Coroner's Finding: Young, Dylan Broderick Ernest
Deceased
Dylan Broderick Ernest Young
Demographics
23y, male
Date of death
2016-03-03
Finding date
2017-08-11
Cause of death
traumatic brain injury
AI-generated summary
Dylan Young, 23, died from traumatic brain injury sustained while felling trees in bushland. He had failed a TasTAFE tree-felling course in March 2015 due to serious safety breaches and was explicitly told never to fell trees without qualified supervision. On 3 March 2016, he felled a tree using improper technique on a steep, hazardous slope without escape routes. The felling caused a shock wave that broke a rotten tree behind him, which fell and struck his head. Expert analysis confirmed the accident was completely avoidable had he followed safety procedures taught in his course, conducted proper risk assessment, or obtained qualified supervision. The death highlights critical gaps in chainsaw and tree-felling safety regulation in Tasmania, where such deaths are disproportionately common.
AI-generated summary and tagging — may contain inaccuracies; refer to original finding for legal purposes.
Error types
Contributing factors
- failure to follow tree-felling safety procedures taught in training course
- improper tree-felling technique
- inadequate risk assessment of hazardous work site
- absence of clear escape routes
- steep slope with multiple hazards in immediate work area
- failure to obtain supervision from qualified tree-feller despite being explicitly instructed to do so
- use of chainsaw without formal competency accreditation
Coroner's recommendations
- All chainsaw operators must undertake approved chainsaw training prior to purchasing or using a chainsaw
- All persons selling chainsaws must be accredited chainsaw operators
- All chainsaw operators must undergo regular practical reassessment ideally every three years
- All land owners and managers be required to ensure that people permitted to use chainsaws on their land be appropriately qualified
- No person under the age of 16 years be permitted to own or use a chainsaw in any circumstances
Full text
Related cases
Source and disclaimer
This page reproduces or summarises information from publicly available findings published by Australian coroners' courts. Coronial is an independent educational resource and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of any coronial court or government body.
Content may be incomplete, reformatted, or summarised. All court orders for redaction and non-publication are respected; documents with technically defective redaction have been excluded from the database entirely. Always refer to the original court publication for the authoritative record.
Copyright in original materials remains with the relevant government jurisdiction. AI-generated summaries and tagging are for educational purposes only, may contain inaccuracies, and must not be treated as legal documents. We welcome feedback for correction —