The Evolution of Tree-Trimming Safety Practices
In 2013, tree trimming was a different game.
We worked hard, but safety protocols were often viewed as an inconvenience rather than a necessity. I guess you could say it was a bit like the Wild West – we did what we needed to do to get the job done. Most days, there wasn’t anyone to come out to observe us working, so the only days we really made sure we did our work by the book were the days when someone from the office visited our site. Training wasn’t part of our everyday tasks because the work was primarily done on a production basis – and no one wanted to stop production. They wanted to get the job done. We didn’t delve into human performance either, and we didn’t talk about tools or traps or how to identify them.
Like many others I knew at the time, I operated with a degree of overconfidence, which eventually led to me experiencing a close call that changed my safety mindset. I had just returned from working a hurricane in Georgia, the first real hurricane I experienced as a tree trimmer. Now back on our home turf, our crew had gotten back into our regular routine – trimming around power lines – and a pine tree I was removing one day had a codominant top that started about as high as the primary. The tree couldn’t be dropped from the ground; it had to be pieced down for various reasons. I remember feeling overly confident when I started taking down the treetop. After working storm restoration in the wake of a hurricane, this regular work now seemed easy to me since it didn’t involve any pressure or tension cuts. Not only that, but this tree was smaller than any of the trees I worked on during the hurricane. I felt like I could do the job with my eyes closed.
That day, I quickly removed all the brush from the top of the tree. All I had left was a 50-foot spar with 15 feet of the top being the codominant portion (note: I’ll refer to the two codominant logs as “legs” in the remainder of this Tailgate). I grabbed my top-handle trim saw and made a notch in the front side of the leg that was away from the line. The two legs were close together, so I had to plunge cut into the other leg to be able to start my back cut. I only had one hand on my saw as I started the plunge cut; at the same time, I turned my head to see if I was cutting at the right height so that I wouldn’t be lower than my notch. As I started to look, the no-go zone of the bar hit the leg first, sending my saw back at my head. It came at me incredibly quickly, only stopping after it hit my hard hat. I was really scared, and in that moment, I thought, what if the saw had hit me in the face? That’s when I brought my bucket to the ground to collect my thoughts.
A Lesson Learned
After that day, I began to realize that things can go wrong very quickly, and if I wanted to be able to make it back home to my wife and kids each day, I needed to learn how to do things the right way. Today, I am grateful the industry has undergone a significant safety evolution. No longer do inexperienced employees get thrown into the bucket just to give the foreman a break. Training and proficiency demonstrations now take place before work begins to ensure workers are capable of safely performing tasks. Human performance analysis, trap recognition and a renewed focus on hazard identification are now standard practices. This transformation has both saved lives and revolutionized the way we approach our work.
I’m also thankful to have opportunities like this one to tell my close-call story as an example of why training and human performance are critical to the health and safety of those working in our industry. If you have worked in the industry long enough, I’m sure you also have similar stories you can share. Take the time to share them, being sure to explain the importance of safety compliance and establishing a safety culture at your organization. You never know – it could save a life.
About the Author: Horace Shelton, CUSP, is a safety supervisor who had been working in the tree-trimming industry for 11 years. He is an ISA Certified Arborist, an ISA Certified Arborist Utility Specialist and a Certified Treecare Safety Professional, among other industry credentials he has earned.
Editor’s Note: Utility safety professionals who work in line clearance and tree trimming now have a CUSP endorsement specific to their discipline: the Utility Line Clearance Arborist endorsement. Visit https://usoln.org/utility-line-clearance-arborist-endorsement/ to learn more.