You Can?EUR??,,????'???t Be Too Safe?EUR??,,????'???

 

Jobs like tree trimming and heavy equipment operation are inherently dangerous and require special training and constant vigilance. Supervisors should post a second worker as ?EUR??,,????'??safety watch?EUR??,,????'?? for such operations. Photo: University of Missouri, Rolla.

No one saw what happened when Matt A. died. It was just after lunch five years ago, at an office complex where the 33-year-old was loading pine and eucalyptus into a wood chipper. His coworkers were some distance away when they heard ?EUR??,,????'??strange?EUR??,,????'?? and ?EUR??,,????'??overloaded?EUR??,,????'?? noises.

A supervisor approached and realized that Matt had been pulled through the machine. The official cause of death was ?EUR??,,????'??total body fragmentation.?EUR??,,????'??

While rare, injuries and deaths are more common in hhe landscape industry than many professionals realize. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Grounds Maintenance Worker is the 8th most dangerous line of work in the country, with 156 such workers killed on the job in 2003. The government doesn?EUR??,,????'???t list statistics for landscape contractors, but the related Construction Laborer category is even more dangerous at the list?EUR??,,????'???s No. 5 spot.

A review found that Matt?EUR??,,????'???s company had provided the proper training, held safety meetings and followed all safety rules. The accident happened anyway, because dealing with trees (and heavy equipment) is inherently dangerous. The lesson is, you can?EUR??,,????'???t be too careful?EUR??,,????'???

A California tree-trimmer died in July, 2000 when he was pulled through a wood chipper. The drawing is from a poster created by the California Fatality Assessment & Control Evaluation Program.

With regards to chippers, the final report notes that all operators should use a push stick to move debris in and stand to the side while feeding material into the machines. Because of the danger, every chipper operator should also be joined by a ?EUR??,,????'??safety watch,?EUR??,,????'?? a second worker whose only job is to watch the first. While it might seem a waste of expensive labor, a monitor should be assigned to any task where dangerous heavy machinery is involved ?EUR??,,????'??to reduce the false sense of security that usually develops when someone repeatedly performs a hazardous function without incident.?EUR??,,????'??

Supervisors and workers should follow manufacturer?EUR??,,????'???s instructions whenever using dangerous equipment or applying pesticides or herbicides. Additional information is available from the Professional Landcare Network (PLANET) website at www.landcarenetwork.org and from appropriate state agencies.

California?EUR??,,????'???s Fatality Assessment & Control Evaluation Program provides detailed accident reports on dozens of fatal incidents like the wood chipper tragedy. The reports include detailed analysis and offers lessons learned and safety suggestions. The reports include other tree-related fatalities, among them a fatal fall and a fatal encounter with a high-voltage line. The program?EUR??,,????'???s reports can be read at www.dhs.ca.gov/ohb/ohsep/face/faceindex.htm#2000