An interesting pattern emerged when we began analyzing close call data at Lewis Tree Service. When considering frequency, we learned that line of fire—by vehicle—has as much serious injury potential as struck-by, tree-related incidents. Yet, if you studied just our incident data, that picture would not emerge.
“It was 4:30 in the afternoon on nice, sunny day. Our crew had performed regular trimming on multiple oak trees around a three phase and was stacking brush while getting ready to shut down for the day. One of the crew members went to remove the drop zone cones when all the sudden he heard the sound of a limb slam on the ground. The employee was...
During this Thanksgiving season, we're grateful for the crews in D29 for sending this homegrown video on winching for your viewing pleasure! Thanks to Supervisor Jason Leonard, Joshua Stapleton, Steven Evans and Kasey Page.
Please take a few minutes (11 to be exact) to watch this before tomorrow's winching Drill Day. Good stuff!
Note the...
We often talk about and acknowledge that craftworkers, company-wide, make thousands of decisions each day, which lead to successful outcomes. It would be impossible to capture every one of these decisions; but, today's blog post is the first of two recent examples.
After reviewing an incident last week involving a decayed trunk that was unknown to the feller and reviewing two close calls with very similar circumstances, the question that comes to mind is: Are we doing all that we can to find out what kind of wood fiber, if any, is in the tree? Are the fibers punky, wet, dry, consistent, solid, etc.?
Along with our utility partner, Division 16, Florida, held our annual Tree Felling Training on March 27, 2019. We began the day with conducting our PJHS, followed by chainsaw safety, throw ball techniques, open face notch cutting, and lastly, applying the back cut and felling of the tree. Employees were actively engaged and participated in all...
As utility arborists, how many times a day do we observe, or are part of, actions that we ASSUME are being performed safely or with safety top of mind?
To put it another way - How many actions or activities do we participate in where we don’t have proof that we are safe?
The term "assume” is defined as "supposed to be the case, without proof." ...
