Video: Climber Tops Tree, Nearby Tree Hits Him

rico · Feb 29, 2020

My brain fart comment was in no way meant to dismiss or cover up for the fact that this young man obviously left his job site awareness and game face at home that day. A serious fuck up that he was very lucky to have walked away from....

I was taught at an early age to get my nervous system firing on all cylinders each and every time I lace up my boots, and to take the time needed to get my senses locked in with my work environment. To this day if I am not capable of doing both on a given job I will walk and come back another day. Fuck not having your head in the game. Not in this line of work....

ATH · Mar 1, 2020

Regarding statements that the dead tree should have been removed: probably was contractually prohibited from doing so. If the job was creating wildlife snags, I'd guess no standing dead trees were removed.

That doesn't mean the accident shouldn't have been prevented. Climbing higher is the most obvious solution. I'd also guess they could have gone to the park and said "either this snag comes down or the adjacent tree doesn't get topped" if there were no other options...but who takes an hour or 2 out of the day to chase down someone who can make that call.

rico · Mar 2, 2020

ATH said:
Regarding statements that the dead tree should have been removed: probably was contractually prohibited from doing so. If the job was creating wildlife snags, I'd guess no standing dead trees were removed.

I reckon he broke his contractual agreement right abut the time the little dead snag hit him in the head?

ATH · Mar 2, 2020

If it was a good contract, it terminated the moment the tree broke BEFORE striking him.

treehumper · Mar 2, 2020

ATH said:
Regarding statements that the dead tree should have been removed: probably was contractually prohibited from doing so. If the job was creating wildlife snags, I'd guess no standing dead trees were removed.

That doesn't mean the accident shouldn't have been prevented. Climbing higher is the most obvious solution. I'd also guess they could have gone to the park and said "either this snag comes down or the adjacent tree doesn't get topped" if there were no other options...but who takes an hour or 2 out of the day to chase down someone who can make that call.

Once again he failed to do a proper assessment prior to the climb if this were the case.

ATH · Mar 3, 2020

treehumper said:
Once again he failed to do a proper assessment prior to the climb if this were the case.

I agree 100%...just saying that removing the tree MAY not have been an option to mitigate hazards that would have been identified during that assessment.

treehumper · Mar 6, 2020

ATH said:
I agree 100%...just saying that removing the tree MAY not have been an option to mitigate hazards that would have been identified during that assessment.

Ok, then he didn’t plan his drop with it in mind. Either way he failed to mitigate the risk. A classic f it cut.