Pre climb inspections

[rebelman]

I do all my own climbing, spikeless on pruning of course, and I do all my pre climb inspections. I'm just wondering if the guys that don't do the work themselves do pre climb inspections or is that left up to the climber? Boring thread maybe. Maybe not.

 

[TreEmergencyB]

im sure most of them do consider that is a factor in the price. Had a boss who wasnt a tree guy at all once, (landscaper who hired a tree crew) and some of the things he'd send us to for pennies was unbelievable.

If someone else does or not i ALWAYS do a pre-climb inspection.

 

[stihl.logger]

i always do pre-climbs and require my guys to do the same. i may require my guys to do some crazy stuff, but safety has never been an issue. we run on pretty tight dead lines but there is always time to check your gear. i try and get the guys to do post-climbs too, if a problem is found it can be fixed then and save some hassle for the next day.
as my insurance agent says, "if you think safety is expensive, try an accident!"

 

[imagineero]

I still do the ARCHER check every time I get on a rope, it's a carry over from my rock climbing/rescue days. It's simple and works, easy to remember. There are a few other similar acronyms.

Anchor (is it solid? do you need some redundancy?)
Rope (good condition, ready to feed, not twisted, sitting in the right place)
Carabiners (good condition, screwed up, facing the right way)
Harness (properly tied/clicked, no fraying)
Equipment (have everything I need? all in good order and ready to go?)
Ready

Of course, there's a stack of other things to think about before getting up the tree.... My standard approach is to work backwards. I think about where the chipper is going to go, will I need to secure parking spaces the night before? Need witches hats or barricades? Anything need to be moved (lights, pot plants, outdoor furniture), anything need protecting (windows, soft pavers, sandstone etc). Then I look at where the best highpoint is that will get the branches closest to the chipper with the least amount of work. Then I look at what order I need to bring things down in to keep that highpoint clear or make it ready. Plan out the rough sequence of drops, look at the obstacles. Saws all sharp, fueled and ready. ARCHER check, now get up the tree.

While up there and deciding how to make each cut, I think firstly about how to make the cut so that the branches will land with the butt facing towards the chipper for easy dragging, and secondly about cutting things in a way that they will go through the chipper easy and be easy to drag without extra ground work. Using the right cut fr the situation (snap, fold, quick drop or notch) gives you a lot of options to avoid targets and have things land where you want them. I'd rather make 6 or 7 smaller cuts and let them drop than rope things in most cases - you can be very fast with a saw if you have good rope technique in the tree. It's only in very technical take downs or very bad situations that you need to be looking at roping big pieces. Even enormous branches can be pieced down pretty fast over targets, smaller leafy stuff isnt going to break anything, and the rest you can chunk, hold and throw.

End of day I have a spot for everything and use labels to mark it. I lose very little gear this way because an empty spot will be obvious in the truck.

A little bit of forethought improves safety and efficiency, and it truly is less work for everyone.

Shaun