Arboriculture & Urban Forestry 36(5): September 2010 among approximately 38,800 workers, and logging at 82 deaths among an estimated 71,000 workers. This translated to a fatality rate of 128.9 per 100,000 full-time equivalents in fishing, and 115.7 in logging (Bureau of Labor Statistics 2009). The current study of tree care companies identified 42 fatalities over a five- year period among approximately 5,160 tree workers. If these fatalities were expanded to an annual fatality rate per 100,000, the ratio would come to 163 fatalities per 100,000 tree work- ers. This expansion may not be valid considering the sample size, but the ratio is probably close to what is occurring in the field. This does not mean that tree work has the highest fatal- ity rate. The Bureau of Labor Statistics fatality rates for log- ging, commercial fisheries, and other occupations are probably best considered low estimates as not all the fatalities in these occupations are reported or reported in the correct occupation. Electrocutions was the single source of most fatalities in this study of tree care businesses; this was also true with two recent government studies (Wiatorwski 2005; Castillo and Menendez 2009), though the highest number of fatal accidents occurred in the event or exposure category “contact with an object and equipment” (Table 5). Taylor et al. (2002) noted that the tree care industry had 35.3% of the electrocutions across all industries in their survey of fatal occupational electrocutions from 1992– 1999, a percentage only exceeded by construction at 45.3 per- cent. They also indicated that the fatality rate from electrocution was 2.36 deaths per 100,000 workers for the tree care industry. Contact with an object or equipment was the event or expo- sure category with the highest number of fatalities in the survey, as well as for Wiatorwski (2005) and Castillo and Menendez (2009). Fatalities due to these events are more than four times higher in landscape and horticultural services then all private industries (Buckley et al 2008). These fatalities are spread across a number of events, including contacts involving branch- es, trees, and chain saws, as well as being caught in a chipper. Castillo and Menendez (2009) indicated there were 38 fatalities involving chippers in the last 15 years among tree workers or about 3% of all fatal events. Wiatrowski (2005) did not spe- cifically identify chippers in his report, but another report by Struttman (2004) identified 31 occupational deaths involving the use of chippers over an 11-year period. The present sur- vey found that approximately 11% of all fatalities during the 5-year reporting period were due to either contact with or be- ing caught in a chipper. While this survey’s results are based on fewer fatalities than these cited reports, the data collection methods differed because the data was based on a stratified random sampling of tree care companies while others were based upon reports submitted to the Census of Fatal Occupa- tional Injuries and case studies by the CDC. The government reports may be under estimating the number and frequency of fatal chipper accidents. Ball and Blair (2009) in a paper on fa- tal chipper accidents highlighted five that occurred in the final two months of 2008. While this may have been an anomaly, if five fatalities could be identified in a two month period then it may be unlikely that only 38 occurred during a 15-year period. Neither government study specifically identified chain saws in their survey of fatalities, though Castillo and Menendez (2009) had an injury event called “powered hand tools” that most likely included chain saws. They identified 24 fatalities, or 2% of the total fatalities in this event category, during the 15- 227 year reporting period. The present survey had only two deaths attributed to chain saws, or about 5% of the fatalities reported. The most common contact fatal accident in the current study was being struck by a falling object, either a limb or a tree. Struck by falling trees and logs are the source of 29% of all the struck by fatalities in the United States (Personick 1998). Falling branches were the most common source of fatalities due to falling objects in this study, and was sec- ond only to electrocutions for the most common fatal event. The category of falls had the second highest number of total fatalities among all three studies, accounting for approximately one-third of all tree worker fatalities (Table 7). Falls are a com- mon fatal event with this event category, accounting for 9.9% of all industrial fatal accidents (Bureau of Labor Statistics 1998). The Bureau of Labor Statistics places falls into three groups: falls to a lower level, jumping to a lower level, and falls to the same level. Falls to a lower level are the most common type of occupational fall, typically falling from a roof but falling from a nonmoving vehicle is also common (Webster 2000). The av- erage height of a fatal fall across all industries and age groups is 13.2 m (Agnew and Suruda 1993). Approximately 4% of all occupational fatal falls in the United States occur to tree work- ers, with these involving falls from trees, ladders, and aerial lifts (Webster 2000). Castillo and Menendez (2009) identifies the all tree worker fall fatalities as only to lower levels while Wiatrowski (2005) approximately 8% of the falls from lad- ders, the remainder from roofs (1%) and to a lower level (91%). The present study indicates a majority of falls are from a tree, followed by a fall from or with an aerial lift. While the type of aerial lift accident that resulted in a fall was not spe- cifically identified in this study, two of the four did involve equipment failure. Other research has pointed out that fall- ing with a failing lift, rather than from it, is a common source of fatal accidents (Pan et al. 2007). While the survey noted that almost all the companies that provided training, did pro- vide training on the use of this equipment, operator error and Table 6. Fatal occupation injuries during a five-year period (2001–2006) from a survey of 506 U.S. tree care companies employing a total of approximately 5,150 workers. Event Transportation incidents Driving accidents Struck by vehicle Assaults and violent acts Contact with an object and equipment Struck-by a limb Struck-by a tree Caught in a chipper Chain saw Falls From a tree From an aerial lift Exposure to harmful substances or environments Contact with an electrical conductor Fire 7 5 9 0 Number of fatalities 2 0 0 8 4 5 2 ©2010 International Society of Arboriculture
September 2010
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