Worker injury

[John Paul Sanborn]

Article Last Updated:Sunday, August 11, 2002 - 3:38:55 AM MST
MAN IS INJURED IN CUTTING DOWN TREE
Cut limb pins him 35 feet off ground
By AARON LEO DERBY

A Bridgeport man is in critical condition after being pinned against a tree 35 feet up for nearly an hour Saturday morning.

James Bourque, 40, was taken by Life Star helicopter to Yale-New Haven Hospital, where he underwent emergency surgery. He was in critical condition Saturday afternoon.

Bourque was cutting a tree at a Woodland Walk home at 9:45 a.m., said Derby Assistant Fire Chief Gary Parker.

A belt harnessed him to the tree and a support line held him up, Parker said. Police said he also wore climbing spikes.

"A limb that he had cut fell onto another limb which broke that limb," Parker said.

The line became entangled in the limb, and "sucked him right against the tree," the assistant fire chief said.

He became wedged in the fork of the tree, police said.

Neighbor Richard Havanec said Bourque had done work for the homeowner, John Provost, several times before. He was a friend of Provost's, according to neighbors and Parker.

Provost declined to comment Saturday.

Havanec said Provost and Bourque always shouted instructions to each other when they worked. They were always careful, he said.

"He had all the proper equipment," Parker noted.

Police did not know if Bourque was a professional tree cutter.

Havanec, the neighbor, witnessed the rescue but not the fall.

"I heard him yelling" as usual, Havanec said.

Then he heard a "loud crack" when the branch broke, followed by a "loud moaning" coming from Bourque.

Parker said Bourque lost consciousness after awhile because of the pressure of the rope against his chest.

Bourque was unconscious when he was freed and paramedics had to insert a tube down his throat to help him breathe, Parker said.

Shelton's Fire Department sent a ladder truck with a bucket to assist Derby's vehicles.

Police blocked off the dead-end road to traffic, and firetrucks hosed down the roadway so the helicopter wouldn't kick up dust when it landed, neighbors said.

Thin lines of blue paint were sprayed across the cul-de-sac of the residential street to help the helicopter land.

The road was closed for two hours, said neighbors Bob and Sue Raiente.

They praised emergency workers for their quick response time.

Article Last Updated: Wednesday, August 14, 2002 - 3:38:40 AM MST

Injuries kill tree cutter
By STAFF REPORTS

Injuries kill tree cutter

A 40-year-old Bridgeport man critically wounded in a freak tree-cutting accident Saturday morning died of his injuries late Tuesday at Yale-New Haven Hospital.

James Bourque, 40, had been in critical condition since Saturday.

He underwent emergency surgery after being transported to the hospital following the 9:45 a.m. accident.

 

[herschel]

What a shame.

Whether he was a weekend warrior or a certified arborist, he sure didn't plan on dying that day. Very sad, indeed.

Anyone on the boards from the part of the world who knew or had heard of him before.

Just wondering about training/experience.

 

[Kevin]

Will workmans comp investigate this?
It appears he was free falling some big stuff but it would be nice to have the facts.

 

[budroe69moni]

always be prepared.........

........lost unconscious after a while because of the pressure of the rope against his chest

i know that when ever i'm up in a tree, i've got my swiss army knife in my pocket.......just out of habit i suppose. but wouldn't it be a good idea to carry some type of knife while you are climbing, just incase something like this happens.........
just a thought.
budroe

 

[jhr]

can you guys make sense of this??? He he cut a branch and it fell and broke another branch he obviously didn't start at the bottom and work his way up. whether it entagled his ropes or not how does the rope crush you??? I mean if he was tied in correctly branches caught wouldn't pull you down unless he cut the branch his line was on?? Can any of you guys picture this if so could you try and explain it a bit better than the article states. I don't want to minimize the loss of a person but it just doesn't add up and if you pro's can shed some light on the subject maybe this accident can be preventable to someone who enjoys reading and learning from this site

 

[Kevin]

I can only assume it was something similar to this ...

 

[kf_tree]

i'm not too sure. when accidents happen the rumer mill runs wild. my boss ripped a top out taking a big wack and fell breaking one heel in 3 places and shattering the other heel back in jan. i was not on the job but i got the story first hand from the crew that was with him. when talking to other tree guys in the area there was about 10 different stories going around. i leave lower branchs alot to help protect sheds and gardens etc. also if i go to the top and tie in first. sometimes i'll put a rope on branch and make the cut knowing full well it will probably hang up. i do it to punch holes or just get the lead out of my ropes way. i'll cut them free on the way down or girth hitch a sling around the branch and clip it to the rope then cut that one free, if that one hangs up i'll add a sling to the next branch and cut that one free. i do it to avoid going up and down the same tree a few times. some times i'll have 3 or 4 leads on the same rope. it all depends on the tree and how confident i feel about the crotche's. it could have been a vine covered tree which makes cuts some times unpredictable. maybe he tied off a lead to be butt heavy and the ground man did not hang on to it. so the butt kicked back and caught his rope. its all being in a good comfartable position to make the cut. a good gust of wind could screw up an other wise good cut.

 

[murphy4trees]

Maybe he was lowering the original limb, and the overhead anchor couldn't supprt the force, and when the overhead anchor went it took the crotch he was tied into with it, which is what pinned him... Just a story I made up based on the above info.
More details would be nice and no matter what .... It was a hard way to go. Be careful up there.
God Bless All,
Daniel

 

[TheTreeSpyder]

i like roping things down (with seperate riggeing line), keeping climbing line clear. Never, ever letting a loop get into the climbing line; noone has mentioned that (i think); but it can be deadly to anyone whether that was the situation here or not.

Now, if he had a knot tender in place, could that have helped or hurt? i like taking mine off (from under the knot), it is a small keychain 'biner (smaller harder to find than the ones that are easily available size). i've just been in a few situations that have left me where i disable it when i don't need it.

 

[TREETX]

knife

I like the knife idea. Maybe that is why Sherrill has spydercos.

You can cut they rope or at least just plunge the blad into your chest so you don't have to suffer for an hour crushed against a tree.

 

[TheTreeSpyder]

A hand saw blade cuts a tight line nicely i think.

When, having problems (not enoough line on 2/1 etc.) getting load to ground, have remotely cut (as short as possible) load line letting load go to ground, or if higher up, into another line.

 

[treeclimber165]

Since I usually have my chainsaw with me in a tree when cutting large limbs, and I've been told that I should reduce weight since I'm lugging around the large D-rings on my belt, I think I would just cut the rope with my chainsaw. A lot easier and faster than digging a knife out of my pocket when wearing my saddle.

 

[Reed]

Sittin here after just getting back from a hot one. Soakin' wet even after the 30 mile drive with a/c on max. Climbed my butt off and burnt out now fixin' to head into town and enjoy a few cold ones.

Hold on, why wait? Snap.....pffffst, ahhhhh.

Okay now.

I'm sorry for that guy. Even the best of the best can have something unanticipated go terribly wrong. Rotten wood, heart attack, sudden wind downburst, lightning, a simple slip at the wrong time.

I think however that we acknowledge the accident and keep it on our minds. It's perhaps one of the good things that come from someone getting hurt or killed, it gets us to think about it. I read J.P.'s post yesterday and it remained on my mind all day today and I think it kept me from taking a chance I might have absently performed otherwise. Especially in the heat, like road rage, it's too easy to sometimes take what we think is an easy out, a "shortcut", or a hustle to get it done quick, to play poker with chance.

I'm perhaps a bit sore this afternoon, certainly going for the Advil, but I'm alive and the trees are down and the owner's happy and I'm going to see a close friend and smile for the fact that I'm all here.

 

[kf_tree]

have you ever tried cutting a rope with a saw? if the line is tight it will be eaier. but you still have to keep knicking it again and again. you can't just try and cut through it in one shot. many a time with clothes line pulleys grown into tree's i tried to just cut the line with my saw only to have it bind up and get caught in the saw. then you have to lower the saw down and have it cleaned out.

 

[jsirbasku]

yea but you dont have to start up your knife, just grab and cut. When i hear someone say that they would just use their chainsaw I have to laugh because realistically if you depended on the ability to retrieve and start your chainsaw simply to cut a rope youd most likely be hanging there stuck like this poor individual. I have a razor sharp knife on the outside of my handsaw lanyard, it is as easy to retrieve as the handsaw.

 

[treeman82]

Article Last Updated:
Monday, August 12, 2002 - 3:38:48 AM MST


Tree cutter clinging to life
Tree cutter remains critical Injuries show job's inherent dangers
By MARIAN GAIL BROWN

DERBY -- While a professional tree cutter remained in critical condition, clinging to life Sunday at Yale-New Haven Hospital, those familiar with his work say that his injuries are proof of how dangerous the job is.
James Bourque of Bridgeport, a 40-year-old tree cutter, was trimming a tall oak tree for a Derby homeowner Saturday when a tree limb that he had just cut snared in one of his support ropes, wedging him into the fork of the tree. According to witnesses, Bourque moaned when he struck the tree and

before losing consciousness

shouted for his two co-workers on the ground to cut the ropes that pinned him in place.

"This is dangerous, dangerous work

even for the professionals," said Milan Bull, director of the Connecticut Audubon Coastal Center in Milford. "Sometimes when we see that jobs are too involved for us we use outside tree [cutters]," Bull said. "From the ground looking up, it may not look dangerous. But it's another story when you're hanging way up high by a safety harness, looking down."

There were 1,800 major injuries in the arboculture industry between 1990 and 1996, and 4,800 additional injuries that forced workers off the job for at least three days, according to Tree Work Accidents, published by Health and Safety Executive. The researchers also found massive underreporting of non-fatal workplace injuries in the arboculture industry, estimating that it may be as high as 75 percent for employees and at least 90 percent for self-employed workers.

As for Bourque, area residents who observed him working 35 feet high say he took

precautions to protect himself while he worked.

"He had cleats on his shoes that he used to climb that tree, I noticed that," said Patricia Havanec. "He worked with a safety harness and these support ropes that he had wrapped around the branches to control how the branches came down. He had lots of equipment and he was constantly talking to his people on the ground."

Havanec and her husband, Richard, were so impressed by a recent job Bourque did for a neighbor of theirs that they were thinking of asking him to trim one of their trees.

"I saw him take down a tree that was so close to [the back of] that house," Richard Havanec said. "He took it down with not a single branch hitting the patio. That's how good he was."

MariAn Gail Brown, who covers regional issues, can be reached at 330-6288.

 

[Kevin]

That should help drive insurance premiums up.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

That is why they are so high now.

 

[treeman82]

Not that this makes any difference. I did notice when reading the article that it never mentions anything about a helmet being worn. However it does mention that "cleats" were being used while he "trimmed" the oak.

 

[Kevin]

at Pronunciation Key (klt)
n.

1.A strip of wood or iron used to strengthen or support the surface to which it is
attached.
2.
a.A projecting piece of metal or hard rubber attached to the underside of a
shoe to provide traction.
b.cleats A pair of shoes with such projections on the soles.
3.A piece of metal or wood having projecting arms or ends on which a rope can be
wound or secured.
4.A wedge-shaped piece of material, such as wood, that is fastened onto something,
such as a spar, to act as a support or prevent slippage.
5.A spurlike device used in gripping a tree or pole in climbing.