Environmental Risks of Arboricultural Operations: Exposure to Weather and Electricity

摘要

The previous three articles in this series covered tree-worker incidents within the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics event categories of Contact with an Object (divided into the two sub-categories of Struck-by or Caught-in) and Falls. These are three of the four horsemen of the arbo-ricultural apocalypse. This article will cover the event category Harmful Substances and Environments. Combined, these four horsemen account for more than 80% of fatal and nonfatal incidents to tree workers.The category Exposure to Harmful Substances and Environments includes injuries resulting from a condition or substance in the work environment. Almost all the injuries to tree workers coded to this category are within the subcategory Exposure to Electricity. However, we do have injuries due to Exposure to Temperature Extremes and even Exposure to Oxygen Deficiency (a tree worker drowned when he waded into a stream to buck up a felled tree).