WHAT HAVE I DONE? Pros: tell me abot your new guys!

[Wannabe123]

First day. Power line work. Long day, very wet and muddy, but at least the weather was beautiful. Broke the chipper before lunch too, but it was an honest mistake. Guy said chuck this crap in the chipper and I did. It wasn't throttled up and made rope inside of it out of a bunch of saplings. Lesson learned.

 

[juttree]

First day. Power line work. Long day, very wet and muddy, but at least the weather was beautiful. Broke the chipper before lunch too, but it was an honest mistake. Guy said chuck this crap in the chipper and I did. It wasn't throttled up and made rope inside of it out of a bunch of saplings. Lesson learned.

Glad it went well today. I like your honesty but don't sweat it, it's not broke. Lessons like that are good ones to learn from. Just keep your eyes open and stay alert, there's a lot of lessons in this industry that you don't get a second chance from. Get used to taking a look up before going for that branch and listen for that saw.

 

[no tree to big]

Speaking of power lines if the bucket truck is near wires stay away from it the operator up in the bucket can put the truck in the lines and not be harmed but if u are standing next to it or leaning on it and it gets energized poof ur toast

 

[juttree]

Speaking of power lines if the bucket truck is near wires stay away from it the operator up in the bucket can put the truck in the lines and not be harmed but if u are standing next to it or leaning on it and it gets energized poof ur toast

Very true, good advice.

 

[Wannabe123]

Speaking of power lines if the bucket truck is near wires stay away from it the operator up in the bucket can put the truck in the lines and not be harmed but if u are standing next to it or leaning on it and it gets energized poof ur toast

Good advice. Guess it helps I don't have any time to lean on anything

 

[no tree to big]

Good advice. Guess it helps I don't have any time to lean on anything

Fueling saw grabing rake or whatever it can jump from truck to u a pretty good distance....

 

[lone wolf]

First day. Power line work. Long day, very wet and muddy, but at least the weather was beautiful. Broke the chipper before lunch too, but it was an honest mistake. Guy said chuck this crap in the chipper and I did. It wasn't throttled up and made rope inside of it out of a bunch of saplings. Lesson learned.

Was he in range of the chipper to watch you or did he leave you to operate a chipper on your first day that you are not familiar with
Ain't no way I let a new guy near the chipper at first by himself. Did he show you proper safety procedure and where to stand and how to reverse it etc? Or just say here chip this? Did he teach you to keep your face away and turn away from ingoing brush so you don't get hit?

 

[Wannabe123]

No tree: thanks seriously I hadn't really thought about that worrying about getting hit by falling limbs but I will definelty pay attention.
Wolf: No he was chipping as well and he did give me a run down on the machine. I just didn't know he had throttled it down and forgot to look. I had muffs on so the lack of noise didn't click at first. Bossman gave me some guff over it but nothing too bad.

The pay sucks and the works hard, but at least the guys are pretty cool. I don't mind being as rookie and starting low, but I'm too old and have enough to offer that I wouldn't hang around if they treated me like ****. And every time I need a morale boost I look at the flaggers and remember at least I'm not doing that.

 

[mike515]

If you're doing line clearance, you need to make sure you have the fiberglass poles out of the side boxes every time that boom leaves its cradle (and it's a good idea for any crew, really). If they didn't show you today, you need to know how to use those poles to override the upper controls in the event of an emergency. Every person on that job site should be able to do that if they need to. I didn't realize you were starting on line clearance or I would have had some additional advice.

 

[BC WetCoast]

No tree: thanks seriously I hadn't really thought about that worrying about getting hit by falling limbs but I will definelty pay attention.
Wolf: No he was chipping as well and he did give me a run down on the machine. I just didn't know he had throttled it down and forgot to look. I had muffs on so the lack of noise didn't click at first. Bossman gave me some guff over it but nothing too bad.

The pay sucks and the works hard, but at least the guys are pretty cool. I don't mind being as rookie and starting low, but I'm too old and have enough to offer that I wouldn't hang around if they treated me like ****. And every time I need a morale boost I look at the flaggers and remember at least I'm not doing that.

Around here, the flaggers are better trained and make more than groundies. They have to take a week long training course and be certified to be a flagger.

 

[Wannabe123]

Around here, the flaggers are better trained and make more than groundies. They have to take a week long training course and be certified to be a flagger.

I took a 12 question test and watched a 15 minute video. It was worse than drivers ed. Sounds like BC loves their training and certification!

Mike, this emergency override business has not been mentioned, I will ask about it tomorrow.

No broken chippers today, but I got a nice chip shower.

 

[Zale]

Please tell me you didn't get into the back of the truck while chipping.

 

[no tree to big]

I'm curiously confused haha

 

[juttree]

Let me guess, taking a leak in the back of the truck and someone fires up the chopper.

 

[mike515]

Mike, this emergency override business has not been mentioned, I will ask about it tomorrow.

In a nutshell...let's say the bucket operator gets juiced or becomes unresponsive while there is contact between the boom and a line.....you use that pole to flip the override on the pedestal. Then you use the pedestal controls (with the pole) to move the boom and break contact. Once you're sure that there is no longer any contact, you can jump up there and lower the boom. This is an absolute "must have" tool on a line clearance crew. It's not subject to company policy or an thing else allowing them to not have that pole. You must have it and have people trained on what to do with it.

 

[KenJax Tree]

Please tell me you didn't get into the back of the truck while chipping.

A guy in the chip bed reminds me of the time we were working in a backyard and there were 2 ground guys one was gonna start chipping brush so he fired up the chipper not knowing the other ground guy was taking his morning crap in the chip box, so i'm up in this tree looking out front over the house and see him start the chipper to warm it up and all of a sudden i see the other ground guy come flying outta the chip box with his pants around his ankles and tuck and roll as he hit the grass. I thought i was gonna die from laughing and everytime i thought about that day i would just bust out laughing :laugh

 

[Wannabe123]

That's hilarious! I was actually in a ditch though, I'm pretty sure I'd be in big trouble were I in the bed. They moved the chipper and the guys were on such a roll they just kept shoveling it. I was moving along briskly, guess I went a bit too far. I was a good ways away from the chute though, so all I got were some chunks of wood in my hood and down my union suit (that part kind of sucked)

Mike, that's some darned useful knowledge for the brain box. I'll definitely look into that, since at this stage in my "career" I'll be doing a lot of this.