sudden/summer limb drop

[haljam]

I have a couple of mature beech trees to work on soon. VTA shows no obvious cause for concern, (well why work on them you may well ask, but that's a different question). However, with the hot weather, my thoughts turned to last summer when we had quite a few cases of sudden limb drop. Just wondered if you change work patterns, or take extra precautions in dry hot spells. Last summer I had a clean up job on a beech which shed a big branch,and prior to it cracking off I would have been very happy to use this branch as an anchor point, so just a bit concerned.

Any thoughts?

[sloth]

Overall the chances of being in a tree when it suffers sbd are tiny, let alone being tied in to the branch which fails. Really we are all around trees all the time, and even witnessing an sbd event is rare. The concern has crossed my mind in the past, but I never let it worry me...

[MattyF]

With beech it's usually side limbs that fail, dead wooding large beech's in a council owned park we noticed one had starting to crack on a limb about two thirds up that you could not see from the ground so came down and rang the T.O to get permission to take it off.. 20 minutes later it had cracked off and taken half the canopy with it on to the deck any way !! As a bit of a knee jerk reaction I think every beech in that park was felled after.

I think if I was climbing any tree I would try and asses it on ascent in to the canopy to get an anchor or if I was unsure possibly base anchor SRT so your over as many limbs as possible before installing a retrievable line for working off.

[haljam]

Thanks for the comments - Sure, I agree about assessing tree as you climb, and I like the idea of extra back up anchor point by passing line over multiple branches. I use that quite often for the lowering line. But from what I have seen and read, there's not much visible to assess if the tree has got hot and bothered and is thinking of off loading a branch.

If it starts raining mid afternoon on a warm still day after a prolonged hot /dry spell' I think I might just come down and call it a day from certain trees. Probably only one or two days a year where this would be applicable. Mind you same applies to lightening so I am pretty risk averse.

 

Summer Branch Drop: time for a rethink? - Jeremy Barrell FICFor

[Marc Lewis]

Thanks for the comments - Sure, I agree about assessing tree as you climb, and I like the idea of extra back up anchor point by passing line over multiple branches. I use that quite often for the lowering line. But from what I have seen and read, there's not much visible to assess if the tree has got hot and bothered and is thinking of off loading a branch.

If it starts raining mid afternoon on a warm still day after a prolonged hot /dry spell' I think I might just come down and call it a day from certain trees. Probably only one or two days a year where this would be applicable. Mind you same applies to lightening so I am pretty risk averse.

 

Summer Branch Drop: time for a rethink? - Jeremy Barrell FICFor

 

I think you are worrying too much. The likelihood of sbd when your in the tree is very low.

[haljam]

Ok Thanks for re-assurance

[Acer ventura]

If it starts raining mid afternoon on a warm still day after a prolonged hot /dry spell' I think I might just come down and call it a day from certain trees. Probably only one or two days a year where this would be applicable. Mind you same applies to lightening so I am pretty risk averse.

 

Summer Branch Drop: time for a rethink? - Jeremy Barrell FICFor

 

Hi Haljam

 

In the interests of balance, and to get a handle on some proportionality and perspective on what is demonstrably an incredibly low risk (it would appear to be less than 1/600 000 000 to the public in the UK based on what statistics are available), you might want to consider the contents of this thread on the UKTC.

 

What's Barrell On? - Jeremy Barrell & Summer Branch Drop

 

I rather suspect that no matter how hot, dry, calm, post rainfall, horizontal the branch is extending beyond the canopy, or any other causes that are claimed for a failure that is not yet well understood or clearly defined, your risk of death or injury driving to the site in the first place would be many leaps in scale of risk magnitude greater than from Summer Branch Drop whilst there.

 

Is anyone on here aware of any climbers, or more likely groundsmen, who have been injured or killed by what appears to Summer Branch Drop.

 

Cheers

 

Acer ventura

[Marc Lewis]

An interesting read there by J Barrell.

[haljam]

fair cop :-)

That's put that one to bed. no excuses not to do the job. have to get those hot sweaty climbing trousers on and do some work.

[Acer ventura]

In my previous entry on this thread, I forgot to put the link to the additional post I made after Jeremy posted his ICF blog entry on the UKTC. This is a more detailed analysis of the risk from Summer Branch Drop and the factors to consider when determining what would constitute 'proportionate' risk management than the opener in the thread; which was a response to the initial Horticulture Week 'Barrell On' piece.

 

RE: What's Barrell On? - Jeremy Barrell & Summer Branch Drop

 

Cheers

 

Acer ventura