I JUST SAW THIS
I just saw a tree company at work in my neighborhood an hour or so ago. This company has been in business for 41 years, and according to their truck, they are license and insured. They have very high Google, Angies List, and Yelp reviews. I do not believe that any of them are ISA certified. So here’s what I saw. 5 crew members on the job without any PPE; i.e. hard hat, safety colored clothing, safety glasses, or chainsaw protection. I know that one of the ground workers was wearing sneakers, and another one was wearing shorts. They were using a bucket truck and a mini skid steer as well as a chipper. When I got there, they were making the notch cut on a 20 ft tall, straight, and non-leaning trunk section of a sweetgum that had what appeared to be 28” base diameter. The customer(s) were on the back patio about 25-30 ft away from the tree, opposite the fall direction, not wearing any PPE. The notch cut, while clean and straight, did not any relieveing cut on the sides, and the bottom of the notch was angled noticeably upward. They attached the pull line, a solid blue rope which was probably a ½” or 5/8” double braid bull rope, to the mini skid steer. When the skid steer driver put the initial pull on the tree, the top of the section exhibited a noticeable movement or flex. The chainsaw operator made his felling cut about 4-6” above the hing, without the use of any wedges. The tree came down on the intended path, and the butt landed about 4-5 ft away from the stump. I wonder how much force was on that pull line to cause those actions? 10%, 20%, 50% of the minimum break strength? I’m sure no one can answer that. Had the pull line broken, well, you know. With 41 years in business, there is not any state, or even ISA, that would not have let the owner, or any crew member with 3 year’s experience, take a certification test or apply for a license to do tree work.
