The Body Language of Tree Workers

Nice one Lazarus

I read this line "Professional tree work requires true professional attitudes and individuals."

It's a shame that so many dont recognise that. /forum/images/graemlins/applaudit.gif
 
Thanks for the support Ekka.

I can't complain about poor operating procedures if I don't put forward the info on how to improve things. Thats the reason I post on the Buzz. Even if it puts peoples backs up occassionally. Its a 'big picture' thing.

I'm committed to improving this industry. My whole professional life has been spent in this industry from the day I left school 20 years ago. The first 2-3 years I had 1:1 from a pioneer in the UK with 28 years experience. It was suicide strap, free climb to the top, tie in with 1/2" 3 ply nylon and haul up an 024 woodboss with a 13" bar. No handsaws - no 020Ts. Occassionally a 1" bull rope and a Stihl 056 super. 098 on the ground (what a beast!). I've seen some stunts alright, and had my part to play in them.

I get the impression some here think I'm a polished instructor that does it by the book and has never got his hands dirty.......Ha Ha Ha!
 
Back in my "Evil Tom" days I was reading Arbor Age, when it was a magazine, and the first issues of Tree Care Industry. there were lots of articles talking about hacks, toppers and other 'ner do wells. After reading the disparaging comments I realized that they were aimed at me. I didn't know any better then but I did know that I didn't like the connotations. It took some time but gradually I changed my ways. Seeing Don Blair do a slide show in Philadelphia in '86 started me on the path to understand how to move loads UP, what a concept. Then I came under the influence of Dr. Shigo...the rest is history...

I don't regret for a second giving up Evil Tom. I know that I wouldn't be as healthy or in one piece had I kept up the path. Having the good fortune to meet like-minded arborists all over the US and the world has been a gift.

Trying to get people to work in a safer fashion is one goal. Working safer will help arbos live longer. Like pilots we need to have just as many take-offs as we do landings. Like mountaineers we need to remember that attaining the summit and dieing on the descent is meaningless. Going home walking is the important thing. Retiring in one piece is a long range plan not a myth.
 
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Seeing Don Blair do a slide show in Philadelphia in '86 started me on the path to understand how to move loads UP, what a concept. Then I came under the influence of Dr. Shigo...the rest is history...

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Tom,

I saw Blair in 86 in Philly too. It was one my first exposures to professional arboriculture. I bought a Hobbs Lowering Device a year later. I have a lot of respect for Don.

I remember hearing Shigo speak back then and was blown away by the fact that the most knowledgeable arborist on the planet loved interacting with ordinary arborist.......and respected us even though we were light years behind him in understanding tree biology. Alex Shigo will always be my favorite teacher.

Dan
 
Sounds like ya'll are on the way to a group hug! /forum/images/graemlins/grouphug.gif

Good points. It is not how hard you can climb, it is how efficient you can climb.

It is just tree climbing. Life itself is a repetitive motion. If you are fit, production tree climbing can keep you fit. It is dragging brush, humping logs, and doing ground work that will make you old before your time.
 
Yes efficiency is key. But the key to efficiency is 'Ergonomic' efficiency: If you climb inefficiently in an ergonomic sense, once a week, and have an all round fitness programme, it is unlikely you will suffer MSD injury. This is because your general fitness activity will probably compensate for the poor postitioning and posture etc.

However, to climb regularly in an ergonomically inefficient way, is likely to lead to future MSDs, because there just isn't the rest and 'intensive and specific' correction required to compensate for ergonomic inefficiency.

If you footlock and body thrust most days, this is ergonomically inefficient. Use SRT, ladders or bucket trucks for access, the pantin for modified body thrusting and climbing the branches whilst tailing slack, rather than always footlocking and body thrusting.

Humping logs is just as good or bad for you as climbing; the body needs to be trained appropriately, and ergonomically efficient techniques used. i.e. lifting logs by alternating the load from both sides of the body. Rake left, rake right (don't forget rake safety now!), brush left, brush right (toothpaste or sawdust), left index finger, left nostril, right index finger right nostril (safety considerations apply to other road users).

Its all strange at first, but the body and brain soon get used to it. In fact benefit from it - if you only use one side of the body, you aren't exercising both sides of the brain (which may explain a few bad attitudes /forum/images/graemlins/grin.gif).

Its the same for most manual trades - only the extreme repetition and effort of traditional tree work techniques creates a more devastating time bomb - we only have to look at the posts in this section to realise that.

(Although this started as a reply to Nathan, it isn't aimed at Nathan - just incase I'm misunderstood and garotted again /forum/images/graemlins/crazy.gif)

Consult the 'Fooey Book of Wisdom'.......Think 'Ninja' tree climbing - discipline of the body and mind for perfect balance.

Now then, where is kayto likely to be hiding..........
 
The model I use to illustrate ergonomics is a paperclip. Everyone has bent them. Either one time and they break or many times and they look OK. No different for our bodies. With care and gentle use they can last many cycles.
 
In order to avoid muscular-skeletal disorders I believe the importance of developing and using both sides of the human body symmetrically is still under appreciated by most tree workers.

Developing one side of the human body more than the other usually leads to muscles pulling the skeleton out of alignment and often results in chronic pain from pressure on nerves and other tissue.

Another benefit of symmetrical muscular-skeletal development and use is that as work loads are spread out on more parts of the body the result is a longer working life of body parts.

Most of the martial arts teach the importance of balanced development. Most people have a dominate side and when sparring this is often used against them by their opponent who capitalizes on their weak side. Very few people develop accuracy and strength symmetrically.

Of course working ergonomically is always paramount. Ergonomics is as much about how we exert energy via our muscular-skeletal system as it is about reducing work loads into smaller pieces.

Dan
 
This reminds me of an oriental guy I worked with a month ago that would show up long before we would take off to the job and stretch( yoga or tia chi)
When I asked him about it he just said getting ready for the day. Now after some jobs I do a kinda sorta yoga chi thing to somtimes before the day.
I have found out at some time doing this that I have found more balance in what I do on the ground and in the tree.
I hope he still going for his cert. good to kknow him and learn alittle from him.
 
Thats an interesting point.

Over here, when I come out of the tree and stretch, everyone I've worked with without exception, looks concerned and asks:

"got a bad back!?"

To which I reply:

"No, and thats the way I like it!"

Nobody ever gets it. Of course after a while of working with me they understand, or they're screaming for mercy from ergonomics lectures... /forum/images/graemlins/grin.gif

The first hurdle in reducing MSDs for arborists, is opening their eyes to the future effects of ergonomic ineffeciency.

One of the reasons we started with a harness design, was because it would help reduce MSDs without the wearer even realising it (if worn correctly). Either that, or the different design would beg the question 'Why?'. This question leads to explaining ergonomic techniques that the harness was designed for.

Knowledge cannot be given without first being sought.

It seems to be working /forum/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
I remeber starting to work as a groundie for the cert. and haveing him look over the jobs and visualizing what he was going to to do up there, mean while doing some stretching.
I do a walk around with the guys before the jobs and some stretches. I like this cause I get into the brain power of knowing where to set lines and what course of action to take do the job.
the dtretches also help do to haveing some heavy lifting problems awhile ago helps relieave some of the tension. They also help in getting the thought going.
I do tyhe same when I come down to stretch out and go over what I did in my head making sure that all was done before the lines come out. In remebering this post I gave hime a holler and found out that he is working for Outward Bound outdoor school. He teaches the ropes courses and mountianeering classes for them. Still going for his cert. and working outside of the school on some jobs,, and still does the stretches before the day.
 
It is great to see people with passion about the industry. life is way to short to be unhappy. If we all exhibit some level if morals, integrity, and passion we can bring the industry standards up to a level that the public is aware of and apperciates. And more importantly will pay for. If we can't educate closed-minded fly by night tree services who almost always undercut prices by cutting safety, we will just have to educate the public continously about the inherit dangers and risks invloved with using their services. Promote and exhibit professionalism at all times.
 
The older we get, the smarter we (have to work. Is this a form of evolution in aborists, or adaptation? Modern technology is wonderful in some realms. The more we explore ergonomics, the more we search for tools to help us, I have heard it called "thinking outside the bark". When I speak about the TCC, I always promote it as a showcase for innovation in arboriculture, if you're not a competitor, come watch and learn how to be more efficient.
 
Personally, I think the TCCs have lost their focus. Here is a good thread as to why:

http://www.treebuzz.com/forum/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=48465&an=0&page=1#48465

They encourage innovation, but this is sometimes dangerous - limitations aren't always understood, and certainly aren't passed to observers that are influenced by the 'cool' factor. They also don't encourage bio-mechanical efficiency.

I would prefer to see time spent on encouraging safety, quality and ergonomic efficiency, rather than glory through speed.

Just my two pence worth.
 
I think that is worth more than two pence. I look for innovation in equipment and efficiency by showing how to safely manuver throughout the tree providing quality work. I do not think there is enough weight for judges discretion. Tree workers should appear as if they are as comfortable if not more in the trees than on the ground. I was just last night working on breathing techniques while footlocking. Granted is was to increase speed, however, an added bonus was is made me focus on my movements trying to become more fluid.
 
A good read about the pyshosocial effect on acceptance of MSDs through work technique & equipment:

http://www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrpdf/rr545.pdf


Part of my task in these threads has been to help Arbos get their heads around the need for bio-mechanical work techniques to help avoid injury, pain and MSDs that reduce quality of life and decrease production.

Its not a myth or a product of some 'looney left' think tank. It should be common sense.
 
proper ergonomics and muscle injury prevention WILL NEVER happen in the tree industry, UNTIL EMPLOYERS STEP UP & LEARN and respect their workers. Working a crew to death, rushing from job to job, not giving the groundie a break until lunchtime, not letting workers eat a snack or drink water until the climber has lunch, making employees bend over to pick up limbs and chunks instead of using tools that lessen that (pickaroons for chunks, handtongs for treelimbs), not listening to an employee when they speak up about pain............all are contributing factors to RSI's and muscle injuries, tendonitis etc. Employers need to realize that we are humans, NOT machines, and as such need food water and rest breaks.

But it will never happen because its easier for employers to work the crew to death, then can them or lay them off and bring in a new crew is'nt it? Employers talk the talk about safety, all self assured like "we're very safe here" but FEW walk the walk about safety. Many dont even know about muscle injuries, RSI's or other common workpalce ailments.
 
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