20.06.2016

Tree trimming fatality

A man died yesterday in Long Island, New York when he was electrocuted while trimming tree limbs around overhead power lines.

The man, Oscar Diaz, 39, a father of four, was working for the weekend with G.A. Island Landscaping on the job in Commack, Suffolk County as part of the PSEG Long Island utility. He was normally employed by Hernandez Tree Trimming and was an experienced tree specialist. At the time he cut through the cable, he was harnessed to the tree.
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Diaz was harnessed to the tree while he trimmed the limbs around the live power lines

A medical examiner pronounced Díaz dead at the scene, around 100 homes temporarily lost power. PSEG is responsible for tree trimming around power lines and said that the utility should have been called before any work is done around the power lines, so that power could be cut off.
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The power lines are checked out before power was restored

Diaz employer Santos Hernandez said: “I would have never sent him up there without a bucket truck, landscaping guys know lawns. They don’t know trees.”