Lombardy Fell Incident

[Big J]

Quite a few I know of ... People forget that a lot of hand cutters came to tree surgery in the early 90's when harvesters only really became the norm on felling sites... That's not that long ago.

 

True enough, but I suspect that these old school cutters are not the ones making rookie errors? I may be wrong.

 

Either way, learning to fell trees in an environment where mistakes aren't generally disastrous gives you the opportunity to make your mistakes, learn from them and also to fell trees of every kind, with every lean, every level of butt rott and in all weather conditions.

 

Don't get me wrong - hate felling trees in urban settings and never choose to do it, but having a lot of trees under my belt gives me a bit of confidence and experience that I think serves me well.

[stihlmadasever]

I can only speak from a climbers point of view and to be honest id rather climb and dismantle a big tree and reduce it to a 30ft stem then knock it over even if it could be felled in one go.I get twitchy felling big trees because i dont do it regular enough to have a lot of confidence in my capabilities infact one of the ground guys has forestry experience but only has cs30/31 but ive seen him fell some trees that id get nervy about.

Simple fact is he does it because he has lots of experience and confidence in his capabilities.

[inthewoods]

 

 

 

I don't think tickets are the answer. I've only got CS31 and have never felt the need for more for ground cutting. Experience is what counts, and it wouldn't hurt budding tree surgeons to go spend a few months in the woods.

 

Spot on!

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

That's all gone a bit Forestry v Tree Surgery (Arb, or whatever it wants to be called.)

 

Volume of fells, and making mistakes in a (relatively) low impact environment is a very valid point, to a point.....

 

But...

 

For me, it looses a bit of focus when talking about only needing CS31 (in old speak) which is 8-15" diameter at felling height to suggest commercial felling makes for a safer operator.

 

For tree surgery / arb (maybe it's peculiar to Cornwall?), 8-15" is generally done by the home owner before they even think of calling somebody in. 8-15" is hedging, not felling....

[Joe Newton]

That's all gone a bit Forestry v Tree Surgery (Arb, or whatever it wants to be called.)

 

Volume of fells, and making mistakes in a (relatively) low impact environment is a very valid point, to a point.....

 

But...

 

For me, it looses a bit of focus when talking about only needing CS31 (in old speak) which is 8-15" diameter at felling height to suggest commercial felling makes for a safer operator.

 

For tree surgery / arb (maybe it's peculiar to Cornwall?), 8-15" is generally done by the home owner before they even think of calling somebody in. 8-15" is hedging, not felling....

 

 

Well said.

 

Although I've only had two fells from memory cock up resulting in damage. One was sub 15".

[Mesterh]

Splatterbonged my new word for the week , love it.

 

 

I would love to take the credit but alas I did steal 'Splatterbonged' from another member although I did consult the member at great lengths to ensure it OK to use the word so its kosher. Im sure he will be delighted .

 

 

It should be hard though,then gripes like mine wouldn't happen Tom.

 

Conceivably one entire crew could stand in for the day.How would the assessor know any different?

 

Did Bartletts have a blanket AAC rating or were each and every crew assessed?

 

 

Surely the AA would take measures to ensure that this wouldn't happen by doing some background checks and making sure the people carrying out the all important work were long standing employees of the company?

 

Otherwise I could see it being quite profitable to some individuals to lets say be available to work while under inspection.

[Mark Bolam]

Do companies hire in shite freelance climbers for the day they go on Checkatrade?

 

 

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[Big J]

That's all gone a bit Forestry v Tree Surgery (Arb, or whatever it wants to be called.)

 

Volume of fells, and making mistakes in a (relatively) low impact environment is a very valid point, to a point.....

 

But...

 

For me, it looses a bit of focus when talking about only needing CS31 (in old speak) which is 8-15" diameter at felling height to suggest commercial felling makes for a safer operator.

 

For tree surgery / arb (maybe it's peculiar to Cornwall?), 8-15" is generally done by the home owner before they even think of calling somebody in. 8-15" is hedging, not felling....

 

Again, for some I agree. However, I reckon if a cutter is allowed to progress organically from smaller to larger trees (I've felled up to 5ft diameter and 135ft height) then perhaps further tickets are not required (for ground felling). That being said, I certainly don't think that they would be a waste of time.

 

However, having contracted in a lot of cutters for various jobs, I'd take an experienced cutter with few tickets over a fresh, fully ticketed operative any day.

 

To bring the thread back onto topic, I think the kind of accreditation that is coming under scrutiny here focuses more on the paperwork side of tree surgery (tickets, insurance and risk assessments) and I think that perhaps that is deemed to be more important these days than years on the saw and correct judgement.

[Joe Newton]

Do companies hire in shite freelance climbers for the day they go on Checkatrade?

 

 

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If they do I'm missing a trick

[Mark Bolam]

I was about to PM you for your day rate.

 

 

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