Utility Arborist Canada

Is that a real question? Most utility arbs are contracted out, usually from a union hall. Theyt dont stick with the same employer forever. so if they leave.....what do you think they do then?.....Call their previous employer they just left and ask them to send over their training verification? highly unlikely.

most legit training comes with a certification
 
I think the term "adequate" is the problem. It doesn't say you need a certificate to operate a chainsaw, it says you must be adequately trained. The problem comes proving that they were trained and trained well enough. The simplest way for everyone to cover their bottoms is to have the piece of paper that says the person obtained the chainsaw training certificate. If a person has the paper work with dates and details of what was covered on training days that should be "adequate".

Maybe I'm reading this all wrong, but that is my take.

Wow a couple of responses came in while I was typing, I have no idea on the rules and regs about working around wires, I am just talking about chainsaws.
 
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Ground to ground doesn't make any sense in any case imaginable you would have to have an entire rubber suit because the moment you touch the tree with any part of your body not covered by rubber then the gloves are pointless.

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Not necessarily true. electricitrical current rarely encompasses the entire tree. path of least resistance thing.

If entire tree is being used as path to ground then in all practicality its gonna blow a fuse. the current would be extremely high It would act like a huge conductor.

the rule is more than likely in place to keep trimmers from cutting lower growth that has reached the conductors from doing so while not personally being in proximity to the line
 
I was using the utility arborist as an example, but if you were moving from job to job the current employer would say to mol that the employee said he had experience, they watched him and asked questions until they were sure he had adequate training.

It makes sense to wear rubber gloves for underbrush grown into the wires, I would use insulated tools to clear the wires or have the line denergized first because I don't trust rubber gloves to me they are for working very very close to live line in an insulated apparatus using insulated tools because as arborists we tend to use more than our hands to work.
 
As of this year, utility arborist is a recognized trade and many utilities are using that qualification as the benchmark for the work being done. Many workers including myself were "grand-fathered" in after showing the MTCU that we had the proper training and 6000 hours around live conductors. Now the exams are becoming available so that workers can get their tradesmen status. I believe in the future, no workers except certified tradesmen (or apprentices) will be allowed to perform work around energized wires.

If you were to get hurt or kill someone on the job, the MOL would be very interested in every detail of your training. There had better be excellent records otherwise it would not matter. If you are doing work for profit in Ontario and someone gets seriously hurt you can be charged. Be careful!!

As for the rubber glove rule...the next time you talk to a EUSA rep ask him about that rule. There are many utility arborists that would ask why they need to wear rubber gloves when Hydro One employees only need them when vegetation is within 3 feet of the conductor. Then ask him how many Forestry reps work for EUSA. You might be surprised.
 
I was using utility arborist an an example, I am also a grandfathered utility arborist, my point was that before it was an apprenticeship, what did you say to mol :

"well before I started trimming, Hydro taught me about power then my journeyman showed me how to prune and I've been doing it for X# of hours"

or if you work for a major line clearance company its:

"my foreman said this is 10' and I shouldn't touch the wire"
 
Ground to ground with class 2 gloves on implies to me that the whole tree can be energized at any given time. Or someone does. Not so though. Or should i say very rare. Being able to identify the most likely path to ground is very important to me. From an access perspective for sure. Dont like mine to be anywhere near it. Sorry about running off with the chainsaw question. Good utility is so hard to find. I should say that my perspectives are that of a life time climber and not a bucket op.
 
Just a hypothetical question here. Say I was trimming a tree that was in proximity to hydro and the MOL showed up, what would they ask to see from me? What is the difference between eusa and ehap? Just curious.


Thanks

Brent
 
not sure about the first part but from what i gather e&usa is an association. They cover way more than just electrical safety. They offer training in several different relms. They seem to be a mini OSHA but a little more. check out their webpage.
ehap-elec.hazard.awareness.program is just trainig administered by the employer to certify that their workers are knowledgable enough to work within 10 feet of the lines.It along with on the job training are required by OSHA in the states. maybe someone else can better explain it but thats the jist of it
 
Our utility does not allow the use of gloves, the crews all use tested insulated sticks (our own individual testing/not batch testing by manufacturer). Seems like gloves would suck, sweating in the summer and in the winter. FR is required though. I will have to look at some of the regs back in the mother land.
 
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