BIG cedar with some scary bits

[MattyF]

This post is for trainee arborists/climbers, just a few thoughts for you to consider......

 

It could be argued that none of the people in these videos should be involved in treework.

 

Why did none of the trainees have the mental strength to stand up to the instructors? Some of those trainees knew instinctively that what they were doing was wrong, were they too mentally weak to say anything? As a climber you have to go with your instincts, if you feel something is morbidly unsafe it's probably just 100,000 years of human evolution trying to tell you something very important, it's how your ancestors survived and how you got here today.

 

From my experience in the industry you can't always trust instructors, bosses or crew leaders to tell you what they think is going to happen, you have to learn to think for yourself and have the strength of mind to go with your own instinct. If you think something is wrong on the job, then stop before you kill yourself or someone else. If you think something is inherently unsafe despite being told by a boss or co-worker 'it's fine, just go with it' then stop and find another safer way to do it, even if it takes a bit longer.

 

I've worked with so called experts, bosses and instructors, assessors (NPTC/LANTRA/FASTco etc) who have been found out on the jobsite for their lack of experience/skills/knowledge in certain areas. Some of them have a lack of common sense. These guys dont know everything and the most humble of them will readily admit that. None of us know everything in treework and if someone acts like they do, don't trust them, there's a fine line between confidence and arrogance.

 

When you become a climber, you need to have the right mental state. If you dont think you can stand up to people when its your life on the line, then maybe you should consider finding another job.

 

Roughly speaking climbing and working in trees is 20% instruction/book knowledge, 40% experience and 40% mental. You get the basics from instructors, thats it. You dont get experience from instructors. Their experience is not transferrable to your mind, you make your own experience and this relies on your natural attributes - both physical and most importantly...mental.

 

Assess the level of risk in your mind, regardless of what an 'instructor' or 'boss' might say. By all means ask for other people's thoughts or opinions - but you have to learn to be responsible for your decisions in the tree. Look at what's happening, look at the bigger picture, think of the outcome of your actions.....understand timber, weights, forces, tension and distances because when it comes to rigging trees down these are some of the most important factors.

 

Most bosses/instructors in treework respect strong minded trainees or apprentices, just remember in most cases you have to work with them not against them. Tree work can be a dangerous job at times, it's impossible to remove the risk of death or injury but sometimes by not speaking up you increase the risk.

Good post ,mate.

 

Just me.... you will be hard pushed to find any tree that size without rot in,from what i can make of the whole thing is, there must have been some panic when it shed a limb you can see the recent scar in the vid.... dont think it was justifyable for its death though! it reminded me of some trophy hunt to kill the biggest elephant...

[Tom D]

If that crew did a job like that every day it would take about 5 days before someone was dead/mangled. just as well there aren't many trees like that around.

 

Its a shame to see it go, looked like a genuine monster.

[Crazy Cutter]

The cedar had shed a large limb by the look of it but should not have been removed for that reason. Has anyone seen bigger? I felled a large one last year but nothing like that! Do the French have different laws on tree safety and does anyone on here live nearby or know why it was felled?

[butler]

I read the comments before i watched the video.......and even with all the warning i was totally speechless...

[treequip]

They only showed a couple of the shock loads on the crane but they were appalling, I can’t understand why the crane driver allowed it to happen a second time, they don’t like it if you spill their tea.

[timtree81]

wild cuts ,alot of men doin not much ,that job must of been worth big bucks to pay for all the men kit and crane ,and some very adventurous cuts indeed ,good to watch tho ,first vid at 3.48 is a shocker ! wow

[Dean Lofthouse]

They only showed a couple of the shock loads on the crane but they were appalling, I can’t understand why the crane driver allowed it to happen a second time, they don’t like it if you spill their tea.

 

Thats what astonished me..

 

If i'd have been the crane driver, I would have stopped the job, give a stern briefing on the consequences of shock loading cranes and if it happened again I would have called the job and charged for the day.

[tommer9]

wild cuts ,alot of men doin not much ,that job must of been worth big bucks to pay for all the men kit and crane ,and some very adventurous cuts indeed ,good to watch tho ,first vid at 3.48 is a shocker ! wow

 

:confused1:They were students.......paying:biggrin:

[dangerous brian]

I think the thing were missing most is they were French,to much Va va voom me thinks good vid though,i hope theres a next time,seeing a bunch of foreighners,doing a job wrong is far more entertaining than watching someone do it properly,i bet there were some dirty shorts amongst that crew.

[Arctostaphylos uva-ursi]

Vive la différence!

 

I was nervous just watching that, am surprised those climbers never got hit with one of those limbs.

Don't know what was worse the crane driver or the position of the chains chockering the limbs.

Scary viewing, think that day I would have been happier feeding the chipper.

 

I would also have been happier feeding a chipper on that day, as long as it was back here in the UK!

 

Why do I get the feeling that the crane driver(s) were also under instruction.