68 —Safety Requirements provides the safety criteria for arboricultural operations in the United States. Arbori- cultural industry representatives developed this con- sensus standard following the requirements of the American National Standards Institute. This publica- tion, hereafter referred to as the ANSI Z, is reviewed and updated about every five years with the last com- pleted in 2017. The objective of this study was a review of arbori- cultural operation incidents, their specific hazard sources, relative frequency, and injuries. This review also included ANSI Z standards to avoid, eliminate, or reduce hazards associated with these incidents. METHODS The data collection and analysis were like the Grant and Hinze (2014) review of the OSHA Integrated Management Information System (IMIS) fatalities and catastrophe incident database for construction worker fatalities. Arboricultural operation incidents were extracted from this same all-industry database inclu- sive of 2001–2017. Each incident in the database has an investigation summary describing the events lead- ing to the incident, hazard sources, and injuries. The U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) codes arborist occupational injuries into the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code, 0783, Ornamental Shrub and Tree Services. This code is within the North American Industry Classifi- cation System (NAICS) 56173, Landscape Services, which combines Ornamental Shrub and Tree Ser- vices with Lawn and Garden Services (SIC 0782) and Landscape Counseling and Planning (SIC 0781). Arboricultural operation incidents were identified in all three 078 SICs. Arboricultural operation incidents reviewed in this study were not limited to NAICS 56173. There were also incidents found in NAICS 238910 (Site Prepara- tion Contractors), and OSHA combines this NAICS code with Landscape Services for their reports of tree trimming and clearing incidents (OSHA 2015b). Some arboricultural operation incidents were also identified within NAICS 113310 (SIC 2411), Logging, and NAICS 2211 (SIC 4911), Electrical Services. Since 2011, the BLS Injuries, Illness, and Fatality (IIF) program has used the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) to code occupations. Data for this review was also obtained for SOC 37-3013, Tree Ball et al: Review of Arboricultural Incidents (2001–2017) Trimmers and Pruners, and SOC 37-3011, Landscapers and Grounds Workers. The incidents analyzed in this study were cases for which inspections were conducted. The primary source was the OSHA IMIS database, which includes inves- tigation summaries of occupational incidents. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Fatality Assessment and Control Evalua- tion (FACE) investigation reports were also reviewed along with state-based FACE reports. Incident reports and investigation summaries from these sources were compared to eliminate duplicates. The OSHA IMIS database has detailed investiga- tion summaries prepared by a compliance officer that includes a narrative of the incident along with injuries and other information. However, OSHA posts fewer inspections than the actual number of incidents they investigate. It has been estimated that only about one- third of the work-related fatalities are posted from the IMIS database (American Public Health Association 2015). In addition, OSHA state plan agencies that conduct investigations do not always contribute reports to the database. The FACE program has detailed reports on the cir- cumstances surrounding the incident. It is focused on research to determine trends and patterns and is not charged with enforcing compliance with any safety standards. The FACE reports, however, do discuss prevention strategies. NIOSH targets specific indus- tries and activities, so their reports do not include all fatal incidents. States also voluntarily notify NIOSH of specific traumatic injury incidents. The FACE pro- gram focus is on fatal incidents and does not cover incidents that result in nonfatal injuries. The two database sources, OSHA IMIS and the NIOSH FACE, do contain incidents with companies employing fewer than 11 workers, though most of the data comes from incidents in larger companies. The data includes only incidents that occur in private companies. There are also more fatalities investigated than ones involving nonfatal injuries, so direct com- parisons cannot be made between the fatal and nonfa- tal incident data. While all these factors limit the applicability of the data for research purposes, it can still be useful for exploring trends and patterns. The incidents compiled in this review were placed into BLS Occupational Injury/Illness event or expo- sure categories (BLS 2012; OSHA 2012). The event ©2020 International Society of Arboriculture
March 2020
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