Incident
Smashed Hand
Date of incident
2019-10-01
Location of incident
Traverse City Michigan United States
Age of impacted party
20
Outcome
Serious Injury
Type of incident
Cut body part, Tree failure
Type of equipment involved
Heavy equipment (excavator, skidsteer, grapple, knuckleboom)
Type of injury
Cut/Laceration
Bodily injury to
Upper limb
Action taken
First aid administered (not by medical professional), Offsite Medical Professional assistance, Insurance claim
Involvement of contributor
Worker performing task
Weather
Sunny/mostly sunny
Causes of the incident
Complacency, Part tree failure, Completely unforeseeable accident
Description of incident
I was reversing through the forest on a ditch witch 1050 skid steer and was dragging a medium sized white birch top. The path wasn’t large but I was not having to go at a slower pace. Just before I exited the forest I looked behind me as the top I was dragging grabbed a dead ash tree pole that was 8 inches around and 40 plus feet tall. The tree reverberated and broke off halfway up. It spun its way down and landed just perfect to lever itself at full momentum off the hood and the very but smashed down onto my hand.
Contributing factors
Definitely had too much confidence and was not going at an appropriate speed for the part I was doing.
Form completed by (optional)
T