OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #221589153

75753 - D - S TREE SERVICE LLC

LAURENS, SC— 2023-05-26T00:00:00

Event: Blunt force, Blunt force trauma, Bucket Truck, Contusion, Cutting, Ejected, Fall, Fall From Elevation, Fall Protection, Harness, Head, Hoisting Mechanism, Material Handling, PPE, PPE Hazard Assessment, Tree Section, Tree Trimming
NAICS: 561730
Inspection type: Federal Agency
Activity number: #346737604
Employer profile: 75753 - D - S TREE SERVICE LLC
Summary number: 221589153
Report ID: 0454510

Event description

Employee dies of head trauma after being ejected from bucket

Investigation abstract

At approximately 8:13 a.m. on May 26, 2023, an employee and a coworker were from the base of the tree. The employee died from head trauma at the scene. tasked with trimming and removing some oak trees in a resident's backyard. The employee got into the bucket on the company bucket truck without a body harness and began cutting an oak tree closest to the fence line. The employee was operating the bucket from the control panel inside the bucket. The employee hit a fork in the tree limbs and tried to maneuver the bucket around the fork. The bucket scraped one tree limb and then dropped suddenly. The bucket then sprang back up suddenly ejecting the employee from the bucket. The employee fell approximately 40 to 45 feet and landed on his head approximately 3 to 4 feet

Victim

#1 Fatality Age 46 M

Event type
5

Occupation code
999

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.