Man killed by falling branch

I'm familiar with this incident. He was on the ground. I think its not appropriate for me to discuss this incident but it was a struck by. Incident happened the day before his 21st birthday. People I think a lot of had really good things to say about him. There is a go fund me for him. Very sad.
 
Steve Connally said:
I'm familiar with this incident. He was on the ground. I think its not appropriate for me to discuss this incident but it was a struck by. Incident happened the day before his 21st birthday. People I think a lot of had really good things to say about him. There is a go fund me for him. Very sad.
Click to expand...
Very sad to hear. It sounds like no helmet unfortunately.
 
TimberNinja said:
Very sad to hear. It sounds like no helmet unfortunately.
Click to expand...
What leads you to believe no helmet?

I don't know much about this particular case, but I know a local guy that got seriously messed up (brain trauma) by a struck by, with a helmet on. All depends on how big the piece is.

Just stating that there was no mention of that in article, so why speculate that.
 
TimberNinja said:
Very sad to hear. It sounds like no helmet unfortunately.
Click to expand...
There was a helmet. Unfortunately it missed the helmet and even if it didn't there are still situations where a helmet provides limited protection. I caught a struck-by in the face. Brushed the side of the helmet. 26 stitches in the face and I ALWAYS have my helmet on.
 
Daniel said:
helmets only protect against very light impacts...
Click to expand...

Put an engineering value on 'light impacts'

I had a big box of outdated hardhats that were on their way to the bandsaw then disposal

Before chopping them I took a few to the log pile along with a framing hammer. The goal was to get a sort of feel for what would bust a hole in the hard hat.''

It took a significant whallop to crack one. There's no engineering but after the crew and I were done whalloping the agreed conclusion was that we hammered nails about as hard as we whalloped the helmets to failure.

The experiement wasn't scientific but it did show me that it takes MUCH more than 'light impacts'
 
Tom Dunlap said:
Put an engineering value on 'light impacts'

I had a big box of outdated hardhats that were on their way to the bandsaw then disposal

Before chopping them I took a few to the log pile along with a framing hammer. The goal was to get a sort of feel for what would bust a hole in the hard hat.''

It took a significant whallop to crack one. There's no engineering but after the crew and I were done whalloping the agreed conclusion was that we hammered nails about as hard as we whalloped the helmets to failure.

The experiement wasn't scientific but it did show me that it takes MUCH more than 'light impacts'
Click to expand...
let's say 25-50 lb piece falling 40'... the hard hat may take the impact, but your neck won't
 
Yep.


Sometimes, say a tree with a bunch of dead limbs or just plain dead, I don't move around the tree while anyone is below me.

Sometimes it's just a no cleaning up until the tree is done being pruned situation.

I encourage people to spend as little time as possible in the space directly below me.

I never detach a block or even a water bottle from my saddle when someone is under me. I've never dropped any gear other than a carabiner from a tree or cliff. I definitely plan so that I never will bobble a bomb like a water bottle onto a ground worker.

I recently partially caught a small "widowmaker" falling from 40-50' with my hand. I partially caught the <1" butt on my forearm...broke the skin and gave me a slight bruise.
 
Very sad to hear. 21 is the prime of life, in my opinion.

I had a large dead branch dislodge from a pine as we were lowering a smaller Sweetgum from it. The branch was a little larger diameter than a baseball bat and it struck the top right edge of my petzle helmet. It took my glasses off my face at the same time that it slammed me to the ground. I walked away with only scratches and a new appreciation for my helmet.
 
Last winter I saw a guy take a direct hit the the top of the protos. dead branch fell out of a silver poplar. Maybe 4" diameter. He crumbled to the ground, just completely went limp. He came to right away, got up and walked off. Hit him so hard it cracked a temporary tooth bridge right in half. That was the worst accident I've seen in trees.
 
levi r said:
Last winter I saw a guy take a direct hit the the top of the protos. dead branch fell out of a silver poplar. Maybe 4" diameter. He crumbled to the ground, just completely went limp. He came to right away, got up and walked off. Hit him so hard it cracked a temporary tooth bridge right in half. That was the worst accident I've seen in trees.
Click to expand...
He was felling the tree while it was being pulled with a mini. Luckily there was a fully trained emt working on the crew that day. I still think he should have gone to hospital but hey it aint my noggin what got rocked!
 
I’ve been spared by my hat at least twice.
Winching apart a slash pile I hooked to an embedded top trying to get it to break up. Taking a 12” plus diameter top. The winch operator didn’t wait for me to get clear and an attached limb spring poled into the side of my head.
My earmuff too the brunt of it and it was down but not snapped down. My feet flew over my head and I landed on my back. While in mid air I watched my helmet go flying like a golf ball.
I had someone drop a 50’-60’ Doug fir on my head while I was chipping. About 3-4” diameter point of contact when they fell it. Drove me straight into the ground buckling my knees as if I were a fence post.
 
Daniel said:
helmets only protect against very light impacts...
Click to expand...
I passionately disagree and have lots of life experience that tells me otherwise. Having said that, I'm not interesting in debating or trying to sell you on the idea. I know better than that. All I would ask is you encourage all those young guys who look up to you to always wear the hardhat and we'll hope we never learn if it helped them or hurt them due to an accident.
 
Hard hats/ helmets (and glasses, hearing pro, leg pro, safety-toe boots, etc) are a must have.

As you strongly suspect you know, Steve, PPE is the last line of defense.


They can't sell solid jobsite safety in a catalog. Can't anodize and bling-out judgment.

Safety starts with the culture and protocol, and ends with PPE, IMO.

To be clear, I'm not in any way suggesting you ignore the first parts. I suspect you hold a very high safety standard.



How often does one see Safety Meetings, Procedure Reviews and Staff Training in tree videos?
 
southsoundtree said:
Yep.



I encourage people to spend as little time as possible in the space directly below me.

I never detach a block or even a water bottle from my saddle when someone is under me. I've never dropped any gear other than a carabiner from a tree or cliff. I definitely plan so that I never will bobble a bomb like a water bottle onto a ground worker.
Click to expand...
I feel this should be emphasised more.
I think groundies on a refill or whatever should as a default move 15ft away from the base.
 
southsoundtree said:
Hard hats/ helmets (and glasses, hearing pro, leg pro, safety-toe boots, etc) are a must have.

As you strongly suspect you know, Steve, PPE is the last line of defense.


They can't sell solid jobsite safety in a catalog. Can't anodize and bling-out judgment.

Safety starts with the culture and protocol, and ends with PPE, IMO.

To be clear, I'm not in any way suggesting you ignore the first parts. I suspect you hold a very high safety standard.



How often does one see Safety Meetings, Procedure Reviews and Staff Training in tree videos?
Click to expand...
Not being snarky but I'm not sure I understand what you're saying. Asked most respectfully. I 100% agree with you. I hold the highest standard I can. I often pull saws from my contractors because the chains are too loose. I'm a stickler for chinstraps. I ask for a JSA even when they don't normally do one so yes, you're correct. I don't cut corners on PPE. Agreed PPE is the last defense. Operating the crane gives me a great opportunity to observe the entire job site. Sometimes I'll try to pass on some thoughts on positioning when bucking up the material. Yesterday we discussed body positioning and job functions while removing the slings from the pick on the ground. There's a lot going on and often times not enough mentorship. I only get the JSA. I would also like to be involved in an after review of some jobs. I am 100% with you on the cultural attitude of the company. For new customers I usually look at their social media and try to determine what I'm getting myself into, Maybe that isn't fair because then I've prejudged them but.......
 
Steve Connally said:
I passionately disagree and have lots of life experience that tells me otherwise. Having said that, I'm not interesting in debating or trying to sell you on the idea. I know better than that. All I would ask is you encourage all those young guys who look up to you to always wear the hardhat and we'll hope we never learn if it helped them or hurt them due to an accident.
Click to expand...
I've only had a helmet save my life once... that's a pretty good deal for the thousands of dollars I've spent on them and the countless hours of wearing them. The statement I made is in no way meant to discourage anyone from wearing them. They are life savers... pretty simple... wear the helmet ALL THE TIME
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

New threads New posts

Kask Stihl NORTHEASTERN Arborists Wesspur TreeStuff.com Teufelberger Westminster X-Rigging Teufelberger
Back
Top Bottom