talk regularly...
He's almost 50 and has been doing treework for over 30 years, and he refuses to listen... I can't even finish a sentence... I gave him a bucket cover years ago and he never botherrred using it.. He'd rather bail. That's just the way he is.
He's in the process of changing careers so he may not be at it much longer. I like to offer support or suggestions when it seems appropriate, yet not intefere when a person is not receptive.
What is the resposible thing to do here?

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Originally posted by murphy4trees
I like to offer support or suggestions when it seems appropriate, yet not intefere when a person is not receptive.
What is the resposible thing to do here?

Speak your mind, and allow them to make the decisions. At least, if something happens, you can tell yourself you tried.

And as you have already done, don't work with them any more. That would be like enabling or fascilitating ore something.

We recently got an advertisment for a tree company in the mail. The hoto had atleast 4 safety violations and the guy was working in linemans gear

Do we have an obligation to forward this to a regulator? call the comapany first to let them know it is going to happen?

The guy in the tree with a chainsaw did not eve have any eye protection on for cripes sake!!

 

[TheTreeSpyder]

7-9-04
".........i talked to this guy's brother today, they were rigging a heavy piece off of the boom of the bucket with a pulley with his brother in bucket, when this happened. They were hurrying, long job; the bucket man was not tied down.

They overloaded this rig, snatching down some on bucket, then the line broke, the boom pitched up very suddenly throwing the untethered bucket man out of the bucket (extended about 65' up!) across the yard; to land 10 ft. from the man i was talking to. He said the victim's head exploded on impact, all organs and everything mushed up down to hip sockets; he said he couldn't recoginize his own brother, his face and head gone; hoping it wasn't him; but knowing it was so; that pile was his own brother; that he had grown and worked side by side with all of his life; why just a few minutes ago he was laughing....."

-KC

 

[Menchhofer]

Originally posted by TheTreeSpyder
7-9-04
".........i talked to this guy's brother today, they were rigging a heavy piece off of the boom of the bucket with a pulley with his brother in bucket, when this happened. They were hurrying, long job; the bucket man was not tied down.

They overloaded this rig, snatching down some on bucket, then the line broke, the boom pitched up very suddenly throwing the untethered bucket man out of the bucket (extended about 65' up!) across the yard; to land 10 ft. from the man i was talking to. He said the victim's head exploded on impact, all organs and everything mushed up down to hip sockets; he said he couldn't recoginize his own brother, his face and head gone; hoping it wasn't him; but knowing it was so; that pile was his own brother; that he had grown and worked side by side with all of his life; why just a few minutes ago he was laughing....."

-KC

Even though this is a very tragic event, this description of the events brings home the message very clearly. Do not rig off the bucket and wear a harness at all times.

 

[MasterBlaster]

I can't believe how many hundreds of hours I've logged operating a bucket without any lanyard whatsoever. NOBODY wore them back then, and if I would have seen one person using one, I probably would have started wearing one that day.

Nowadays, I never get in a bucket w/o a lanyard. I don't think the lineman here wear em, I'm gonna look closer next time.

 

[murphy4trees]

Kenny,
You definitely have a way with words... I Am still shaking my head...

 

[hobby climber]

...a way with words...

...sometimes a vivid description can paint a very clear picture in the minds of everyone who reads it !!! TTS does get the point accros...tie in or get tossed out!

 

[arboromega]

what a shame... regards to the family.

 

[John Stewart]

Originally posted by treesurgeon
a fall from 10 feet could be a fatal as a fall from 20. i dont want to do either. its not worth the chance, im always tied in.

Hey
Fell from about 6 ft right on my back
Just one last cut one handin a saw and hangin on a branch with the other about 8 ft up!
Yup plain stupid and I know better
Branch broke and Im on my back!
It hurt real bad and Im off two weeks and can't breath right cause my back is bruised
The real bad part was I just missed landing on a spear cut stub of a sapling that would have popped a lung or worse!
Be Safe
John