Posted with permission from Confined Space, a newsletter of workplace safety and labor issues.
Palo Alto, CA — A 36-year-old man died while working on trees at a Stanford University housing complex in Palo Alto on Saturday afternoon, Palo Alto fire officials said Monday. He has been identified as Jesus Silva Romero of San Jose, according to the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s office. One dispatch report indicated Romero had been in a tree with a chainsaw, Battalion Chief Bobby Davis said. Romero was found laying on the ground next to a tree roughly 30 feet tall and visible from Sand Hill Road. A search of online Department of Labor records showed the state agency opened five investigations into Arborwell Inc. over the past five years. The employee was a foreman for Arborwell and died in “climbing-related accident,” company spokesman Larry Kamer said in an email Monday night. “This is the first employee fatality we have ever had in our company’s history, and we are shocked and saddened by this terrible tragedy,” Kamer said.