OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #221606106

155294 - ASPLUNDH TREE EXPERT, LLC

YOUNGSVILLE, NC— 2023-10-03T00:00:00

Event: Aerial Lift, Boom, Bucket, Bucking, Fall, Fall From Elevation, Road, Stuck, Tree Limb, Tree Trimming
NAICS: 561730
Inspection type: Federal Agency
Activity number: #347011173
Employer profile: 155294 - ASPLUNDH TREE EXPERT, LLC
Summary number: 221606106
Report ID: 0453710

Event description

Employee is killed in fall from elevation

Investigation abstract

At 12:00 a.m. on October 3, 2023, an employee of Asplundh Tree Expert, LLC was performing vegetation management along the powerlines of a public roadway, while in the bucket of an Altec aerial lift. The knuckle boom came into contact with a tree limb and got stuck. The employee tried to dislodge the knuckle boom from the tree limb by rotating, but the tree limb snapped causing the bucket to buck. The employee fell out of the bucket and landed on the ground below (approximately 48 feet). The employee was killed.

Victim

#1 Fatality Age 40 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.