London Plane

[treemeup]

Working on london planes recently and they are not nice at the mo!! Any chance someone could design a chipper with a sprinkler system in the hopper/somewhere in the chip process to keep the dust down?

[scottythepinetree]

Spent 3 months solid at them a few years ago, doubt anything will keep that dust down. Lovely trees, horrible to work on when in leaf.

[High Scale]

I am in the middle of re-pollarding 34 large Plane trees and it was hell last Sunday, luckily it's not so bad in the tree but the guys on the ground suffered until the particle masks went on. Wear a mask the stuff is carcinogenic.

[felixthelogchopper]

Wear a mask the stuff is carcinogenic.

 

[RobRainford]

It's the new downy/hairy leaves. When they first open the hairs are easily dislodged and cause reapiatory issues. Deifnately wear a mask!

[AA Teccie (Paul)]

Previously produced a generic risk assessment for working with London Plane after visiting a contractor working in London and seeing the effects for the poor guy on the chipper and just about everyone else who was walking down 'The Mall' after visiting Lizzie's place....horrible stuff and left me thinking are these trees really the 'lungs of the city' coz on that day they were the 'lung KILLERS of the city'...not my favourite tree by any means!

 

So, a couple of things:

1. Whereever possible work on them when dormant, preferably, or later in Summer when problem isn't as bad.

2. If not poss. then please ensure any 'dust mask' used are appropriate type to the fine hair dust hazard AND they fit well. I have also seen contractors who are sensitised to LP hairs wearing respirators when chipping. Obvioulsy if work can be done during damp / wet weather, provided it's not too wet to climb (when's that in UK?), that will help too.

 

Lastly I was not aware the susbtance was carcogenic which puts a whole new perespective on things...be careful!

 

Paul

[dannyT]

slightly off topic but i was cutting down some dead laburnam trees the other day. It was very dusty and i was just curious would anybody on here use a dust mask? Just asking as is'nt laburnam toxic?

[Mozza]

Last time i did a plane :lol: It was bad one, I hate working on them

 

[Johny Walker]

Last time i did a plane :lol: It was bad one, I hate working on them

 

 

now mozza thats vast a improvement

[treemeup]

yep, we've all got masks. Thing that really worries me is when a mother with a small child in the pram walks past, we try to stop chipping when we spot the vulnerable but still whats it doing to a littluns' lungs