Look out for that rope!

Page

Page

TreeHouser
Joined
Feb 26, 2012
Messages
1,004
Location
Eastern PA
A good friend of mine got in a accident at work yesterday. we were felling a very large, dead red oak in the woods over some power lines. we had two ropes in it, one was tied to a truck and one going to another tree with a 3:1 on it. as the tree started to fall the rope obviously went slack, that is until it caught another tree on the way down and immediately snapped tight again which at this point zipped across my buddy cutting down to the bone in his leg, luckily catching him under his arm cutting that all up too,(I say luckily 'cause if it caught the neck he'd be dead) and throwing him 10-15 feet in the air. I don't know why he was still near that rope, it all seems avoidable in hind sight of course. after he left for the hospital I notched another big dead oak. the tree started to fall, I walked away, watched the tree hit the ground, said "alright, let's get outta here!" grabbed my saw and headed for the truck. then a 3 foot log landed in front of me. I'm talking 4 or 5 seconds after the tree hit the ground this log either bounced or got sling shot so far in the air it took that long to come down. we decided not to do anymore tree work that day. My buddy will be alright, besides being cut and bruised. I'm sure it will take about a month before he's back at work. I'm just really glad his arm caught that rope boy oh boy. be safe out there guys, there were 4 very experienced people on this job, any one of us could have should have seen the problem with what we were doing. don't avoid safety talks for fear of looking like a pussy in front of the guys, alright I'm rambling.
 
Wow. Thanks for posting this. While accounts of injuries are gruesome to read, they serve as good reminders for us all as to just how vulnerable we really are.
 
Wow. Sounds like a bad day. An injury and then a near miss in the same day, same crew as two separate events means its time to revisit your safety planning. Obviously hindsight is 20/20 but identifying hazards and taking steps/plans to mitigate them before the work commences is SOP.

Thanks for sharing.
 
Hoooolyyyy...wow.

Thanks for that story, I just read it to my hubby/work partner...most excellent reminder to spend that time on safety set up regardelss of who's watching.
I've been working on some farms out here where I can tell some of the guys maybe think I look a bit precious with all our kit and safety gear, I feel your sentiment.

Best wishes for your buddy!
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #7
I've never seen a rope snap back like that before, But thats one of the reasons I tell people never to rap their hand around ropes as I'm sure you all can agree. a bit ironic that my buddy in my eye's has always been the "super safe" one and he see's me of more of a risk taker. shoulda seen my job the next day, sketchy hickory removal, all rotton and leaning over a shed. I set up 2 rigging lines that met at a rigging plate above the hickory and ran a 3rd line from there. climber tied in to another tree. this was my first time setting up something like this but man did it work great. the logs just floated away from the climber, no jolting or swinging, and I could lower the logs in multiple directions without touching them or having any ground help. needless to say we were very safe that day.
 
Page I am glad your help didn't become a fatality. Keep up us updated on how he is doing. Also if you could draw a diagram of what happened that could help us envision what went wrong. Thanks for posting and be safe!
Mark
 
I was guessing the line side washed a standing tree on its way over and snapped tight after becoming slack. His helper was standing in what is referred to as the bite. And he got bit.

The rule of thumb around ropes or cable is never wrap it or allow it to become wrapped around any part of your body you're not willing to lose.
 
I dont know that a pulley would have changed anything. With a 5000 lb winch it sure didnt make a difference in terms of power loss.

The video wasnt posted as a look how awesome I am. More of a look how dumb I was.
 
Looks like old arbormaster. The rope didnt break, it just popped off the stump. I retied it with a clove hitch and a few wrapped up half hitches and it came out just fine. Without me standing in line with it.
 
bonner1040 said:
I dont know that a pulley would have changed anything. With a 5000 lb winch it sure didnt make a difference in terms of power loss.

The video wasnt posted as a look how awesome I am. More of a look how dumb I was.
Click to expand...


I love it that you post stuff like this to learn by Bonner. You could start a trend of balanced honesty with ourselves and others. We already know that a person has to be a, top flight, unique, amazing human being to be working in the trees (tongue partially in cheek) - how much can be learned by only repeating that in words and pictures.
 
I film everything, sometimes to the deficit of production and sometimes, as the video shows, with not enough concern for safety (where I was positioned). It was a lesson learned and I am glad I didnt lose any teeth. THe uhhh shound was from getting hit in the gut with the XRRs.
 
Who cares about teeth when it could have been your eye.



I always wondered if it was 'bite' like get bit, or 'bight' like in the loop (danger zone). My old super always talked about staying out of it, after many scary experiences in the 70's high lead choker setting in OR.

Not only the bight/ bite, but the rebound zone. If it were the rope breaking, there would be the danger zone for the other half of the rope on the other side of the stump.

Dampeners, like another rope flaked out down the length of the tensioned rope, chaps/ blankets, etc. laid on the rope, can be useful.
 
Thanks for pointing that out South Sound. I pulled a huge Oak section down with a T 140 with 9/16 Husky bull line with it tied behind the bucket. I was in the danger zone. I put on my helmet and shield down and prayed for the best. I know I shouldn't have done this except machine didn't have anything to tie to on rear.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #23
ropesnag.png ropesnag2.png ropesnag3.png
I hope these attachments work, I probably wasted too much time on it for how crappy it turned out but maybe you guys can get the idea. it's not to scale obviously, I felt like everything was a lot closer together. I think the reason nate moved toward that rope was because for a split second it appeared that the tree was tall enough to reach us and beyond, so moving to the side was a better option, but the tree landed right where it was supposed to and nate moved too close to that other rope. had we used a longer rope this would not have happened. had nate moved where I was this would not have happened. had we used a crane, had we pulled with 2 trucks, had we had we had we...he's healing up slow but good. his one side is turning some cool colors.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

davidwyby
Logging Choker cables
2
Replies
41
Views
1K
treebogan
treebogan
davidwyby
Tilting the back cut?
Replies
6
Views
767
gf beranek
gf beranek
theTreeSpyder
verbiage translations: Folding a tree vs. Throwing a tree
Replies
10
Views
924
Burnham
Burnham
Knotorious
Seeking Advice for Proper Rope Walking Technique and Any Other Relevant/Helpful Information!
Replies
10
Views
1K
Knotorious
Knotorious
friedrich
i broke my spar (with tip)
Replies
22
Views
1K
TINYHULK
TINYHULK
Back
Top