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.

Form completed by (optional)