Educating utility crews

[Jock]

Can anyone honestly say they have seen good pruning carried out by utility crews? we recently had the opportunity to witness some "sort of pruning" being carried out by one of the 2 biggest utility companies in the UK, they were topping a line of perfectly healthy lime tree's in a town near me, while we were deadwooding and raising the crowns on 3 Oak trees in a private garden opposite, at lunch time we were approached by a couple of these Neandrathal like, climbers who suggested we should remove the oaks as they were diseased anyway!!!! I asked him what disease they had and his answer was, you just need to look at the crowns and you'll see they are dead (these were 3 perfectly health oaks with no defects) however when i asked them why they were spiking and stripping all the branches off these limes and leaving flat top cuts they said it's the way they were told to do it I dont think however that this is the way they were trained, if they were ever trained? My opinion is these guys are turned loose after a 3 or 4 day climbing course and forgotten about , providing they keep to schedule, and the company keeps raking in huge revenues, Iknow one company surveyor who says they cant afford a qualified arborist to check and instruct crews and their work. My opinion is that if they did employ a qualified arborist, work would slow down due to the insistance of an arborist to perform proper methods. But what is the answer? How can power and utility companies be stopped from stripping all the trees throughout the country with total disregard to their health and appearance? Any suggestions.

 

[sonny]

Alls I have to say is , its low bid that gets the line clearance job.They are doing whats required by the Utility Co. Its not the tree man its the person hiring them to do the job. At least hear in the early 90s the price was around $40.00 per tree. Now this yr. its around the mid $30s per tree.

 

[Acer]

Originally posted by Jock
My opinion is these guys are turned loose after a 3 or 4 day climbing course and forgotten about , providing they keep to schedule, and the company keeps raking in huge revenues, Iknow one company surveyor who says they cant afford a qualified arborist to check and instruct crews and their work. My opinion is that if they did employ a qualified arborist, work would slow down due to the insistance of an arborist to perform proper methods.

Jock, I think you're spot on here. During my stay with a large utility company, the field staff had tickets to operate any machine they encountered, but little knowledge of the trees they turned those machines on. however, the knowledge was there in the company. The managers were often forestry graduates; the person in charge of our area was a graduate and was involved somehow with the Institute of Chartered Foresters. But, his concerns were getting the work in and getting it done within budget and schedule.

There needs to be more of a "best value" element in these contracts, but I'm not sure who would police this. Now that the utility companies are privatised, and face vigorous competition with each other, I'm sure that they are only interested in getting the maximum work done for the minimum outlay. Perhaps it's down to the land- / tree-owners to start claiming compensation for shoddy work.

 

[Greg]

Funny how the previous posts are from countries other than the US. This is really a small, small, world, and it sounds like the line clearance guys all get trained by the same person.
Greg

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

I't all run by bean counters

 

[jokers]

Something to consider...

the guys doing clearance work, whether employees of the utility or contractors, are not considered arborists. They are Tree Trimmers and ROW clearance specialists and they care no more for any tree than it`s monetary value to them. Not that every one of those people is truly like this, but the vast majority are. The primary concerns of these trimmers are how fast a species grows so that they know how much to cut them back, and they have to know working clearances with high voltage lines. They also drill on tree top rescue since the close proximity to high voltage is a constant. There may be people in supervisory roles for some utilities who have an arborcultural background, but many of these guys are former trimmers who have a mind for getting the most trimming done for the least amount of money. Not many east coast US utilites have their own trimmers anymore, but those who do have taken an attitude that the ranks of trimmers is getting soft and they advocate more gaffing so the guys appreciate the ride in the bucket when they get it. The price utilites are willing to pay for clearance work is continually dropping and the utiliteis play their own employees against the contractors, who they also play against each other. I know that Niagara Mohawk, which is owned by National Grid which is based in the UK, keeps very detailed production and cost records and they continually threaten their staff with the loss of jobs if they can`t do the work as cheaply as the contractors who are always in a bidding war with one another trying to get work with NIMO. The ugly reality is that if it`s cheaper to remove a tree, rather than trim it a few times over 20 years, the tree goes. Russ

 

[sonny]

Good point joker. My point is the line clearance trimmers are always getting knocked around. If you see a good line clearance man that can run a pole prunner. Im pretty sure he or she can lace out a chinese elm just as good as the private contractor.There getting paid to do a job by the employers specs.In turn the employer is getting paid to do the job to the utilitys specs. Its all about clearance. Its why its called line clearance.

 

[jokers]

Good point from you, Sonny. The line clearance guys are always getting knocked around. I`m sure there are times that they could do a more asthetically pleasing or biologically sound job, but the utility rate payers and shareholders have to be answered to. It is all about the bottom line or a guys family will go hungry. I`m trying to be careful how I phrase this next statement because I don`t want to offend anyone or imply anything, but most of those clearance guys are tough as nails from the pace that they have to work at now(speaking about the contractors but the utility guys are coming along). As much as I hate to say it because I don`t advocate this mentality, but any tree within the right of way, which is often established through eminent domain, in other words for the benefit of the majority, is fair game. I`ve seen many trees on the side of the road which seem like they could have had more care in the trimming, but the fact of the matter is that the bosses can`t afford to have a crew make a carreer of any area. If the cutting is functional from a power delivery standpoint, it is a success. The only good parts is just think about how good you guys look compared to those guys in the eyes of a customer. Russ