Incident
Live oak twig rammed up nostril
Date of incident
2022-10-05
Location of incident
Work site California United States
Age of impacted party
39
Outcome
Minor injury
Type of incident
Struck by tree part
Type of equipment involved
None
Type of injury
Cut/Laceration
Bodily injury to
Head/neck
Action taken
First aid administered (not by medical professional)
Involvement of contributor
Worker performing task
Weather
Sunny/mostly sunny
Causes of the incident
Complacency, Act of nature, Completely unforeseeable accident
Description of incident
While trying to dislodge a hanger by hand, as I pulled on the branch, a small twig from the branch, quickly rammed up my nostril. i quickly pulled it out, blew my nose as one normally would, and then began to experience discomfort/pain and bleeding. It happened fast! Quick in and out. Felt like it was deep. Went to the first aid kid, cleaned the area and applied tissue in my shnoz to stop the beeding. A couple minutes later, I used a light to inspect my beak and found a small laceration on my inner nose. My friend and colleague then inspected my nostril with a light for a second look and found the same, a laceration to my inner beak! Great thing is there appears and does not feel as though there are any pieces stuck in my nose. Its been about 5 hours since the incident and i am noticing some swelling and sinus discomfort. Nothing too bad but I am scheduled to see ol saw bones on friday just to be sure.
Contributing factors
Thats a tough one. In over 20 years working in forests, landscapes and trees, Ive never had anything close to this happen. Maybe a contributing factor was awareness? Since I would never have thought a skinny live oak branch could ram up my nostril that far!
Incident review and preventative measures
Increased awareness. Shared incident with team, considering a face shield instead of my visor. Totally crazy incident. I guess I could have climbed up to the limb(which was on a stub about 8’ up the bole), set some rigging and lifted it up off the dead stub. But that plan was determined to increase the risk based on our crews plan prior to starting the job.