High winds

Jesse

Jesse

Location
Lexington, KY- USA
We called off our job today due to high winds. We were pruning a large Montery Cypress, maybe 65 or 70 feet tall and the property was located in one of the higher points in San Francisco. The sustained wind was not much more than a strong breeze but once every few minutes a gust would come up that had me hanging on and worried about limbs breaking out. After four or five gusts like this I came down and called my office manager. I was worried he was going to be upset and thinking about how this is going to hurt production. He told me, "I trust your judgment and if you think it is unsafe pack it up and come to the shop". I was very glad that safety was given priority over production, and that I was not made to feel like I was doing something wrong by stoping the job.

What do some of you do in high wind conditions? Have any of you ever worked in conditions that you felt unsafe because you knew how much greif you would be given if you stoped the job? Have any of you ever been guilty of pushing people to work when it may not have been safe?
 
Jesse, sounds like a good call to me. It is highly dependent on the situation. Yours was a definite no go, considering the location of the tree and especially the type of tree, those cypress trees are notorious for cracking and breaking in the wind (they have so much heavy growth on ends of limbs). good call! be safe

I heard it's been howling in bay area last few days, heavy NW winds, OB is probably all f@#$#@ up.

jp
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I arrived at a job with a crew to remove a 80 ft White Oak which had been dead for about 5 years, it was to be climbed and rigged down. The bark had gone, The tree was in a bad way and most of the crown was over the house. The salesman who priced it was very inexperienced. I made an attempt to get started with it. There was a bigger tree behind I could anchor into. I got into the Oak and big limbs started breaking off with the movement of me being in the tree.

I came down and phoned the boss(ex-climber with 15years experience), he was under a lot of pressure at the time, he was NOT HAPPY.

30 minutes later he arrived in a RAGE and went straight for the tool boxes on our truck.

He pulled out a large SLEDGEHAMMER, walked right passed us saying, "Whats the fcuken problem!" and started belting the stem like a psychopath.

His face went all red and he was sweating like a stuck pig.

Once he had gone all the way round the stem smacking it with the sledgehammer he walked up to me and said, "The tree's fcuken safe to climb, now get it done!"

His face was all contorted.

I was shaking in my boots.

Then he pissed off.

I reluctantly went back up and tiptoed round the tree distmantling it in miniture sections, it took 2 and a half days.

The boss was NOT HAPPY

The roof of the house was untouched.
 
I forgot to say, Monterey Cypress are one of my favourite trees, those big pointed plumes of foliage against the blue sky are hard to beat.
 
[ QUOTE ]


He pulled out a large SLEDGEHAMMER, walked right passed us saying, "Whats the fcuken problem!" and started belting the stem like a psychopath.

His face went all red and he was sweating like a stuck pig.

Once he had gone all the way round the stem smacking it with the sledgehammer he walked up to me and said, "The tree's fcuken safe to climb, now get it done!"



[/ QUOTE ]
Now that guy is a jerk. Very funny visual though.
Great call Jesse. Is it nice to have an employer that respects your opinion?
crazy.gif
 
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