Incident
Snapped leader/main anchor of a young Acer tree
Date of incident
2022-03-24
Location of incident
Berlin Berlin Germany
Age of impacted party
31
Outcome
Close call
Type of incident
Fall from height
Type of equipment involved
Climbing rope
Action taken
No first aid or medical assistance administered
Involvement of contributor
Worker performing task
Weather
Sunny/mostly sunny
Causes of the incident
Fatigue
Description of incident
Failure two use two tie in points on a young Acer tree. The leader then took too much weight and snapped out.
Contributing factors
My mental health has not been good lately and has slowed down/effected my decision making capability. I was at the point of adding a second anchor when the leader/my main anchor snapped out. Luckily I didn't fall far before I caught myself but I did damage multiple parts of the tree.
Incident review and preventative measures
This was a close call in a very small tree but it could have been worse. We need to talk about mental health in the tree industry more openly and create better support networks. It is very difficult to talk to people outside of the industry as they don't understand the very specific mental and physical effort needed to do our job. (Especially as a team leader.)