Federal OSHA recorded a severe workplace injury
at Asplundh Tree Expert Co., 555B Valley Kitchen Drive, MOUNT PLEASANT, PENNSYLVANIA 15666
on — Fractures, affecting the ankle(s).
Final narrative
An employee was pulling a rope out of a tree and fell backwards onto the ground fracturing his ankle.
At 9:30 a.m. on August 4, 2021, a two-person crew was trimming branches on a 36-foot locust tree using an elevator lift truck. An employee was in the elevated bucket of the boom truck using a stick saw. While he was lowering the boom to clear some hangers, the walking pin to the hydraulic cylinder failed. The upper boom and bucket fell about 7.9 feet, coming to rest on the top of the cab protection rack. The employee suffered a head laceration and was hospitalized.
An employee was trimming a pecan tree with a hand saw. He had climbed the tree and was pulling a limb back to cut it when the limb contacted power lines. The employee was shocked and suffered burns to both hands and both knees.
An employee was walking around his work truck on muddy terrain when he slipped and fell in the mud. His left hip struck a 6-inch tree stump and was broken.
An employee was pulling on a bale of corrugated cardboard boxes that were on a conveyor. The straps on the bale failed and the employee fell to the floor. The employee was hospitalized and required surgery for a fractured femur and/or hip.
On December 27, 2023, an employee was delivering mail to an apartment complex when their knee gave out and they fell to the ground. The employee was hospitalized with a left tibia fracture.
An employee was walking to the inventory cage when her ankle gave out and she fell to the floor. The employee sustained a femur fracture and was hospitalized.
An employee was dislodging a pallet that was stuck when boxes of product fell onto them, causing them to fall to the ground. The employee suffered a fractured femur.
An employee was helping to set up a mulch blowing truck when they were struck by an oncoming vehicle. The employee was hospitalized with a fractured knee, a concussion, and a head laceration; they also received stitches on their arm.
An employee was using a table saw to cut a piece of wood when the saw cut his thumb, index, and middle fingers. His index finger was amputated and he was hospitalized.
An employee was mowing a residential lawn at a client's house. The mower slid on the land and tipped over onto him. The employee was hospitalized with a fractured vertebra in the neck and partial paralysis.
An employee was walking into the motor control center (MCC) room when his right ring finger was caught in the hinge of a doorway. He sustained an open phalanx fracture, which resulted in a partial amputation above the first knuckle.
An employee was changing the spacing on a telehandler's forks. A fork slipped, and the employee's left index finger was caught between it and the mast. The fingertip was medically amputated at the first knuckle.
An employee was pulling down a broken skid with a forklift. When the employee backed up the forklift to get the forks out of the skid he pulled down, he contacted the forks of another parked forklift, fracturing both of his legs. He was hospitalized.
An employee was carrying cups back to the kitchen when her foot got caught on a cart and she fell face-first. During the fall, a piece of glass from a cup cut the inside of her mouth, severing an artery. She also sustained a laceration on her lower lip. The employee was hospitalized.