Fill out our simple 'Tree worker incident form' and play your part in improving the safety of our industry with our crowd-sourced data.
The Arboriculture industry statistically is one of the most dangerous professions in the world. It is imperative that the health and safety within our industry keeps evolving. It is our responsibility as Arborists to implement the safe work practices on our job sites, to wear all relevant PPE, to train apprentices and new hires in the correct way without allowing bad habits and potentially dangerous techniques.
We need to analyze our own incidents, learn from them, and figure out where mistakes were made and how the incident can be avoided/prevented in the future. We have to share these stories and experiences with our colleagues, and if possible to an even broader audience through social media and industry events.
Our goal is to create the most comprehensive 'Tree Worker incident database' that includes close calls and injuries. This database outlines the type of injury, the cause, a detailed description of the incident, factors leading to the incident and what could have been changed to avoid the injury (in the opinion of the contributor).
Date of incident | Incident | Type of incident | Outcome | Location of incident |
---|---|---|---|---|
Cut rigging rope |
| Property damage | Hamilton New Zealand | |
| Minor injury | Hamilton New Zealand | ||
05/05/1991 | Yale Cordage Wire Core Flip Line |
| Serious injury | Atherton, California Canada |
09/28/2017 | Loss of control in directional felling |
| Property damage | Vancouver, BC Canada |
10/12/2017 | Handsaw cut to left hand, partially severed tendon |
| Serious injury | Port Coquitlam, British Columbia Canada |
10/10/2018 | Cut chainsaw boot |
| Close call | Port Coquitlam, BC Canada |
03/01/2019 | Tie in point failure |
| Minor injury | Prescott, AZ United States |
04/06/2019 | Equipment failure |
| Close call | Greenville, SC United States |
05/03/2019 | Failed to couple chipper correctly |
| Close call | Hamilton New Zealand |
05/13/2019 | Aerial rescue from tree whilst working on powerlines |
| Serious injury | Tilba, Nsw Australia |
07/01/2019 | Broken pinky, cuts to the hands, loss of feeling in 2 fingers |
| Minor injury | United States |
07/18/2019 | Bee nest |
| Minor injury | Devon United Kingdom |
10/01/2019 | Smashed Hand |
| Serious injury | Traverse City, Michigan United States |
02/28/2020 | Struck on cheek while feeding wood chipper |
| Minor injury | Scotland, Motherwell/glasgow United Kingdom |
07/30/2020 | Fall From Height |
| Serious injury | Norfolk United Kingdom |
08/24/2020 | Forearm cut with Pole Pruner |
| Minor injury | Oakville, Ontario Canada |
11/13/2020 | Struck by |
| Fatal | Amarillo, Texas United States |
01/12/2021 | left hand cut with chainsaw |
| Serious injury | Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires Argentina |
03/03/2021 | Wrong cut | Minor injury | Arraial d'Ajuda, Porto Seguro Brazil | |
05/03/2021 |
| Minor injury | New Zealand | |
08/19/2021 | Chainsaw hit wrist during limb cut |
| Serious injury | Sarnia, Ontario Canada |
10/31/2021 | Fall From Height |
| Serious injury | Robeline, Louisiana United States |
03/14/2022 | 40 ft fall from tree |
| Serious injury | Homosassa, FL United States |
03/24/2022 | Snapped leader/main anchor of a young Acer tree |
| Close call | Berlin, Berlin Germany |
09/20/2022 | Chainsaw cut to the neck |
| Fatal | Huntington, WV United States |
Date of incident | Incident | Type of incident | Outcome | Location of incident |