Bucket Trucks / MEWPs etc - safer than climbing?

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

Bucket Trucks / MEWPs etc - More prevalent and possibly a longer usage trend Stateside?

 

Sadly another reported fatality:  http://dripline.net/bucket-operator-dies-bucket-truck-boom-malfunctions/

 

Is there a danger that potentially poorly interpreted HSE requirements might (a) 'push' tree works towards MEWPs and away from climbing and (b) once that's happened, people will be more inclined to use a MEWP (because that's what the RAMS says is preferable to climbing) when climbing would have been a better option. 

 

A couple of pics below lifted from a local Facebook group - unbelievably, it's the owner / operator posting these pics    

[AHPP]

Uninterested in rest of thread but the pictures look fine to me. Very enterprising.

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

53 minutes ago, AHPP said:

pictures look fine to me. Very enterprising.

Really....?

 

"enterprising"

 

adjective

1.  having or showing initiative and resourcefulness.

 

That would be purchasing a long reach hedge cutter and using the lift for, errrr, lift so that the job can be done quickly, efficiently, safely and professionally - with the right tools.

 

I just see stupid, inefficient, buffoonery.....

 

"stupid"

 

adjective

1.  having or showing a great lack of intelligence or common sense.

[AHPP]

It might just be that he’s doing the best he can with what he’s got but there are genuine advantages to being on the hedge rather than off to the side or leaning over the edge of the basket. He’s got two uses out of one tool, possibly saved buying another tool (or his long reaches are broken, at work elsewhere or whatever) and solved the very common problem of crap anchor points when doing conifer hedges. As long as he doesn’t scare the horses, all power to him. I’d do it if I ever accepted a hedge topping job and a lift could get within reach. A basket big enough to carry up a few sheets of ply and you’d have a good surface to stand on and the perfect anchor point all the way along. It’s not dangerous pikey tomfoolery just because it’s a bit different to what everybody else does. It’s probably just that nobody else has thought of it.

[tree-fancier123]

9 hours ago, AHPP said:

It’s not dangerous pikey tomfoolery just because it’s a bit different to what everybody else does.

I agree - if its not safe as an anchor point its not safe to stand in - the only time, and not really relevant on quite a low hedge as above, would be in the event of a fall. If the climber falls through a certain distance then the rope goes tight the increased load could topple the mewp - a bit like snatching when negative rigging can break the rope if the bit is already near SWL and there is some slack - a doubling in weight for every metre fall or something. In this case though a fall is unlikely - he is not branch walking and his wrist thickness branch top tie in wont break on him coz its steel instead of wood. I agree very enterprising. Fortune favors the brave. Its not like he's doing mine clearance for a living. I want a mewp now, if theres room to drive along the hedge better than ply

[Gary Prentice]

I think that’s really bad practice!

 

 

 

As soon as someone starts the chipper, those mugs are going to fall off and break.

 

 

[AHPP]

I think that’s really bad practice!
 
 
 
As soon as someone starts the chipper, those mugs are going to fall off and break.
 
 

I gave my most solemn and earnest apology ever to a client who had only mentioned forty or fifty times about not dropping anything through the roof of the newly completed and very smart garage. Let her hang for at least fifteen seconds before showing her the mug and telling her the roof was fine.

[stihlmadasever]

Have too agree and say id rather work off a high anchor in coni hedges than fanny around with waist anchors.

The only time ive fell out anything was a conifer hedge,lanyard caught me but i dropped the hedgecutters about 12 feet.

Id say he probably climbs more, so is quicker and more ergonomic using a high anchor point than conatantly having to move a mewp around.

[WesD]

Unless that’s where he’s starting it’s a poor finish. 

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

21 hours ago, AHPP said:

It might just be that he’s doing the best he can with what he’s got but there are genuine advantages to being on the hedge rather than off to the side or leaning over the edge of the basket. He’s got two uses out of one tool, possibly saved buying another tool (or his long reaches are broken, at work elsewhere or whatever) and solved the very common problem of crap anchor points when doing conifer hedges. As long as he doesn’t scare the horses, all power to him. I’d do it if I ever accepted a hedge topping job and a lift could get within reach. A basket big enough to carry up a few sheets of ply and you’d have a good surface to stand on and the perfect anchor point all the way along. It’s not dangerous pikey tomfoolery just because it’s a bit different to what everybody else does. It’s probably just that nobody else has thought of it.

I suspect our individual dislikes of HSE diverge at the point where you (and I, as a general rule, but perhaps not quite so vehemently in this example) tend to disapprove of all central control, whereas my dislike of HSE stems from poor or inappropriate interpretation and implementation of, what I think, is a pretty good piece of legislation by ‘little Hitlers’ that seek to present barriers rather than facilitate solutions. 

 

What wouldn’t perhaps be interpreted from the example pic, is that it’s not the owner / operator of the equipment which is being misused that is dangling from it, but rather an employee and as such, is exactly the sort of abuse of the workforce that should be prevented by good use of the legislation.

 

But that’s all getting off the point of the original question - are MEWPs “inherently” safer, and as such should be the first choice OVER climbing? 

 

I think not and the pic, along with the link, were examples of why.