BAY VILLAGE, Ohio — An Olmsted Falls tree service company is facing an inspection by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration after a crane tipped into the air, damaging two Bay Village homes this week.
Records obtained by News 5 Investigators showed OSHA opened its investigation into Down to Earth Tree Service LLC on Tuesday, one day after the company’s owner said the ground gave way under the crane’s stabilizers.
Julia Sciarappa hired the company to cut down a tree in her backyard. Now, she’s left with a partially trimmed tree and damage to the front of her house.
“My whole, like, front wall and windows are kind of pushed in,” said Sciarappa. “My windows are cracked. It kind of shifted this whole wall essentially,” she said, pointing to another wall along the side of her house.
Sciarappa’s home and a neighbor’s house were damaged when the crane’s stabilizer arms crashed into the houses.
“I think that we can call understand that they overloaded the crane essentially,” said Sciarappa. “I don’t know how that happened or why.”
They’re questions she hopes OSHA’s inspection answers.
An OSHA spokesperson could not confirm any details of the company’s inspection.
The owner of Down to Earth Tree Service LLC has not responded to a phone message left asking about OSHA’s probe of his company.
Sciarappa said OSHA inspectors have been to her neighborhood twice since the incident.
“They wanted to see kind of the damage,” she said. “They wanted to see some of the pictures of that night.”
Sciarappa said she’s not sure how much it will cost to repair damage to her home, driveway, and sidewalk caused by the crane.
She’s grateful no one was hurt and thankful to the crews that worked into the night to cut the crane’s boom free from a utility pole, lower it and repair the power lines it took down.
But she also hopes that what happened outside her house renews a focus on safety for tree companies.
“You just hope that OSHA can bring all these safety precautions to the forefront of their mind to prevent this from ever happening again,” said Sciarappa.
