Trees LLC: OSHA inspections and violations

Incident on Dec 14, 2011: Employee falls off truck and hits head

On December 14, 2011, Employee #1, with Trees Inc., climbed the stairs to gain a ccess to the operators' platform on the boom truck to conduct a preinspection of the boom. As Employee #1 stepped on the platform, he slipped on the ice and dew which was on the platform. Employee #1 fell from the platform approximately 6 f eet to the ground. Employee #1 was airlifted to a hospital and admitted for test s and was kept for observation because he had hit his head.

Incident on Sep 2, 2000 (fatal): Employee killed in fall while cutting tree

Employee #1 worked for a company as a tree trimmer. On a Saturday, Employee #1's day off, he was removing a dead tree from a friend's property. Employee #1 was cutting the top off the tree when he fell to the ground. Employee #1 had left hi s climbing rope tied above him when he cut the top of the tree. When the top fel l it pulled Employee #1 with it. Employee #1 was killed.

Incident on Jan 22, 1996: Employee fractured jaw in uncontrolled aerial lift ascent

An employee was working from an aerial lift, performing a line-clearance tree-tr imming operation in a residential area. The aerial lift truck was a Ford F700 ch assis with an Altec (Serial No. 0388-S0317) insulated boom and bucket with a max imum height of 14.6 meters. The employee was trimming around a three-phase, 12-k ilovolt overhead power line. The outside phase conductors were 12.8 meters above the ground, and the center phase conductor was 13.1 meters above the ground. Th e employee positioned his bucket about 3 meters below the power line. He took hi s hydraulic saw, switched on the control lever, which powered the saw and locked the upper and lower bucket controls, and reached out to make a cut. The bucket began rising, and he could not stop it. He yelled for a ground worker to turn th e engine off. He was pinned between the center phase conductor and the left side of the bucket, but was able to push the conductor off his face, limiting furthe r injury, just before the ignition was turned off. A supervisor for another crew had difficulty lowering the bucket. The injured employee fractured his jaw in t wo places and suffered abrasions on the right side of his face and some tooth da mage. He required surgery and was hospitalized for his injuries. The cause of th e mechanical malfunction was not determined.