saw for hire tv show?

How many of you have had a run in with OSHA? If it's anything like Ontario I'd suspect very few. Many other certified professionals have associations with ethics committees, complaints departments and tribunals. They levee fines and disciplinary actions on their own in order to maintain a standard of practice. The fines go to education and the cost of the oversight. The public benefits from this by being assured of mechanism to deal with complaints that are more direct and the knowledge that someone is in fact watching out for their best interest. Does it work perfectly? Far from it but much better than what we have. OSHA doesn't have anywhere near enough inspectors to actually pursue tree services and besides we're small fish in a big pond.

Bringing them down on one of us who is in blatant contravention of OSHA regs pertaining to crane operation and basic safety is a duty. Sorry, but it's high time we start to walk the walk if we wish to differentiate ourselves from the hacks and moonlighters.

ISA is voluntary and if you don't agree with their standards then one shouldn't join. If you do, then uphold the standards which your certification indicates you practice. You can't have the benefits without the commitment.
 
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How many of you have had a run in with OSHA?

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Good question.

Me ... never.

Of friends and acquaintences who have businesses of various sorts - I think about 1 in 50 have been looked at and had to deal with a few piddly things.

Wonder if they are proactive, or mainly complaint driven.
 
The ones that did were they service oriented businesses or located at a fixed address?

I think they are primarily complaint driven. Though they will do an industry blitz.
 
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The ones that did were they service oriented businesses or located at a fixed address?

I think they are primarily complaint driven. Though they will do an industry blitz.

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I believe the one I recall, was a decent size window cleaning company.

Maybe they are a target industry due to working with ladders, pressure washers and hanging from buildings.

Service oriented for sure.

Best I remember, that one was not complaint related.
 
I worked for a commercial framing contractor that worked on large projects (6-12 month duration), we saw OSHA frequently. Temporary handrailings, scaffolding, ladders, PPE, it was an OSHA theme park.

While trimming for the Big Orange Powerline Clearance Company of America, we had OSHA make three passes through our temporary work zone. It was a horrible intersection, a three way "Y" shaped junction on the crest of a hill. They rolled through a couple times, looked everything over, pulled over and parked for a little bit... then rolled off.
 
From OSHA's FAQ page:

What are OSHA's inspection priorities?

Top priority are reports of imminent dangers-accidents about to happen; second are fatalities or accidents serious enough to send three or more employees to the hospital. Third are employee complaints. Referrals from other government agencies are fourth. Fifth are targeted inspections-such as the Site Specific Targeting Program, which focuses on employers that report high injury and illness rates, and special emphasis programs that zero in on hazardous work such as trenching or equipment such as mechanical power presses. Follow-up inspections are the final priority.


It would seem that they are not proactive but reactionary.

They had about 1100 inspectors at the federal level and conduct about 37,000+ inspections a year. There are 26 states with their own OSHA and they did about 58,000 inspections

Here's the numbers they deal with,

A total of 5,488 fatal work injuries were recorded in the United States in 2007, a decrease of 6 percent from the
revised total of 5,840 fatal work injuries reported for 2006.

The number of nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses reported in 2007 declined to 4 million cases, compared to 4.1 million cases in 2006.

So, OSHA being brought down on us? I don't think they even have the time.
 
you have to be out of your mind there is no unseen or special skill to almost flipping a crane anyway let alone the direction he was doing it. man I really hope you are kidding...... this clown is a disgrace to the tree care industry if his crew had half a brain they would not walk but run away and not look back.
 
The safety issues always make for lengthy threads with good analogies from many different points of view.

I advocate the use of PPE strongly to all those that work under me, and I emphasize awareness and technique. But at the same time I'm not on a witch hunt to turn other people in who don't comply strictly to safety standards. For the young people working under such morons I strongly, and up front, point out the issues for their own safety. Right in front of their bosses if need be.

For the most part Dave Spencer said it about as good as could be said.
 
There is a HUGE difference between bending/ignoring standards and regulations in day to day work and putting those same actions out for public view. I realize that it is a matter of degree on a long sliding scale. Nosak is presenting himself to the public as a representative of how to get trees down and run a tree crew. Would anyone here consider putting their mistakes out for public viewing?
 
Not me.
blush.gif
 
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It blows my mind that a plumber needs to be licensed but anyone can rent a crane to lift a tree over a house

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Great points Dave. And I liked this one the most... LMAO
grin.gif
 
NJ is on its second reading of a law that will require all tree services to have to be licensed.

But like plumbers, electricians, carpenters and all the other licensed trades there will still be those that operate without it. It comes down to enforcement and there are not enough inspectors to force compliance. It comes down to us being the whistle blowers. And so what do we get? The "I'm not going to rat someone out" philosophy despite the negative impact these operators have on our livelihoods.
 
its not so much the license you can still be a down right butcher with a license. its all about knowing what you are doing and good practice. some people just dont care. i know of a tree company i climbed for when he started up he climbed alittle and asked alot of questions. then after a few yrs i saw he was getting dangerous. i refused to climb a tree because it was only about a ft from primarys. so i took the tree over the house and against my advice he went up that tree and needless to say he blew power. by the grace of god i yelled to the man on the rope to let go and it rolled out thank god nobody was hurt.that was my last day i had a few choice words and quit. anyway i hear he rips house drops down all the time like its common practice.i have also heard of him intensionaly smashing fences so the job goes faster and replaceing it. when he has a mishap he just says thats what i have insurance for. i am waiting to read about him in the papers.
 
Davespencer wrote,
"I hate to be the one who points this out but I think that Nosak is more of the typical north american tree company than any of you guys out here."

I don't know about the whole of North America. Wrong about Dallas and Austin TX, but dead on right about what I have seen in and around St. Louis Missouri. St. Louis has a large concentration of certified arborist, but it also has a larger concentration of meth. addicts. If your curious, the Meth addicts seem to make up the bulk of the labor pool, and you can see the results. Funny thing is, they don't seem to break as much as Nowaks crew. Maybe a tweeker is more easy to spot than a dumbass and you just don't put him at the controls of the crane! Maybe they weed themselves out before they reach the level of 'owner'.
Aside from all else, the Turd from Tulsa, has brought me back to the 'Buzz, and I'm glad to see good tree people telling of thier good works.

Louie Hampton
 
yes every crane pick was out of control. i saw one that went halfway decent. what did you think of the one that sat on the roof the was nuts.he wasnt as bad as his first two shows. as far as being like everybody out here i highly doubt that i think these even new bees out here would have more brains then that guy.it doesnt take a rocket scientist to know that you dont rip trees off with a crane nevermind torward the house or a man that has to run across the roof to save his a.. the crane is meant to lift the load.anyway i could could talk about this all day.good luck everybody and keep it safe
 
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I just had to watch it , couldn't help myself .
So why am I gonna watch the next one ? I don't get to see idiots work every day , it's something different .

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I agree and if I plan to comment about it(since people tend to bring it up in conversation when they know what I do)I will know what I am talking about.
If you listened when making the picks the overload alarm was usually going off.
 
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UPDATE:

ISA has been in contact with Nosak and he is receptive to learning and changing (so I'm told). Nice to see the positive response and nice to see the ISA making a move to support the industry.

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Good. Time will tell if he is serious...
 
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