The Times They Are A-Changin'

[ShermanC]

Peter Paul and Mary sang it so well so often and the theme certainly must effect our trade. I am getting on a soap box today and I hope this will be read throughout the industry. We are loosing perhaps more tree workers and owners this year than we have the last 3-4 years. I keep hoping we will get smarter and reduce injuries and fatalities.

The preventable accident a week ago SUNDAY in Albuquerque, NM caused death of two at the scene and death of one in the hospital and two more are still in the hospital in ICU. Four of the five occupants in the lift basket were children, the oldest boy was only 12. I am sick about this accident and sticking my neck out with a plea to any and all who take risk management for granted. I doubt I could survive as a politician because I detest the good old boy club attitudes like "it'll never happen to me". The cruise ship Costa Concordia sailed aground on the Italian coastline but no one saw it coming. It proved the abject ignorance and stupidity of the man in charge. His commandants didn't challenge the captain and look what the heck happened.

The faults in this accident proved similar stupidity and ignorance made by Ken Raschick the deceased arborist who reportedly had worked in tree care since 1973. If this man had liability insurance it must be questioned how the broker or agent got qualified to inspect interrogate and question the habits of Raschik in operating a tree service. Yes these issues deserve challenge and inspection.

The faults committed by the owner listed below are based on reports and photos. They tell us we must learn respect use and demand the standards that have been set by our leadership, professional members. We should cease and desist all risky activity that puts life at risk. It's dangerous work and it should be restricted to work only by professionals ...no damned joy rides or showing out.

Faults committed:
#owner operated lift while it was loaded for transport not for work
#owner operated lift with children as passengers for a joy ride
# owner elected to conduct a lift operation on wet ground

End of lecture with hopes we can stop this kind of nonsense in our industry. To those who have never fallen to learn that gravity rules and listen and study and learn while you're ahead. My forgetfulness to fasten my safety belt to the tree I was in 17 years ago almost caused my death. It cost me a lot but now I am blessed with a titanium hip the surgeries done by dedicated surgeons and with healthy living I still work at age 74. Be safe out there in all you do.

 

[jomoco]

Do you think times are changing in this industry for better or worse Tree Top?

jomoco

 

[Jed1124]

The industry is certainly changing for the better with regards to standards that have been put into place. Professionals follow those standards. Unfortunately it is all to often the case that due to either ignorance or recklessness those standards are not being followed. People die as a result. A quick review of the back pages of TCIA magazine each month confirms this with number of tree workers dying on a regular basis. A large percentage of these deaths are due to guys not doing simple things like using a harness while operating a bucket truck. Completely preventable.

 

[jomoco]

Yeah?

Read the chipper death thread n get back to me on how seriously this industry takes safety for all tree workers.

More like facilitating cruel n unusual death on the job IMO.

jomoco

 

[ShermanC]

Do you think times are changing in this industry for better or worse Tree Top?

jomoco

In my eight years as a TCIA member I have seen good and great changes, standards that will if followed keep us safe keep us in business keep the trees looking as good as we can make them and uphold our reputation as a trade. We're it not for the equipment rental dealers the trees might get ignored for there are not enough dedicated arborists to keep up with demand. In my 17 years of business here I have always had enough work to go to. I feel blessed and proud of the quality of service and the extent we go to.
The times that are changing are the issues with amateurs and homeowners who ignore the dangers and suffer injury or get killed. I wish my mentor Herb Robertson from 1991-1995 were alive today to see how our trade has grown and matured. He would tilt an eyebrow grin and chuckle, that sly old guy. I am so grateful I met him and that he believed in me when I to.d him I want to learn to do this.
Sherman

 

[ShermanC]

Yeah?

Read the chipper death thread n get back to me on how seriously this industry takes safety for all tree workers.

More like facilitating cruel n unusual death on the job IMO.

jomoco

About 18 months ago a tree worker in Connecticut took his three sons to his job site. The kids were on spring break. He directed the boys to sit at one spot and watch while worked, feeding limbs into his chipper. The six year old decided he wanted to help his dad. When the boy got caught by limbs and pulled into the chipper his dad and brothers watched him be killed. This is not to put down rental agencies and chippers but the careless act of the 27 year old father. Kids should not even be given rides even on riding mowers, ATV's and similar machines. I couldn't help but wear their sorrow on my heart for several weeks. I serve more than 680 customers and work the trees without a chipper. We've developed methods and systems to get the work done and be resourceful about much of our waste. We might be a little slower but we are sure safe and have a lot of repeat customers to prove our value.

 

[Yellowdog]

It's been awhile since I've posted but this topic is important to me and I, too, get on a soap box because I care about people. I had written a LONG post here but deleted most of it. I'm sure most of you who take the time to read a forum like this have a good idea of what I was going to say.

Arboriculture or any accident that results in injury or fatality forces me to pause and thank God for a little bit of wisdom and a sense of preservation. Accidents can and do happen. Unforeseen accidents are just that, unforeseen but there are literally thousands of people in our profession that are untrained, unskilled, and unable to make qualified, safe work place decisions and who are involved in accidents that were most likely preventable. I don't have statistics to back up that statement but I do have personal experience and have been witness to unsafe practices that could have been done differently.

As long as unskilled workers continue to place ads for tree topping on sites like Craigslist, the accidents and injuries or fatalities will continue. I've seen a lot of crazy stuff over the years. Tree work is inherently dangerous but so is utility line work yet there is a much better safety record working with high voltage than trees and a lot of that has to do with training.
All we can do is educate when we can but realistically, it's an uphill battle getting people to use common sense much less take extra steps necessary to be safe. PPE is a good first step but I rarely see it in Texas. More common is a cowboy hat and a guy with a chainsaw under it!

 

[ShermanC]

Do you think times are changing in this industry for better or worse Tree Top?

jomoco

Hi "jomoco",
I am sorry about my delay to get back into this thread. I am generally a positive thinker. I look for good facts and figures but as you know bad news outsells good news. We are usually exposed to the reports of injuries and fatalities but not the number of good operations and good days for most of us who try our best to safely deliver quality service. A few amateurs and careless people can make the trade look awfully dangerous and risky. I wish My outlook were more positive. It might be so if I didn't spend part of every day on www.vertikal.net and A/S. I learn from the mistakes we make and mistakes of others.

 

[COREtreeservice]

This is one of the comments on the Ken Raschick tragedy.

"On a trailer, no ratchet straps, stabilizer legs not used, you can only blame it on stupidity."

Just reading that story filled my gut with nervous energy. What a shame.

 

[ShermanC]

This is one of the comments on the Ken Raschick tragedy.

"On a trailer, no ratchet straps, stabilizer legs not used, you can only blame it on stupidity."

Just reading that story filled my gut with nervous energy. What a shame.

I am still sick about it and it happened about seven weeks ago. I have two sisters in Albuquerque but I am reluctant to ask what they know has happened with the two ten year old boys who were injured. I also wonder if an investigation will dig deep enough, like an aircraft crash, to find out why Raschick dared give kids joyrides. If he had liability insurance the insurace carrier ought to decline license to the agent broker who sold and serviced the policy. All these issues are basic safety engineering work standards and business principles, not rocket science.
Last week two men were killed in separate incidents driving tractors to pull trees over with a pull rope. My guess is they did not set up snatch blocks to pull at safe angles to be out of the fall zone.

 

[Cupocoffee]

I have operated a tree stump grinding business, since I retired, eight years ago. When I bought my first stump grinder, the owner told me he had one rule he NEVER disregards and that no one is allowed within 20' of the grinder. I have held to that and ask that people stay much farther away if they want to watch. One day I was doing a job for an 85 year old gentleman. I told him to stay away from my grinder but in the blink of an eye, as I was concentrating on grinding, he walked up behind me and bent over in front of my grinding wheel to pick up a piece of root. His head was only four or five feet from my cutting wheel. My stomach flipped after I got him away from my equipment. If he had stumbled and tripped into my grinder, it would have shredded him.

 

[ShermanC]

I have operated a tree stump grinding business, since I retired, eight years ago. When I bought my first stump grinder, the owner told me he had one rule he NEVER disregards and that no one is allowed within 20' of the grinder. I have held to that and ask that people stay much farther away if they want to watch. One day I was doing a job for an 85 year old gentleman. I told him to stay away from my grinder but in the blink of an eye, as I was concentrating on grinding, he walked up behind me and bent over in front of my grinding wheel to pick up a piece of root. His head was only four or five feet from my cutting wheel. My stomach flipped after I got him away from my equipment. If he had stumbled and tripped into my grinder, it would have shredded him.

Summer 2013 I was hired to remove and grind a crotch-high oak stump let by another contractor for previous owner. The customer who hired me was a fellow employee. On the day of work her overweight lazy arrogant husband was home. I started work and he came out to watch me work my 13HP Beeline. I stopped work and asked politely that he would back up or go back inside. His disrespectful response was "this is my property and I'll do what I want. You ain't gonna tell me what to do." I found out later he had a spat the day before with their lawn man who I knew fairly well as a hard working guy with a bad back. I should have stopped and packed up and let his wife deal with him. Instead I finished and overexerted myself. I planned to come back another day early to finish covering the cavity. Weather got bad for several days and other work piled up so I didn't get back promptly. He thought I should have and he got miffed because his wife filled the cavity. I'll stop here because the rest of the story is worse for the next year.

 

[COREtreeservice]

I have operated a tree stump grinding business, since I retired, eight years ago. When I bought my first stump grinder, the owner told me he had one rule he NEVER disregards and that no one is allowed within 20' of the grinder. I have held to that and ask that people stay much farther away if they want to watch. One day I was doing a job for an 85 year old gentleman. I told him to stay away from my grinder but in the blink of an eye, as I was concentrating on grinding, he walked up behind me and bent over in front of my grinding wheel to pick up a piece of root. His head was only four or five feet from my cutting wheel. My stomach flipped after I got him away from my equipment. If he had stumbled and tripped into my grinder, it would have shredded him.

T E R R I F Y I N G!

When I was first starting out I was grinding a stump but being new and stupid I didn't put any guards up. About halfway through I hit a rock, it shot sideways and took out the window on a minivan about 30 feet away. I'm so glad that was a piece of glass instead of somebodies eye. I was never that dumb again. Guards every time.

 

[ShermanC]

In 2009 I removed a co-dominant red oak; annual ring count was 80 give or take five. The twin trunks were to large to buck so I hired a crane truck the only one around these parts...we have a lot more trees than we have people. Travis Trammell was just what we needed to pick and remove those trunks. To remove the base stump we did cake cuts to get it to manageable weights and loaded to a trailer. Then there was a 9' diameter stump to be ground below soil level. In two days taking turns on the Husqvarna SG13 for 13 hours "we got it done". Metal pieces were collected and they're still, to this day, in my workshop as evidence to show what can be extracted from a stump when there's people nearby. A horseshoe cut in half by the carbide Bluebird teeth, a steel pipe for plumbing, twisted-shank nails, barbed wire and welded wire fence. I've read stories by others in other states of weird metal objects discovered inside trees and I believe them all. Take caution by wearing safety gear head to toe and let no one get close to the grinder.

 

[ropensaddle]

You can't regulate stupidity.