Young man killed felling tree

I live about 45 mins from here. The climber was up in the tree working. His ground crew went to fell a tree next to the one the climber was in to speed up production. They accidentally felled it into the climber and pinned him up in the tree and had to wait like a half hour to an hour or something like that for the county bucket to show up to free him. By the time anybody that could help him showed up he had quit responding and died i presume. It really sucks, this death could've been prevented in many ways, just having another climber there to help probably would have saved his live
 
Daniel said:
another perfect example of how falling skills are a major safety issue..
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Imho, it's not the falling skills but rather the choice to drop a tree that is within range of the other tree. Does anyone do this at their work sites? Seems f*cking lame and ignorant to me, but maybe that's just in hindsight because this guy got tapped...
 
Daniel said:
obviously... shouldnt have dropped the tree .... so once again its multiple mistakes compounding ... still falling skills would have made the difference here..
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NO, NO, NO

Not felling the second tree would have made the difference and saved his life. Whether felling skills were better or not the decision was wrong to start the second tree.

Seems simple; never, ever are two trees worked on within a distance of 2 times their height at the same time. No need to worry what the second crew is doing.
 
It's almost as if the ground guys didn't even tell him though... I feel like he could have squirreled around to the other side of his tree if he was prepared and/or looking. There's missing information. Maybe he was attached by his lanyard still, or the tree played on his climbing line... what are the odds, even if a tree comes straight at you, if you're tucked away behind the trunk?
 
mrtree said:
NO, NO, NO

Not felling the second tree would have made the difference and saved his life. Whether felling skills were better or not the decision was wrong to start the second tree.

Seems simple; never, ever are two trees worked on within a distance of 2 times their height at the same time. No need to worry what the second crew is doing.
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This is a great "rule of thumb". If the climber knew the rule, and noticed them setting up to fell a tree less than twice the distance of the height of the tree, it could have set his alarm bells off, and caused him to get their attention, and demand that they cease operations. Without knowing the rule, he let it slide, and it cost him. Not that we know for sure he could even see the other crew working.

Thanks for sharing this rule, mrtree.

Tim
 
twice the distance rule is absolute crap!!!!
Totally ridiculous, mostly unnecessary and impractical to the point of stupidity...
125-150% is plenty in 99.99% of my falls... Falling trees in the woods is different than the backyard....

That said.. you cannot deny that the man would be alive if the tree had fallen where it was supposed to
SO
lack of falling skills killed this man.....
 
Daniel said:
twice the distance rule is absolute crap!!!!
Totally ridiculous, mostly unnecessary and impractical to the point of stupidity...
125-150% is plenty in 99.99% of my falls... Falling trees in the woods is different than the backyard....

That said.. you cannot deny that the man would be alive if the tree had fallen where it was supposed to
SO
lack of falling skills killed this man.....
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Well obviously they were inside the 125-150% that you recommend in your infinite wisdom.
SO
Lack of communication, poor planning, not completing the 5 step felling plan and lastly their notching and back cutting skills killed this poor soul. Why you ask me dan? The tree SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN CUT!
But hell thats only my opinion, what do I know.
RIP, and may the faller be able to forgive himself.
 
Daniel said:
twice the distance rule is absolute crap!!!!
Totally ridiculous, mostly unnecessary and impractical to the point of stupidity...
125-150% is plenty in 99.99% of my falls... Falling trees in the woods is different than the backyard....

That said.. you cannot deny that the man would be alive if the tree had fallen where it was supposed to
SO
lack of falling skills killed this man.....
Click to expand...

I don't get you, it is okay to fall a tree within striking of other employees, as long as you have falling skills!!!! That is absolute crap and stupidity.
 
RopeShield said:
Unregulated voluntary trade!
Industry leaders, educators, government etc are guilty of this murder.
It's the wild west.
Run with the wolves go Down with the pack.
Think safe
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Exactly which industry leaders, educators, government are guilty of this murder?

I know that I talk about very strict and thorough job planning and when you look at things such as BC Forest Safety Council , faller certification there are great resources out there that while not using the word arborist or term tree worker, they provide excellent training that can be applied to tree work.
 
You guys are cross talking. Your comments do not intrinsically exclude the other's comments. *We're all right*:

This guy would be alive if they hadn't chopped the tree, or if the tree had been put down correctly. Regardless, the decision to put the tree down was horrible.

Tell me that either of you doesn't agree with theverything above. Let's go get our Monday on. Sorry I chipped at you earlier, @Daniel . I started this...
 
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