PPE: Helmets, hearing protection,...

[Northernlogger395]

I had just been cruising the internet the other day, a tree company had popped up excellent customer review, then i noticed in the homeowner pics these guys had no ppe, were running a lift with no harness.. did not look professional at all in my eyes, however i do agree just because everyone has the same t shirt on doesnt mean they're qualified either.. this company may have been tremendous, but it just doesnt look good.. Now where i work we have a saftey meeting once a week and 9x out of 10 ppe is brought up. Its a shall, not should.. but there are guys who ive worked with who have no problem running a saw without there chaps on.. you even see it on YouTube with guys who are well qualified .. well enough of my ranting!

 

[dmonn]

Or when you toss your climb line with carabiner attached overhead over a limb or through a crotch and it comes back down and knocks you in the head.

or your positioning lanyard with the steel snap attached!

 

[climbingmonkey24]

Idk if this has been posted on here before, but talking about safety and PPE reminds me of this video. They take so many pre safety checks at the beginning, installing emergency rescue lines in case a climber gets injured, etc.

But....

The only thing I was unsure about was the directional cuts at the end when chunking out big wood on the spar and having those directional cuts underneath you from the base all the way up, but to each their own.

Let me know if you have trouble seeing the video.

 

[rico]

The only thing I was unsure about was the directional cuts at the end when chunking out big wood on the spar and having those directional cuts underneath you from the base all the way up, but to each their own.

Did we really just witness someone make all their undercuts on the way up the spar, then negative rig it on the way back down? Straight up dangerous, not to mention straight up inefficient. Mind fucking blown...

 

[climbingmonkey24]

Did we really just witness someone make all their undercuts on the way up the spar, then negative rig it on the way back down? Straight up dangerous, not to mention straight up inefficient. Mind fucking blown...

I agree the undercuts is stupid risky. I was shocked when I first saw the video.

Apparently an argument is that the wood can withstand high winds with a certain amount of decay and rot so having the undercuts in a healthy tree wouldn’t create too much risk of failure.

It’s certainly NOT something I would do.

 

[treesap]

I dont even like climbing over mild bark damage, let alone 1/3 of the tree missing

 

[Rooted.Tree.Solutions]

It just doesn’t make sense to me. You lose so much efficiency because you have to set up and cut twice, once on the way up and once on the way down, instead of just cutting once on the way down. So inefficient.

 

[Chris Schultz]

It just doesn’t make sense to me. You lose so much efficiency because you have to set up and cut twice, once on the way up and once on the way down, instead of just cutting once on the way down. So inefficient.

Yeah.... I was scratching my head about this. The guy obviously seems savvy, very experienced/skilled so i had to meditate on it..... but I still haven’t come up with the benefits.

 

[metaspencer]

Okay, so a full list of PPE for tree work might look like the following. Y'all doing all of this? Am I missing something?

- brain bucket
- eye protection
- face shield
- ear protection
- dust mask (particulate filtration)
- cut-resistant gloves
- long sleeve shirt and/or cut-resistant arm protection
- harness and other safety related climbing gear
- chainsaw pants or chaps
- steel-toe boots
- first-aid kit on the harness (including EpiPen, clot gauze, etc.)
- whistle near face

 

[treesap]

Okay, so a full list of PPE for tree work might look like the following. Y'all doing all of this? Am I missing something?

- brain bucket
- eye protection
- face shield
- ear protection
- dust mask (particulate filtration)
- cut-resistant gloves
- long sleeve shirt and/or cut-resistant arm protection
- harness and other safety related climbing gear
- chainsaw pants or chaps
- steel-toe boots
- first-aid kit on the harness (including EpiPen, clot gauze, etc.)
- whistle near face

looks good, but I will say, a water bottle may be a good addition to the list, id consider it PPE especially on a hot day, if its within arms reach your more inclined to drink while your working

 

[ATH]

What I see missing from your list @metaspencer
*First aid training
*Full first aid kit on the ground/in truck.
*Second climbing kit for a rescue on the ground (I like the idea of setting a second rope before climbing, but honestly don't)
*Emergency contact info including worksite address on dash of truck
*Emergency response plan
*AED if you want to get serious (we don't have one...I used to have a part time helper with a past heart attack so seriously considered buying one, but didn't)
*sunscreen (and UV protection included with the eye protection)

From your list, I don't normally do:
*Chaps/chainsaw protective pants in the tree, but we don't do a lot of chainsaw work in trees - very few removals (always chaps or chainsaw pants when running saw on the ground though). I would put the pants on if I know I am doing a big removal.
*Whistle
*Face shield in the tree
*Dust mask
*Long sleeve shirt (unless it is cold)
*Steel toe boots
*no epi-pen in first aid kit, but no known allergies

Not saying any of those are bad ideas...just that I don't consider them terribly beneficial relative to everything else. I used to climb alone a fair bit. Should have kept a whistle closer. I did used to bring a cell phone in the tree with me...