No dead tree climbing policy

B

brut4c

Location
west
Is it common to see companies with a policy of not allowing climbing of dead tree's?

I was looking at a job with a friend who has worked for one line clearing company his entire career and he was going on about how this dead fir tree will have to be pulled over onto the road and flaggers blah blah blah. I said I'd just climb it and have it in a pile in an hour and a half. He looked at me like I had an arm growing out of my forehead. Then he told me his company would never allow it and because of that policy he had never learned to do anything except fear those trees.

I'd like to hear some thoughts and policies you guys may have in this area.
 
I'd be out of business if I didn't climb dead trees. Assess ,assess ,assess ! Before you go up and don't stop assessing until your back on the ground. Know your trees and how each species tends to react structurally you know certain stuff is even brittle while living and what caused the trees demise cant hurt to know and Can't hurt your chances of going home to kiss your family instead of kissing your ass goodbye like the tree.
 
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TTF, not to be the spellchecker but I'm going to presume you mean assess.

Large companies often have these kinds of policy because it's safer to reduce everything to it's lowest common denominator. Given the number of man-hrs they'll put in, statistically they are more likely to experience a serious accident. The skill sets of the climbers are much more diverse and it would be extremely difficult to establish a guideline as to when it would be permissible for a dead tree to be climbed. From a risk management standpoint they can cost justify the more time consuming approach. For them it's all part of the model and easily executed vs. the small company that does the same thing infrequently.
 
treehumper said:
TTF, not to be the spellchecker but I'm going to presume you mean assess.

Large companies often have these kinds of policy because it's safer to reduce everything to it's lowest common denominator. Given the number of man-hrs they'll put in, statistically they are more likely to experience a serious accident. The skill sets of the climbers are much more diverse and it would be extremely difficult to establish a guideline as to when it would be permissible for a dead tree to be climbed. From a risk management standpoint they can cost justify the more time consuming approach. For them it's all part of the model and easily executed vs. the small company that does the same thing infrequently.
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Yup I'm an ass :inocente: ,but I assess !(y)
And if you assess the trees not sound you'll hope for access access access for the bucket or the crane or heli ;)
I fixed the spelling thanks t.h. most times my posts come out like :baba: projectile fast. Viewer discretion is advised lol
 
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They also had a no chipping dead wood policy as well. The climbing policy, I think, was one of the factors that lead to them losing what appears to be a valuable contract with a local utility.

Not positive but my guess is the owner of the company himself was never real comfortable climbing to begin with and that carried out to the employee's,most of which grew up in that company. If that is the case then honestly kudos to the owner for not making his employee's do anything he's not willing to do himself. On the other hand, why not just hire some talent?

TH, I get what your saying and can see how that could work for the big outfits.
 
I would rather see a company with a "no climbing dead trees" policy than a dead or injured climber.

From the outside looking in, seems like an honest realization of their inherent limits.

This is not to say dead trees should never be climbed, but if you do not know how to go about it safely, then don't do it.

Tony
 
I'm generally a no dead tree climber and the boss knows it. Personal choice and sometimes he gets pissy and I get punished for it by being sent home. The key is I go home to my son every day and it's not my problem. IMHO when writing a bid you should always look at it like what risk to my climber, my groundies, customers property. If it can be done safely with plan a then come up with a safe plan b. If there isn't one, walk away. Any customer that puts price over safety sucks anyway. Ther is always a plan b. Crane with a man basket ect ect.
 
Any tree begins with the question, can it be felled. After that it's a matter of full assessment of all conditions to determine which set of tools and techniques available do you bring to the job.

There's been plenty of living trees that gave me pause compared to dead trees.
 
brut4c said:
They also had a no chipping dead wood policy as well. The climbing policy, I think, was one of the factors that lead to them losing what appears to be a valuable contract with a local utility.

Not positive but my guess is the owner of the company himself was never real comfortable climbing to begin with and that carried out to the employee's,most of which grew up in that company. If that is the case then honestly kudos to the owner for not making his employee's do anything he's not willing to do himself. On the other hand, why not just hire some talent?

TH, I get what your saying and can see how that could work for the big outfits.
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A lot of big outfits may have a no climb policy because they have crane and bucket resources to respond to dead trees in a safer manner.

We don't have either and I did a mushy soft dead cherry today but off a skyhook would a bucket have saved some screwing around, for sure but I still got it done in a safe manner.
 
Steve Connally said:
I'm generally a no dead tree climber and the boss knows it. Personal choice and sometimes he gets pissy and I get punished for it by being sent home. The key is I go home to my son every day and it's not my problem. IMHO when writing a bid you should always look at it like what risk to my climber, my groundies, customers property. If it can be done safely with plan a then come up with a safe plan b. If there isn't one, walk away. Any customer that puts price over safety sucks anyway. Ther is always a plan b. Crane with a man basket ect ect.
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As well the level of climber that will be doing it. We wouldn't necessarily send a summer student or an apprentice to deal with some of the trees that the foreman deal with. Experience, skill and training can be safety precautions as much as anything
 
It really comes down to assessing the risk and implicating a panel as ThH said.

If there is a break down or defiency in either, step away. They are just trees. Yet to meet one worth serious injury or death.

Tony
 
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AFAIK, my local B"",lett is not allowed to climb dead trees. Three different Conservation Commisions have told me this. Good for me as I will, to a point, and I have received several calls due to this. They recently bought a Spiderlift, so I think those calls will dwindle. Corporations do me very little good.
 
CreTree said:
AFAIK, my local B"",lett is not allowed to climb dead trees. Three different Conservation Commisions have told me this. Good for me as I will, to a point, and I have received several calls due to this. They recently bought a Spiderlift, so I think those calls will dwindle. Corporations do me very little good.
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Did they just tell you not to climb them or do you have an ash protocol on the books?
 
I'm an owner. I climb what I choose. The big B is not allowed. Cons Comm will not let our struggling Black Oaks be removed until dead if it's in their jurisdiction. Damn near everything is in their jurisdiction here.
 
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