What Keeps You Safe?

This was tremendous to read again.
When I originally started this thread I was in tree work for a few years, but had just started doing 'big girl' stuff, like decent sized removals and high climbs.
Has anything changed for me?

I still have the mental 'do over' ritual. It's automatic whenever I know I'm tempted to take a short cut I shouldn't take.

Since then I'm much more aware of actual hazards and risks due to experience. I'm more likely to be in a risky tree these days where the consequences of failure bear a higher price.
I may be intimidated or worried about an unappealing prospect, such as a dead tree, but once the decision to climb has been accepted (following evaluation of the situation of course), I no longer 'worry' about 'what ifs'. I can clear my head of it.

Perhaps it was the sudden loss of useful vision in my right eye 3 years ago but for me, I need to concentrate on the tasks I have to do, in order, carefully and there's no room to worry about real or imaginary risks that I've accepted.
The downside of that is some mental and physical tunnel vision. I just have to be aware that I might be unaware, if that makes sense. Some days I'm more mentally than physically exhausted.






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@Frax; Thanks for starting this thread. Really sorry to hear about your loss of vision. You are one tough individual. I'm really glad you're a member of this forum, and glad you've figured out a way to continue to work in this field.

Do the people you work for seem to give you all of the "big uglies" all of the time, as opposed to spreading those trees out amongst all of the available climbers? Maybe because you keep showing that you can do it and are willing to suck it up and get the job done, while maybe others complain about it? Probably a wrong impression on my part.

I guess what I'm getting at here is the idea of probabilities, and the sharing of high risk. If one person always gets the high risk jobs, it seems like the chances that they'll be the one that gets hurt go way up. On the other hand, a person who has more experience than the rest of the talent pool may be able to stay out of trouble better than the rest. It just seems to me that a person in that position should be getting paid significantly better than the rest, also, for taking on such risks.

@Steve Connally went through a lot of similar situations with a boss who thought nothing of allowing his workers to get up into trees that the boss would refuse to climb himself.

I guess the idea is that there is always a safe way to take a tree down, but the customer has to be willing to pay for it. You should not have to die or be severely injured because a customer failed to call for removal when a tree was still safe to climb, and instead put it off until it was a brittle stick.

I'm probably way overstepping with this post. I just want to see you hang around for a good long time to come.

Tim
 
TimBr said:
@Frax; Thanks for starting this thread. Really sorry to hear about your loss of vision. You are one tough individual. I'm really glad you're a member of this forum, and glad you've figured out a way to continue to work in this field.

Do the people you work for seem to give you all of the "big uglies" all of the time, as opposed to spreading those trees out amongst all of the available climbers? Maybe because you keep showing that you can do it and are willing to suck it up and get the job done, while maybe others complain about it? Probably a wrong impression on my part.

I guess what I'm getting at here is the idea of probabilities, and the sharing of high risk. If one person always gets the high risk jobs, it seems like the chances that they'll be the one that gets hurt go way up. On the other hand, a person who has more experience than the rest of the talent pool may be able to stay out of trouble better than the rest. It just seems to me that a person in that position should be getting paid significantly better than the rest, also, for taking on such risks.

Tim
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Nothing like that. There are just two of us, and if we think a tree isn't safe to climb at all, and there's no alternative way to do it, we just decline it and tell the homeowner that they need to hire someone with a bucket truck (if that's an option).
It's more about not second guessing on a potentially hazardous tree after it's been evaluated and judged safe enough. There could be unseen hazards and one must be constantly aware, but I stop worrying about it. That part has been addressed.

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I would have to say eyes/awareness of surroundings, I account for every one at the job and what they are doing before I switch my focus to what my next move is. I do this constantly with every move. If a cut is being made in a tree, my eyes don't leave it until it touches the ground.. Anything can happen.
 
I can most definitely say that there are trees that I climbed early on that I would not have touched today. One in particular was a dead Tulip poplar tree, that had been dead for a while. My spikes sank in all the way to the shank as I worked my way up the decomposing trunk. I stopped when I came to some horizontal cracks, attached a tag line and we pulled the whole top over. Some other company refused to take the job because there was no crane access. What was I thinking ???!!!
 
If you don’t know what is going to happen when you cut it then you shouldn’t cut it. Make a knowledgeable plan of action. Share it with your crew, identify hazards and have plan B in place. If you feel your gut tell you something is not right Stop and re-evaluate the situation. Don’t rush because slow is smooth is fast. Climbing and rigging is a chess game. If you try to rush and not preplan every move you are going to wear yourself out having to reset lines, reposition, slow and/or confuse the guys on the ground. Good Communication is a must! Take a look at your set up before you make that cut. Where is my climbing line? Is my flipline where it should? Where will the work line be when I make the cut?


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theXman said:
1. praying in the morning, for guardian angles to watch and protect over family, friends and co-workers for that day.

2. Being extremely wide eyed and very aware of everything around you on the jobsite. And being so in touch with everything, that you can basically see the future a few minutes ahead of time. I can't explain it maybe...

In the rare moments when very tired, sick or not aware of things for some reason; listening to the "gut" feeling that something is wrong and therefor get away from it.
Click to expand...

Well written X ! Seeing the future is visualization of creating what you want to accomplish before you do it. This should be based on knowledge, planning, and faith. What we create in our minds will become our reality. This starts with visualization.


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