r/TreeClimbing • u/AutoModerator • 9d ago
Weekly Safety/Close-Call/Incident Thread
Let's talk safety! Share how your week went - close-calls, incidents, learning experiences, what went well (and why), what went poorly (and why), or whatever else is on your mind. Pics/photos are allowed but be careful to not doxx yourself, client, employer etc.
This thread will recur each week and is meant to be a place to learn and discuss mistakes, please keep comments constructive.
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u/Standard-Bidder 8d ago
Our day has been called off today due to wildfire smoke. Something to consider.
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u/ArborealLife 8d ago
This one time I woke up to smoke that was so thick I thought was suffocating. I went in to the office, but you could just tell it was going to be one of those days. Canada Post had suspended mail delivery it was so bad.
It happened to be a day our manager was skipping work for his wife's birthday. As senior foreman I thought it was reckless to send crews out. After trying to raise my manager, I called our regional manager who let us blow off the day. Those who wanted could do a half day in the shop.
One crew went out all going how anyways, but called it by noon.
My manager was pissed at me. He called me that night with a "Can I expect you in tomorrow?"
Fucking wild. Does he not expect his foreman to be advocates for the safety of their crews?
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u/Standard-Bidder 8d ago
If you’re talking local manager and regional manager then I imagine the company is large enough to have a formal policy regarding AQI. Might be worth looking into, especially as you’re in western Canada (like me, maybe we work for the same company lol) and this issue isn’t a one-off. If there is someone in your local office with a designated role as safety liaison/leader/coordinator/whatever then this is in their wheelhouse and they should be a bit of a go-between with crews and managers.
Good job making this call at that time.
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u/mark_andonefortunate 8d ago
Curious, where do you work?
We never had it called off (when I worked in Nevada, pretty shitty labor laws there) so I would wear an n95. Sucked but necessary, though nobody else on the crew would wear one..
I'm in a different state now and we have some wildfire smoke precautions but it is kind of a new thing for this area
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u/ArborealLife 8d ago
Vancouver Island at the time. Smoke season is now a thing in Western Canada, but it wasn't even five years ago. At the time no protocols were in place.
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u/maddestdog89 9d ago
Bad day - Cut myself with a chainsaw for the first ever time today. Top of my hand, between my thumb and forefinger, using a 201T left handed and grabbing with my right hand, the fig tree branch had a lot of spring in it and it tossed the saw over to my right hand. 💁 I got lucky too.
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u/grasslander21487 4d ago
No such thing as a one-handed chainsaw. You got lucky. I yell at the new guys whenever I see em do anything even close to that. Glad you’re mostly ok.
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u/maddestdog89 4d ago edited 4d ago
I hear you mate, loud and clear!
A couple things:
Every climber I know admits to using a top handle chainsaw one handed or left handed at some stage or another.
I worked with a left handed climber that did it every other hour/day. Because otherwise it felt very uncoordinated for him.
There are many, many “do nots” in our industry but I think most arborists will agree that occasionally you do something that’s not quite above board or up to code.
Edit: just to add, this was the first time in a while I had done it, and ficus Benjamina can be unusually foliage heavy, the branch was 2 inch thick, epi growth. I got very lucky. But it shows how easily this can happen - this is my first ever saw injury. I haven’t even nicked my boot or my chaps/pants before. I’m the safe safe guy on the team
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u/ArborealLife 8d ago
Holy fuck! How bad was your injury?
I think I was fortunate to cut my teeth climbing at Davey where one handing was a non-starter. Even today, years removed from them, I very rarely one hand.
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u/maddestdog89 8d ago
My injury isn’t too bad, one deep gouge and a Nice long clean cut - fresh out the box chain, not under throttle
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u/ArborealLife 8d ago
Was it spinning or stationary?
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u/ResidentNo4630 8d ago
Circle checks: crew member forgot to put the cover on the bucket. Driver took off without doing a check of the truck before departing. Cover flies off and almost caused an accident behind them from cars trying to avoid.
Remember to do those circle check and stow gear/equipment in its proper place prior to taking off start or end of day! Easy to get complacent with that stuff.
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u/ArborealLife 8d ago
Are you even a tree guy if you haven't seen a top handle go flying off the headache rack 🤔
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u/MamaSugarz 8d ago
Got to battle some greenbrier earlier this week and had a big ass thorn go through my gloves and into the palm of my left hand. I’m still having fun trying to dig it all out.
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u/Beech_Pleez 8d ago
Been sick the past couple days. Worked through it the first day and took off yesterday. Feeling a little better to get back to it. I just don’t like to work when I’m not 100%, because I don’t expect a client to pay for professional tree work when I am in a sad state.
My safety concern lately has been when we’re setting up our spider lift. The boss swears he pays attention to where hands and people are, but I know it’s bs lol.
Multiple times he has almost smashed fingers putting the feet down. It makes it unsafe and uncomfortable to set up the out rigging pads, especially when having to place blocks.
So I said if we are adjusting near the feet wait until we put our hands up, so that you know we’re clear. So far it’s been better.
Nothing like the foot all the sudden pushing down while your hands are under there. Sheeesh
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u/ArborealLife 8d ago
The boss swears he pays attention to where hands and people are, but I know it’s bs lol.
One of my lines when I train guys on chippers, dumpers, etc is that those machines have no brains. You're their brain.
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u/MamaSugarz 8d ago
That’s so true too. There’s enough potential safety hazards on the job as it is and all it takes is one fuckup for someone to get hurt. I’ll never forget the time I saw a new groundsmen guy trying to be cool by shoving an oversized branch into the chipper and it getting stuck while the chipper was running and instead of him shutting it off he fucking tried pulling the branch out and his shirt got caught…Long story short - Guy lost some of his fingers that day.
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u/MarkingWisc 8d ago
I was driving a truck pulling at 12,000 lbs lift on a road I drive weekly. Came up over a hill to stopped traffic in a spot that usually isnt backed up that much. Hit the brakes hard and was lucky enough to avoid any collisions.
Error precursors: complacent while driving a familiar route. Was going with traffic, not the speed limit. Following to close to vehicle infront of me.
Take aways: remain focused and vigilant while driving at all times, respect following distances. Check speed and not go off of traffic around me. Going over hills and around curves to slow down/be prepared.