OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #221560626

ART'S TREE & LAWN SERVICES LLC

TOMAH, WI— 2023-05-03T00:00:00

Event: Blunt force, Blunt force trauma, Chain Saw, Chest, Crushed, Crushing, Falling Object, Head, Loader Bucket, Neck, Skid Steer loader, Struck By, Tree Care, Tree Felling, Tree Trimming
NAICS: 561730
Inspection type: Federal Agency
Activity number: #346679707
Employer profile: ART'S TREE & LAWN SERVICES LLC
Summary number: 221560626
Report ID: 0523300

Event description

Employee is killed when struck by falling tree

Investigation abstract

At 4:00 p.m. on May 3, 2023, an employee, the owner of the tree and lawn service, was felling and trimming trees in a residential yard when the branches of a tree he was felling got hung up in another tree. The employee climbed into the skid steer bucket and was lifted to where the branches were hung up in the adjacent tree when the base of the tree trunk that he was felling slid down the hill. This caused the branch from the adjacent tree to break and the felled tree then struck the employee and crushing his head, neck, and chest between the tree and the skid steer bucket. The employee suffered blunt force trauma to his head, neck, and chest and was pronounced dead at the scene by the medical examiner.

Victim

#1 Fatality Age 43 M

Event type
1

Occupation code
495

Codes shown verbatim from OSHA's accident-investigation database. A human-readable decoder is coming in a future release once the accident_lookup2 dictionary is loaded.