Dean Lofthouse

All I can say is you must have taken some risks. Either that or you have not realised you were taking a risk I have done at least three jobs in the last year that there was no other option than to use the MEWP. Two of those were passed on to me by other Tree Surgeons, who simply held their hands up.

The thread "Day Rate" should give you a good idea if you read it right through. http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=381

6K !!n Thats half my salary!!

Skyhuck, How would you take down a tree that was quite obviously too dangerous to climb, unfellable because of it's proximity to buildings etc, and no nearby trees to find an anchor point, not near a road to get in a skyhook? Ring me by any chance???

Climbing with replacement hips, do you not know when to stop, no wonder the argies surrended so easy

The thing fell over, the supplier argued operator error, I argued hydraulic fault. I kept the machine and can make the fault re-occur, it's when the setup of the machine makes it rely on sensors to tell it when the outreach for that leg position has been reached. The only problem is it doesn't and carries on letting you extend the boom outside the envelope. Heres the cage picture, the bending of the aircraft aluminium cage bars was caused by my passengers ribs and leg. I used this MEWP to it's limits, and it couldn't stand the pace. I take much more care with other peoples tackle

The operator of the MEWP in the study was an expert Mewp operator, he didn't, as you say Skyhuck, know the first thing about trees. His objective was to show how the Mewp could access the site, how easy and speed of set up and accessibility of the crown.

Are you having problems with your 441? Mine seems ok up to press, can't say I,m unhappy with it.

I do find my walking stick an advantage, being able to hook it over the odd branch to aid stabilty while branch walking.

Don't have any problems with 200t. A two stroke engine should be able to run upside down or at any angle without any probs that's the idea of diaphram carbs, they don't have to be upright.

So at what point do we retire? I'm 43 and although I still work as good as I ever did and climb as good, there are a few niggles, and aches appearing. I have even wondered how long I have got left climbing, I don't or wouldn't want to be climbing big trees at fifty. I think when I get to fifty I will start to pick and choose my jobs and go more into firewood production. How many grandads have we got out there?

If I am not mistaken, it was my actual machine that took part in that trial. ....and, again, if I'm not mistaken, proved to be the most versatile machine.

Quite right, it did and no amount of risk assessment wood have forseen the accident. I don't use mine 98% of the time, but we were talking about dangerous tree and whether it would be better to climb or Mewp them. The fault that occurred on mine was probably 0ne in a million. The odds of a dangerous tree failing whilst climbing and especailly rigging are a vast sight more. I really hope that we aren't made to use them, I was doing a take down yesterday (non mewp) using complicated rigging with help from another Arb and we really got a buzz from it. You don't get that with the mewp

Yes I know what you mean, hopefully it wont go that far, if it does we will probably have retired and be too old to care.

"the day i am made to use a mewp will be my last" Yes and they used to think one would suffocated if you went above 30MPH in a motor vehicle. They probably said the same thing about the tractor when that was first introduced. You are right though, it is individual choice. If you do your own risk assessment and decide to climb a dangerous tree which then fails and kills you, that shouldn't be a problem, it's when your decision ends up killing someone else.

I used to get barley from a brewery out of the skip. When the wagon delivers it, it is graded, bags of dust and grain are thrown into a skip and paid for to be taken away as specail waste. I started raiding the skip and taking it to feed our 1800 pheasants and 100 duck. I was stopped from doing so because the brewery said, new rules say I now have to have a waste transporters licence. I said tell you what, don't put it in the skip and then it isn't classed as waste. He said it will still be classed as waste. If that is the case then the wagon delivering barley must be delivering waste. Puzzled by this I enquired about this license, you have to pay said license from the council. In other words they have found another way to make money and will reword any document to fill in any loopholes we try to create. Even the fish and chip shop have stopped giving me their scraps to feed the duck, they will get fined if caught. In my opinion, chip is a produce not waste, if you sell it it is a product, everything has to be stored before it's sold, it's called stock. it is always worth getting legal cover on your insurance, if the council do have a go you may be able to look into taking it to court maybe ????

Use it often also, just have to be careful it doesn't damage rope where it runs through loop. Can be some awsome pressure with rope rubbing rope

Just carried out a service on one with half that paint wear on reading 810 hours, looks like top roller bearing needs looking at?

Look at buying woodland. Give your details to http://www.woodlands.co.uk/ and tell them what you want and to keep your details, in the meantime knock on every farmers door in your area who has a small peice of woodland with access and ask if they'll sell. I picked up 5 acres for £10k, yes I was lucky, but persistence pays off. I tip my chip near the side of the road and have a sign saying free chip, fill your boots. The chip is going as fast as I tip it. So far no complaints because theres no pile to complain about. I don't know the ins and outs but working from woodland or storing chip and logs in woodland may be seen differently to agricultural land

I think there is a general misunderstanding that we "MEWP lovers" are suggesting that the MEWP will take over climbing and that they should be used at every oportunity. That isn't anything like what we are saying. 98% of my work doesn't involve the MEWP, but the bit that does invariably involves an unacceptable degree of risk not to use it. If there were a tree that were in such a state that it may fall on your MEWP, you would assess the lean, put the cherry picker behind the lean and strip off the weight from the side your cherry picker is set up on. The more weight you take off the more it would be weighted away from you. Obviously each job would have to be assessed on it's own. I can say however, that the mewp never made me any money, what it did do was pay for itself so I got free use of it and basically I could charge what I thought the job warranted for the hire because it was costing me nothing. Other people hire it and paid the finance for me :wave:

Skyhuck, I am only generalising, everyone has their own way, I am only talking from my own experience. I wouldn't dream of dictating to you It is the opinion of a few though, not just mine. I hire my picker out to other tree surgeons in the area and has been hired out up as far as Newcastle for taking down a split beech. It was hired with me as operator and once non mewp minded Arbs have seen the benefits / Speed/ saftey issues most are gobsmacked at how versatile they are. ....and I get repeat business quite regularly. So I am not really speaking for myself but quite a few others. The conifers I did with the mewp were unclimbable, seriously, I would liked to have seen someone try to climb them, I would have been the first to film it and sell the video. At the end of the day they have their place, no one can argue that. I mean, what did we do before mewps and all other safety equipment came along. The casualty/ death figures, if someone dug them out would speak for themselves. Each to their own though, no problem

Thats the point, sometimes it isn't. I feel fairly well placed to say so being one of the few that has fallen from 45ft in one and survived. It took me 12 months to regain my confidence climbing and I still shite my self each time I use one, I do believe I will never ever trust one fully again, but sometimes the risk is too much not to use one.

Well said. I obviously own the one on my avtar, it stands idle most of the time but I can think of many occasions I have used it when no other means were possible. Not unless you had a brain cosisting of two cells and lost the will to live. I have also managed to do jobs cheaper with the MEWP because it saved two days on a job. It's a load of bollocks that the mewp makes up for a lack of climbing skills. DIY'ers are probably more at risk in a mewp than on ladders. Especailly in mine, it is a complex machine which needs skill to use. One problem you will find with tracked mewps and I have seen it happen, is they may climb 45 degree slopes and stairs no problem, but they tip extremely easy sideways, if you took one off a kerb it would tip over on it's side Discing a tree down with a large bar saw is far easier, quicker and safer from a basket than on spikes. You can also do a take down lightning fast, faster than the ground crew can keep up. If you are an irregular user, it can take longer because of the unfamiliar machine, but if you regularly use the same machine, you don't need to look at the controls. Forget one for topping 12ft wide conifer hedges unless you are taking the top off previously untopped conifers. I did a job the other month where we took the top 10ft off 40ft conifers which were in a sheltered location and only measured about 10 inch at the bottom. The machine was set up in the middle and with 33 foot outreach to either side we managed to do the whole 60ft hedge without repositioning the machine. The only other option was to use ladders, why take the risk if you have the machine. The customer paid £600 to have their conifers trimmed. I was the cheapest quote. Non of the others had quoted to use a MEWP If you have one, use it to your advantage.

The wind is battering my roof slates right now, making a right racket. Been out twice today on emergency callout. One large fir and a large Ash with a 35ft secondary hanger. I bet the phone will be ringing tomorrow morning!!

Yes Edenarb, thats the job. Mine is the MO200 here: http://www.burntecshop.co.uk/acatalog/copy_of_Moisture_Meters.html I originally bought it for my own peace of mind so I knew when my logs were ready, I just split a log and test it in the middle.