Arborwell LLC: OSHA inspections and violations

Incident on Oct 9, 2021: Employee partially amputates finger when caught by wood chip

At 8:45 a.m. on October 9, 2021, an employee was trimming and maintaining trees at a school site as a landscaper. The employee's main task was trimming trees but once he finished trimming, he assisted his coworkers with the brush chipper machine. The employee picked up the cut tree branches and fed them to the brush chipper. While the chipper was operating, the employee placed his hand outside of the feeding area when a branch rotated and caught his left middle finger, and the employee noticed blood through his glove. The employee drove himself first to a nearby clinic and then to a local hospital, where he was hospitalized to treat a partial finger amputation.

Incident on Feb 1, 2019: Tree trimmer suffers fractures when struck by falling limb

At approximately 10:30 a.m. on February 1, 2019, an employee was working as a supervisor for a landscaping service. He was trimming the limbs of an oak tree while working from the bucket of an aerial boom lift. A limb being used as a pivot point for a drop line above the employee broke. The falling limb struck the boom arm. It recoiled, and the employee was ejected from the bucket. He was attached to the bucket by his lanyard, but upon falling back down, he struck the side of the bucket and incurred his injuries. He suffered a fractured upper left jaw, which required surgery. He also suffered spinal injuries to his T9 through T11 vertebrae, which required nonsurgical treatment. He further suffered blurry vision. He was hospitalized.

Incident on May 20, 2018 (fatal): Employee is killed when rope is pulled into chipper while tr

At 1:00 p.m. on May 20, 2018, an employee and coworker were cutting trees. The coworker who was operating the chipper, picked up about 1/3 of a larger pile of limbs and fed it into the chipper. The coworker did not realize that a rope that was tied to the tree or the employee was among the limbs fed into the chipper. The rope was pulled by the chipper and caught the employee causing head, chest, and torso injuries. The employee died.

Incident on Jan 22, 2014: Employee suffers compound ankle fracture from fall

On January 22, 2014, Employee #1 was working for a gardening and tree service fo r residential and commercial facilities where he was trimming a pine tree. He st arted his descent and pulled the rope through the friction hitch in order to low er himself. He pulled the tail of his rope through the friction hitch completely because he did not have a stopper knot at the end of his climbing rope. As a re sult, Employee #1 fell about 20 feet down to the ground and suffered compound fr acture to his left ankle. He was hospitalized for 2 days after surgery.

Incident on Aug 30, 2013: Employee falls from tree and is injured

At approximately 10:12 p.m. on August 30, 2013, Employee #1, an experienced, tra ined and certified tree-trimmer, was removing dried fronds from an ornamental pa lm tree. He was working at an approximate height of 40 ft. Employee #1 was using a handsaw and wearing the required fall protection. He was tied off on the tree with two different ropes. However, when he had to reposition, he disconnected h is back lanyard to move upward to the palm-crown. During this process, Employee #1 made a cut on a palm-flower where the supporting rope was threaded (between a frond and the flower) and accidently cut the supporting rope (the lifeline), ca using him to fall from the tree. He landed on the grass and sustained several fr actures to his pelvis and left wrist. Emergency medical personnel were summoned. They arrived and transported Employee #1 to a medical center, where he received treatment and was then hospitalized for 16 days.