Thread: Tree Accidents

I am 34 and have been climbing for 7 years and a lic arborist through the state of Rhode Island.I was also a volunteer firefighter/emt for 11 years on a heavy rescue truck.I never thought that someday I would be the victom! I own my own tree company and employ 2 ground men(brush monkeys).All we do is climbing no bucket trucks,which I have grown to like because I have other tree and landscaping companys hire us out when real tough jobs need to be done.It all started on a day were rag weed polline was very high and my allirgies were kicked into high gear.I am reluctant not to take any allirgy meds will I am climbing.As I dawn my climbing gear which consist of hard hat,saftey glasses,leg chaps,kevlar arm gards,rubber palmed gloves and harness I start what should be a three hour job removing about ten limbs from four trees over a house. All was going to well, I just bought a new sthil pole prunner that I let a salesman talk me into.I found alot of use for it while in the tree(not having to limb walk as much).After about two and half hours the chip truck needed to be emptied,I thought that I would have had enough room too finish the job.So I told one guy to go empty the truck but it was close to cofee brake and the other guy needed to go by the bank (he didn't have a lic to drive the truck so I let them both go.I got my climbing ropes up the tree about 20 feet higher than the limb to be cut( tied of to the trunk). I only had one branch left to cut and thought I would be alright alone.Just after the left I relised I didn't have my pole prunner up there with me.So I decided to limb walk to get to the end and cut small pieces.After I was out about 12 to 15 feet I lost my balance. I fell head first and swung into the tree trunk! My hard hat was knocked of my head and I swung back into the trunk from the other direction, this time I hit without the hard hat and was knocked unconcious. The nighbors saw me hanging and called 911. some how they got me down to the ground. when I woke up in the back of the ambulance I could not feel my arms or feet!After a stay in the hospital for 4 days I walked out with nothing more than a real bad head ache and a sore back. Thanks to weiring my proper saftey equiptment I walked away with some spinal swelling and a hurt ego. That day I learned that I made a few real bad mistakes.one, I never should have been alone. and two I should have waited for the guys to come back because the dump was only 1 mile away.

A testiment to the nesesity of a chinstrap. The muffs are not enough.

my accident didn't come from a fall but from prep work on the ground. i was using my saw to clear some small trees from around the tree that i was going to drop and that small stuff got tangled in my chain and made the saw come back and get me. it took a 7" by 1" deep chunk out of my left knee. the moral of the story is when you are clearing small stuff use a brush cutter. but i recovered to near prefect use of my leg. but i was takeing down a small tree so i didn't want to fuss with the chaps for 5 minutes of cutting but that was my mistake.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/...00/2046726.stm

Think I'll stick to using the chipper.

i have a friend that blew a house up......they were taking down a city tree. they took the top out and dumped the stick on the front lawn and went to lunch. dumping the stick broke the gas main. when the maid arrived at the house she hit the light switch and boom!. no one was killed but the maid and a passing mail man got banged up.but the house was destroyed. the gentleman that told the story has been climbing for 30 years. he has a ton of tree horror stories

When I had about a year or two under my belt, while doing a removal, I almost put a running saw into my face. It was the first time i'd ever used a 14 inch bar; was used to a 12 inch bar. I put the tip onto a branch I wasn't cutting, and it kicked back toward my head, dead center on my face. The brim of my hardhat is all that stood between me and a major cosmetic surgery. Two lessons from that one: 1) Wear a hardhat with a brim or face shield (I know the Euro-looking helmets are all the rage, but they don't protect the face unless they have a shield). 2) Know your saw before you take it up a tree.

My other near miss involved my saw getting stuck in the kerf while chunking down silver maple logs. I had been throwing them well clear of a gas meter, but this one pendulumed down, due to the lanyard, then broke free of the saw, and just missed the gas line, with a saw running just a few feet away. I had visions of the type of tree inferno described in the BBC article above.

I think this is a very worthwhile thread; have read the accidents in mountaineering journal, and it embodies an appropriate level a seriousness about a dangerous endeavor. Tree worker's attitudes should be no different.

I get a call after the accident, The homeowner put a ladder up to get a low hanging branch and up he goes with his pruning saw about 17' off the ground is the branch and he is reaching up to cut it. He gets about 3/4 of the way through the limb when it cracks and swings back sweeping the ladder out from under him. HE HIT THE GROUND AND HIS ELBOW WAS BROKEN AND HIS ARM IN THREE PLACES. Then I get the call to remove the tree. If he had just tied off it would have saved 18 months of therapy a ladder and a few thousand in medical expenses. I've had more than a few of these calls over the years. You can break your neck falling only nine feet so the next time they ask why you put on all that sissy equip to do a low branch I give them a few phone numbers to call and ask why tie off for such a low branch.

One of the guys I grew up with cut trees up until this episode. He used his four wheel drive PU to pull trees over for years. He would tie a steel cable to the top and cut the bottom. Well he wanted to get this black cherry tree down but it had rained the night before. Instead of waiting for the ground to dry he thought his four wheel drive had plenty of traction to make up for the wet ground. He cut the tree and signaled his man to move the truck as the truck revs up the tires spin and the tree pulls it over as the tree takes off backwards, pulling down the electric lines on it's way down. The tree being on a hillside and the cable a little short the truck got pulled over the bank and ended up in the street upside down. That was the last time he worked cutting trees. No one was hurt but the truck and the power company had to come out because he knocked out the power for about a mile up the road. Had he waited for the lawn to dry or set a rope to hold the tree from going backwards just in case what happened next happened next and it did. To much of a hurry to get the tree down to set a safety rope just in case.

You don't have to be a pro to get in trouble, just don't pay attention once and it will happen pro or not.

Ask Andy Weylan, cutting fire wood without any safety equipment on he tipped his saw, a 14" saw, into a log and it came back at him so fast it went up through the bottom of his chin, cut his jaw in two and knocked out a couple of teeth. You don't cut with the tip even if it says low kickback on the package.

A distant relative of mine all but cut off his shoulder in a kickback accident while pulping a few decades ago. That side of his body never worked right again.

Many years ago I got a call from my dad to help him with the removal of 2 large cottonwoods. I was functioning as the ground man while dad climbed. My father was a much better climber than I am but he has never used a lanyard -just his climbing line with friction hitch. On this particular day he broke a rule-he rigged his suspension rope on a secondary branch coming off the top of a main limb rather than on the main limb(because it positioned him better for the cut). The branch he rigged on was 4" in diameter and was sufficient to hold him until......He cut loose a large limb that overhung the house. It swung back on the bullrope as planned but as it did so it swept across the top of that 4" limb he was tied around and broke it off flush with the main branch turning his rope loose. Dad fell backward with a running chainsaw seventeen feet from the ground. He got rid of the saw and snapped his legs down/under him before he hit. He didn't manage to get his knees bent however. I secured the 1200 lbs or so of limb that was hanging over him, shut off the still running saw and found his glasses for him while awaiting the paramedics. He wound up with a compression fracture of the 5th? lumbar vertebrae. Two surgeries and several months later he left the hospital as what is known as a "walking paraplegic". (I.e. He can walk but the docters don't know why.)

Using a lanyard for positioning makes sense. Always tying off on the main leader is the right way to do it. Most of us have fudged and gotten away with it but it only takes one occassion to change your life forever.

A year ago, a tree surgeon was killed here in Canon City, Co when his 30 year old bucket truck's boom broke. ( I know that the maintence/rebuild requirements of the manufacturors seem like overkill but the equipment does wear out!)
A couple of months later another local guy fell out of the tree with a limb and landed on his head( he only had a concussion and minor internal injuries!) I got details secondhand so I really don't know how it happened.-The pro told me he fell but didn't share the details.( The secondhand story was he cut the limb he was tied to.)
BE CAREFUL!!!!!

My only, fortunately, experience with an accident was one of my first days climbing. We were in spruce trees that had been heavily shaded on one side and developed dead branches as a result. Well, after reviewing my knots and sending me on my way up the tree, he began to climb his spruce.

I was talking to him casually when I heard a thud and heard him say, "I think I broke my back." Smiling, I wondered what in the world he was talking about. After turning around and seeing he was no longer in the tree, I stopped smiling! My mentor was lying on the ground, flat on his back.

Apparently, the branch he had tied onto broke - he was not around the trunk (similar to Stumper's dad). Had he been using a cambium saver and tied around the main trunk, this probably never would have happened.

He acted as if he could walk it off, but it was too serious, and he went to the hospital for it. Now, he's climbing just fine, but he wouldn't be if he landed in anything other than soft spruce needles.

Nickrosis

Wisconsinites: Shh, if you know about this.

We were talking about acidents today.
1) guy fell rencently because of branch failure didnt fall far (2m) threw his arm out and shattered his forearm.
2)guy stepped out of bucket not secured fell head first (5m) busted his chest.
3)Guy descened out of bucket on rope (15m) to go down feet first, attempted reverse foot lock, about half way hands were burning too much had to let go landed on feet. Damaged unknown.

one the subject of descending feet first does anyone know how the military does it , as in 'Black Hawk Down' dropping from choppers. do they use fall arrest/mechanical devices or not anyone know?

There is no substitute for a healthy sense of self-preservation. Eager to impress my fellow employees on my first day of work in Germany, I scaled a beech, set my climbing line and went out to start limbwalking. The one thing I forgot was to dress my Blakes hitch. Suddenly the ground was coming at me very fast and the sound of screaming school girls filled the air though none were around. Life slowed down and I can remember thinking, "This is going to suck". Weighing rope burn vs broken legs, I latched on. I managed to stop before I hit the ground but the rope burn was not just blistering but bleeding as well. It was 2 weeks until I could climb again. I was too complacent, trying to impress collegues, and not focusing on the task. A lesson was learned.

Fast rope descent from a helo is a hasty rappel on a 2(?) in rope. Wrap around one leg, break between feet and hold on with gloved hands.

Takes a little getting used to, especialy with a combat load.

helo quick rope,

Sort of a controlled fall, without a broken leg on the landing! It wouldn't be any fun without the combat load to make sure those gloves get nice and hot!