Video: Climber Tops Tree, Nearby Tree Hits Him

[rico]

He is actually a pretty decent climber and does clean work. Luckily this didn't turn out as bad as it could have. Here is a video he made regarding this incident and he is aware of his mistake.

A classic example of a climber being in WAY TOO MUCH of a hurry when cutting, resulting in a subpar cut, which almost always results in a bad outcome. What I saw was an extremely hurried undercut which resulted in a BADLY missed first attempt with 3-4 inches of bypass. He then followed it up with a feeble attempt at properly cleaning up his undercut, and he left a couple inches of far side bypass. Its clear as day in the vid that the top pulled to the left, and knowing that he chose to leave that far side bypass its not a surprise that the top did so. The fact that he stopped cutting a decided to pound some wedges just compounded the effect of the bypass.... Oops.

Moral of the story is to slow the fuck down and make sure every cut you make is as close to perfect as you can get it... When limbs, tops and logs are moving is when we are most vulnerable, so we all need to strive for perfection each and every time, regardless of size or situation....The dude in the vid dodged a bullet as he could just as easily have sustained a severe life altering head or neck injury.......Hope he sees the "fuck up" chain of events that led to him getting his bell rung.....

 

[Serf Life]

When limbs, tops and logs are moving is when we are most vulnerable, so we all need to strive for perfection each and every time, regardless of size or situation

And wear adequate ppe. In some cases that may be a baseball hat.

 

[rico]

And wear adequate ppe. In some cases that may be a baseball hat.

Funny but this fella's super bitchin Protos helmet and his Clogger Zero bulletproof chainsaw pants didn't seem to keep him from doing something very stupid and careless. He was extremely lucky to be able to walk away from this incident, and it was pure blind luck that his head and neck were not removed from his body.

Our skillset will always be our first and most important line of defense, and no amount of PPE will ever change that simple fact. You want to watch accidents and deaths in this line of work plummet? Stopping folks from doing stupid shit would be a great place to start!

 

[Serf Life]

Bud, that's an "and" not an "instead". A greenhorn shouldn't wear ppe as it is a crutch? What is wrong with a world-class climber or sawyer having a brain-bucket on? Striving for perfection and ppe are not at odds with each other, cockiness and complacency are. One is never in full control in this business so some choose to plan for the worst.

 

[rico]

Bud, that's an "and" not an "instead". A greenhorn shouldn't wear ppe as it is a crutch? What is wrong with a world-class climber or sawyer having a brain-bucket on? Striving for perfection and ppe are not at odds with each other, cockiness and complacency are. One is never in full control in this business so some choose to plan for the worst.

You can choose to put words in my mouth, or you can choose to actually read what I am saying.

OUR SKILLSET IS OUR FIRST AND MOST POWERFUL TOOL IN KEEEPING US SAFE.

A very simply idea, and this video is living proof of its merits.. This young man slaps on his protos and cloggers but leaves his skillset and judgement in the truck....A move that could have seriously fucked this young man up, and I would argue that he would have been far better off leaving his PPE in the truck and instead bringing his skill and sound judgement to the job. Or better yet he could have brought the PPE, his skillset, and the sound judgement.

 

[Jemco]

I pretty much wear an exoskeleton these days to hold me together up there.

I'm all for wearin as much PPE as it takes to get home alive and in one piece.

Modern helmets for this biz have never been better or lighter.

Ear muffs are retractable. Bug Eyes work well.

Being anti-PPE's a losing game Rico brother, you should know better.

I'll take my Kevlar composite jumpsuit the minute it's available n both heated and air conditioned models.

Do you read me Houston........

Jemco

 

[rico]

Why is it so hard for some of you folks to understand my stance here ....I believe that skill trumps PPE when it come to safety. This is not an anti PPE stance, but a pro skillset stance. Hell, wear all the PPE in the world if thats what floats your boat, but understand you are still gonna get hurt if and when you choose to do something stupid... Enter the video in question.

 

[Jemco]

Give the guy prop's for sharing his humiliation then bro!

Takes a real man to post iz fuggups.........

Jemco

 

[Jemco]

Speaking of rookie fuggups?

Went to Costco today with three ancient VHS videotapes to be converted to CD.

One of them's old late 80's footage of one of my earliest big crane removals in Balboa Park over a theatre. Tops indoeing in slappin jibs echoing up in down the canyon.

Young man bravado layin on a stump taller than me.

Very embarrassing to watch all these years later, but hey, every climber's a green rookie for a few years. Some even for life!

It the transfer worx I'll post me messin up n rattlin a big crane a bit.

Jemco

 

[Serf Life]

You can choose to put words in my mouth, or you can choose to actually read what I am saying.

OUR SKILLSET IS OUR FIRST AND MOST POWERFUL TOOL IN KEEEPING US SAFE.

A very simply idea, and this video is living proof of its merits.. This young man slaps on his protos and cloggers but leaves his skillset and judgement in the truck....A move that could have seriously fucked this young man up, and I would argue that he would have been far better off leaving his PPE in the truck and instead bringing his skill and sound judgement to the job. Or better yet he could have brought the PPE, his skillset, and the sound judgement.

Horse is dead!

 

[rico]

Horse is dead!

really?

 

[Jemco]

Check out my newly modified bull riding vest flak jacket Rico.

Just in case I fug up.......



Jemco

 

[southsoundtree]

PPE is several steps down the line, as the last effort to REDUCE SEVERITY or HOPEFULLY Prevent injury.

 

[treehumper]

This is just a typical incident and usual lack of analysis of the incident. Rico makes a good point in saying slow down. Exactly. Apply your skill set every time. The PPE DISCUSSION IS A RED HERRING.

There were missed opportunities in the tree and on the ground. Is it not proper procedure to mitigate potential hazards in the work zone and eliminate targets? What of planning your work? If so, the question that begs answering is why didn’t that occur? Was he rushing or just being complacent? Had shortcuts been normalized as SOP leaving out these critical path elements?

Long before he put the saw to wood or donned his PPE the dominoes started falling leading to the inevitable incident. There may have been several near misses on previous job sites that were screaming a wake up call that went unheard. That is the analysis that needs to be done, without finger pointing, blaming or shaming.

 

[Tony]

This is just a typical incident and usual lack of analysis of the incident. Rico makes a good point in saying slow down. Exactly. Apply your skill set every time. The PPE DISCUSSION IS A RED HERRING.

There were missed opportunities in the tree and on the ground. Is it not proper procedure to mitigate potential hazards in the work zone and eliminate targets? What of planning your work? If so, the question that begs answering is why didn’t that occur? Was he rushing or just being complacent? Had shortcuts been normalized as SOP leaving out these critical path elements?

Long before he put the saw to wood or donned his PPE the dominoes started falling leading to the inevitable incident. There may have been several near misses on previous job sites that were screaming a wake up call that went unheard. That is the analysis that needs to be done, without finger pointing, blaming or shaming.

What Treehumper is referring to, and Rico to for that matter, is what is referred to as the NIOSH Hierarchy of controls. (NIOSH (National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health) is the research arm of OSHA essentially)



It describes the most effective ways to mitigate a hazard. PEE as you can see falls to the bottom AFTER every other method has been used or deemed unreasonable.

While I will never agree with Rico and his sentiments, or on his use of PPE, he is correct in stating that in the case of this climber PPE was secondary. Many things broke down or were ignored in this particular incident.

We don't wear PPE because we are planning to take one on the head. And no amount of PPE can forgo the levels higher on the hierarchy. Saying that this climber would have been more alert and cautious without his fancy helmet is just a rationalization and ignores the fact he should have been situational aware WITH his fancy helmet. He should have seen the dead tree, recognized the situation and eliminated the hazard.

We use PPE because we cannot control all hazards. We do not control the hazard with the PPE

I am glad he learned a lesson without major injury. I ma glad the conversation here has been for the most part productive and instructive. A true failure would be read of the same circumstances again.

Tony

 

[B_Strange]

So not to beat a dead horse or hijack the thread. . . @rico mentioned slowing down and making sure all cuts were close to perfect. Any books out there that you experienced guys or gals recommend? I’ve read To Fell a Tree and know the basics but would like to read up and get better. I practice cuts on the trees I drop on our homestead.

I am kinda jealous of the length of experience a lot of ya’ll have. Hopefully my daughter will be able to have 30+ years in the trade someday. Thanks folks!

 

[rico]

Good cuttting/fallling is not some sort of sorcery . Its about knowing the mechanics of sound falling practices and doing your best to execute those methods and practices on each and every cut. Learn what constitutes a perfect undercut and nail it each and every time. Understand what you need to do with your hinge on any given cut and nail it each and every time . When necessary pick the best method for gettting the weight of your wood into your undercut (wedges, jacks, tag-lines, bull-lines,ect.). Understand what can happens when you leave bypass on your undercut, or don't bother perfectly sighting your undercut. Understand what can happen if you destroy your hinge, or overshot/undershot your backcut. Understand what loosing something over backwards or sideways looks like. Get these basic right each and every time and you will be good to go 99.9% of the time.

 

[CutHighnLetFly]

I can see this happening to me in my earlier years of climbing 100%. Constantly sent out to do things without anyone more experienced then I, doing things within my abilities but without the experience or knowledge to have the needed foresight.
Terrible way to learn. Hope he learns quick

 

[rico]

I think the dude in the vid is fairly experienced and a competent tree-man/climber.. Hopefully he just had a brain fart on this job?

 

[treehumper]

I think the dude in the vid is fairly experienced and a competent tree-man/climber.. Hopefully he just had a brain fart on this job?

That is the issue in the industry. Hopefully isn’t a word that should be applied to any safe work practice. A brain fart is a way to dismiss it. Why didn’t he pick up on it where was his head at and why wasn’t it completely focused on the whole job from the moment he got out of the truck?

It’s this sort of behavior that leads to preventable death or injury.