Too Many Mistakes Too many deaths.

Frax

Frax

Participating member
Location
Expat now in Chapel Hill, NC by way of Calgary, Al
In the last 2 days, I've heard about three fatalities and one serious injury.

Climber in TN killed after being pinned to a tree by a barber chair at 25'. Apparently tried to cut a 40' limb with no notch or face cut.
One person killed and 2 others injured in GA when someone ran into them at the side of the road. They had cones and a flagger.
Another death in Ontario. A felling accident I think.
And a climber fell and was seriously injured in OK I think. Might have been equipment failure.

Too much.
 
Too much indeed. So many experienced and unexperienced having accidents. Having had my own N.D.E. in the last year, I think it's time. With any luck Santa will bring me a change of career for Xmas.
 
(Muskokaonline.com police report)

Yesterday OPP along with Muskoka EMS and Lake of Bays Fire responded to an accident at Montgomery Bay Road in Lake of Bays. A tree cutting company was working at a private residence when a branch fell and struck a man that was standing below. The male lost consciousness and emergency services was contacted.

A 28-year-old male from Port Sydney was transported to Dwight via land ambulance meeting the Medevac at Irwin Memorial Public School and was transported to a Toronto hospital. The male’s injuries were said to be serious.

Ministry of Labour attended to follow up with the investigation.
 
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(Muskokaonline.com police report)

Yesterday OPP along with Muskoka EMS and Lake of Bays Fire responded to an accident at Montgomery Bay Road in Lake of Bays. A tree cutting company was working at a private residence when a branch fell and struck a man that was standing below. The male lost consciousness and emergency services was contacted.

A 28-year-old male from Port Sydney was transported to Dwight via land ambulance meeting the Medevac at Irwin Memorial Public School and was transported to a Toronto hospital. The male’s injuries were said to be serious.

Ministry of Labour attended to follow up with the investigation.

[/ QUOTE ]

Heard today that he took a bad turn for the worst. Too many around us this year for sure! Not good!
 
That's a terrible way to die. And a great lesson for the living...

I would recommend that everyone watch that report...
He made a cut without a notch and the limb split and ripped below the cut (which is different than a barber chair) ... climber was tied in with a lanyard below the cut. When the limb moved it pinned him against the trunk, the circle of death....

Didn't look like that big of a limb, maybe 6-7", and with all the weight on the branch tips pulling on the "lever" it was enough to kill him. It took time though... 45 minutes...

Makes a good case for becoming proficient in aerial rescue...

And a better case for learning proper chainsaw technique.. No German would make a cut like that (no notch) with his lanyard in below the cut!

No doubt there were multiple safety violations... no two tie ins, no handsaw...

I just produced a video on notchless rigging.. Its hasn't been released to the public, though Bix has seen it... I AM really glad to have seen this report. I mentioned the dangers of a piece ripping into your lanyard, but I was still hesitant to release the video becasue it just didn't seem like enough of a warning given the potential dangers. I plan on adding some details about this fatality to emphasize the importance of not tying in below a rip cut....
 
I wonder if the numbers are up because the size of the industry has grown. I think there are alot of people that are getting into treework without ample training. There are also alot of people starting companies without alot of experience.
 
The other thing I remember when I first got started was that owners and managers self regulated their employees. They would make decisions early on if they thought you were a safety hazard. The talk wasn't "you're fired" the talk was "this is a dangerous biz and you don't have the personality/ maturity/attention span/etc for it. Why don't you try landscaping or macdonalds where there is less risk. " At least the companies I worked for did that. You felt proud that you were kept on and you worked hard to prove yourself.
 
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The talk wasn't "you're fired" the talk was "this is a dangerous biz and you don't have the personality/ maturity/attention span/etc for it. Why don't you try landscaping or macdonalds where there is less risk. "

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That's a good talk to have ... sometimes it takes a day or two of watching the new guy out of the corner of your eye... sometimes it takes 20 minutes..

Good to warn them ahead of time too..."safety is crucial and if I see you're not acting safely, you're not gonna have a job"... then give them a quick talk about safe working distance, drop zone violations, and keeping their body parts out of the chipper feed table...

Never forget the time I saw a mechanic with 30 years work experience crawl up onto the feed table, on his hands and knees, to push the last little bit of dust through... With all that experience, I thought he'd have more sense.. Just goes to show... you can't make those kind of assumptions..

When it comes to new guys IMO all experienced members on the crew should be able to make a call.. they might see something the foreman or boss doesn't... and its not about making someone wrong.. its about everyone going home and eating dinner.... Firing someone that doesn't have a good mind for safety is actually the kindest thing you can do!
 
Are we getting more dangerous or getting better access to information via the internet and learning of more accidents? I also wonder if our lifestyles are getting so fast we are more prone to distraction. The equipment and knowledge have improved, it's not that.

All of us must run into or know these "I've been doing this 30 years and never hit a fence" guys. Can't make a proper hinge, use worn out yellow poly three strand, climb only as high as the ladder or bucket goes and yet there they are. 20 fingers and toes and lowballing us to death. It's because they pay attention. Their motivation could be being scared shitless but it works. They also only do a couple trees a month to our three + trees a day. We have way more chances to screw up.
 
Too often that 30 yrs without an accident or hitting a fence is just a sign that they've hit their head a few too many times. They will at some point tell you about just such time as when they cut themselves, took out a fence, etc....

You may have a point though about the amount of work we do in a day. There is the downward pressure on pricing thus more has to be done to make the amount targeted for a day.

This puts a lot of pressure on the crews and specially the climber to take more chances. We also adopt new technologies and techniques often without a full understanding of the science involved, much to our peril.
 
Some of our industry "trainers" are just too old and their "skills" are outdated. I work "under" an old climber that all he uses is a chain saw, leaving very unprofessional cuts. His way is faster but very dangerous. We have had many discussions in my short time with the company. The bosses love him because he is fast and makes money, but also missed a lot of this last year because he cut his HAND with a chainsaw. I try to the best of my abilities to keep two hand on at all times, but sometimes you kind of need to use one hand. But the way he wields his chain-sword I'm surprised he's never cut himself or anyone else in half. When he is near me in a tree I pretty much stop working and get in as small a position as I can just to make sure he doesn't cut me.
The way he operates a job is dangerous, his theory of removals is get it on the ground and doesn't care if you can't move on the ground to do anything including getting to the ropes and rigging equipment. He hasn't changed or learned any new techniques in his 30-35 years of terror.

I've been lucky enough to learn before moving to this company good safe, and efficient work habits.

Yes pricing is a big problem because there is always somebody willing to come in and low-ball you, and most of the time are lucky that they live through it just to make it come in. All in all I think there are just many tree climbers (notice I didn't use arborist) out there that are lucky to be alive. This job is dangerous enough even when being safe as possible.
 
I never buy those boasts. "I've done it like this for 30 years and I've never 'cut my hand off/fallen out of a tree/been hit by a tree' or any other bad shiz you care to name and I'm still working".
Because you never hear from the dumbasses who finally killed themselves in their 31st year doing it.

This job is indeed risky enough without making it chancier.
 
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This job is indeed risky enough without making it chancier.

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Good point many miss.

I like to think of Tree work as a hazardous job that can be made dangerous by not using PPE, not following basic safety practices and protocol.

Tony
 
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