Climbers disciplined for refusing tree

[sawmonkey220]

Ha love the comments about starting your career on £8, for alot of lads in our company thats as high as they're ever gonna get! I really want to move to the mainland where you guys get a proper wage in return for your efforts, just gotta convince the missus! Its almost laughable how badly managed this firm is, staff morale is rock bottom as everybody knows there is no future in it. I would be surprised if it s still trading in a couple of years. Quite an amusing example of the attitude of management/ owners came a couple of years ago when all the men were assembled to be told that their customary xmas bonus (a modest sum you can be sure) was instead going to be donated to the spider monkeys at the zoo!!

[JamesNI]

You have started a great thread! Think I know who you work for and I know from the word on the street moral is at an all time low. It's a shame, plenty of good blokes in there. Hopefully the management wake up before it's too late.

[difflock]

Not v many large tree surgery firms in NI, are there?

Merely taking a wild guess.

[sloth]

A final written warning? So they must have had other verbal or written warnings?

I maintain if they genuinely felt the tree was out of their abilities then they were right to refuse it. In which case I would not sign the warning, and state in writting that I do not accept it.

I can think of several occasions where the climber I was with either didn't feel able, or came down from a tree as 'too dodgy' for them, so I did it. I was never the greatest climber ever, but very able, and it was done without any hard feelings to the other climbers. Going off the handle at someone and doing it to prove a point doesn't sound like the actions of a good leader...

[s o c]

Not v many large tree surgery firms in NI, are there?

Merely taking a wild guess.

 

careful now!

[Taupotreeman]

Followed the thread all the way through and agree with many of the comments, including Sloth's last one. I'm the H&S officer for the Parks and Reserves division along with being arborist supervisor. If the guys aren't happy doing a job because they think it's unsafe then fair enough. If I can do the job or someone with more experience can do the job then that's no slight on my guys. That's just how things work. Same as my 2IC maybe being able to do a job that I might not be comfortable with. As far as a final written warning is concerned; I can't see that this would hold up anywhere unless there's a past history of the employees pulling this kind of thing on a regular basis in order to go home early/get out of a job/have an easy day. Even then you'd have a hard time proving it. Work safe, OSH et al will more often back the employee. I wouldn't be signing any warning until getting more advice. And there's a big difference between challenging yourself and doing something wholly unsafe.

[Marc Lewis]

There are times in this job when you need to overcome your fear. In that sense it is not like a regular job. I know at times i've had the jitters. Shortly after i started climbing my boss gave me a beech to section, it was a big tree, approx 2' dbh and probably 90' tall but not very broad at all. I still remember looking down at the top of the church next door. I stripped it out in the morning leaving just the stem to chog down after lunch. But after lunch really did not want to go back up, i had a horrible feeling inside even though i had done the hard work. I like to think it was due to it being my last day before going off on travels around south east asia the following day, but the fact was i had the jitters.

 

What i'm trying to say is often there are times in this game when you have to conquere your fear even though it is completely safe. And I think that some get this and label the tree unsafe to get out of it. After all, its easier for someone to say that than "sorry boss/forman, i dont want to climb this tree i'm tto scared to".

 

Much like rock climbing, there are moments when its really scary but it is safe. So in a sense, yes it is about having the bottle at times to get on out there. This does not mean your playing the macho card or doing something unsafe, simply part of the job. The more you overcome your fear, the better climber you become and the easier it is next time.

[skyhuck]

There are times in this job when you need to overcome your fear. In that sense it is not like a regular job. I know at times i've had the jitters. Shortly after i started climbing my boss gave me a beech to section, it was a big tree, approx 2' dbh and probably 90' tall but not very broad at all. I still remember looking down at the top of the church next door. I stripped it out in the morning leaving just the stem to chog down after lunch. But after lunch really did not want to go back up, i had a horrible feeling inside even though i had done the hard work. I like to think it was due to it being my last day before going off on travels around south east asia the following day, but the fact was i had the jitters.

 

What i'm trying to say is often there are times in this game when you have to conquere your fear even though it is completely safe. And I think that some get this and label the tree unsafe to get out of it. After all, its easier for someone to say that than "sorry boss/forman, i dont want to climb this tree i'm tto scared to".

 

Much like rock climbing, there are moments when its really scary but it is safe. So in a sense, yes it is about having the bottle at times to get on out there. This does not mean your playing the macho card or doing something unsafe, simply part of the job. The more you overcome your fear, the better climber you become and the easier it is next time.

 

Good post!!!