Taupotreeman

I also have a folder here with over 350 workplace fatalities in the states from falling, electrocution, chainsaw, chipper and various other incidents relating to tree work. I and a senior trainer used them for training procedures at the last company I worked for. No pictures but if they're of any use I might be able to send you a copy if you need.

No pictures I'm afraid but two bad ones and one that proves PPE doesn't always work. 1. Dismantling a large Ash in high winds, wind whipped the branch around and slammed it into my leg mushing the muscle from waste to ankle. 2. Had an eight foot chunk of wood thrown from 60 feet out of a bucket on an EPV. The guy gave no warning he was about to throw and I took the full brunt on the scone. Shattered the helmet but luckily not my head. 3. Undercutting a hung branch up a tree, misjusdged the direction of fall and the branch landed on the saw pushing it into my leg. Went straight through the chainsaw pants I was wearing without even slowing and took a nice chunk out of my lower leg. I now buy my chainsaw gear from the UK cos it's of better quality.

The new family member, Ripley.

Yep, sure did. In a perverse way I'm looking forward to it just to see what it's like. A bit like when you get a sore spot that you keep prodding because it hurts but it's nice.....or am I just weird?

Just met up with David Bolstad who competed in this so won't give you the results. Fair to say it was a cracking comp that went down to the wire.

If I'd have tried to climb that skinny thing I'd just have bent it over to the floor. See, there's the bonus to being a light as lady.

I'm only a two man outfit at the best of times so I have a guy (41) who comes in and helps when I need him. I show him how to do the job once and I don't have to show him again. He works like a trojan, doesn't shirk the heavy stuff even when he can hardly walk and he's got enough of a brain to keep himself busy when I'm dumping chip, wood etc. He's also a bloody good bloke. I pay him about 90 quid for a full day which includes his travel/petrol allowance as I live about 50kms from him so he has to travel for some jobs. I've worked with and managed other guys who were on the same wage as him who didn't do half the work and had to be watched or have a rocket up their backsides every time my back was turned. Half of em expected top dollar to sit on their backsides in the truck for half the day and then bitched and moaned about the bosses fancy wheels. I more than happy to pay slightly over the odds for this guy as he'll work the whole day solid without a break or a complaint. Sometimes the groundies can be worth more than the climber in some instances, especially when you get down out of the tree and everything is done. All you have to do is get in the truck and drive home.

Brilliantly said Stephen. Too many people forget how much it costs to keep a business running both in monetary and mental stress. I can understand, however, if someone feels undervalued but from what I've seen on this forum, there is always someone else to take your place as an employee. I'm afraid, if you don't like it you have the choices; leave and set up on your own, leave and work for someone else, leave and start a new proffesion or just man up to your boss. If you're not prepared to do any of these then you have no cause for complaint. And belive me, what you earn is way better than what I earn running a business. My groundie earns more than I do but I don't complain I just get on with the next days work.

Yay, one for the fureners. No idea what it says but it sounds pretty.

I think robbo was replying to my statement saying I had no idea what he was on about. It was just a translation of text into english. I also find quite a few accents almost lyrical or poetic but text speak just seems lazy.

That's what happens when the PC brigade have their fingers in all the pies I'm afraid. Kids growing up without manners or respect for others. With regards to the numpties who don't acknowledge when you pull over; My little truck only does about 70kph with the chipper on and I cover a fair distance to get to work so obviously deal with a lot of traffic. I always keep hard left, pull way over if there's even one car up my date and signal for them when it's clear. I gets my goat the amount of people who can't even be bothered to wave, especially when, by law, I don't have to pull over until there's seven cars behind me. Truck drivers and bikies are the best, the locals a close second but the ignorant anus' that come from the big smoke drive me nuts. Top that up with the knobs that are in more of a hurry than an emergency vehicle with its blues and twos going. Mind you, I know a guy that had a couple of big rig air horns stuck on his disco. Scared the bejesus out of the ignoranuses.

Oh, and cheers for the translation robbo; would never have got that in years. Jeez, I must be getting old.

At least with firewood man's statement I know I don't understand Welsh so there's no point even trying to translate but I spend way too long with either text speak or just plain poor spelling trying to understand what the hec someone is attempting to say. I find myself going over stuff time and again and even googling various words to see if I can make head or tale of it but eventually I have to read the other posts to see if someone else has got the gist of it and can enlighten me with their answer, if that makes sense. Either that or I just give up. At least for us old farts try and make things a bit easier for us....please. Maybe I should start posting in Maori and everyone else can post in their own native diallect and see what confusion we can cause in a short space of time.

Plenty of women in this kind of work and I think we have a current competition champion on the forum but I'm sure I'll be corrected if mistaken. If you're keen, go for it otherwise you'll never know if you can make it and might be kicking yourself for ever and a day. Don't mind what others say either; you don't need to be butch to do the job so long as you can think on your feet. The ladies tend to find ways around doing the heavier jobs and I don't mean avoidance I just mean they tend to use different techniques etc. I say give it a crack and see how you go, at leat then you'll know for sure.

Lorry I understood but robbo? No idea!

Is it just the fact that I'm now classed as a miserable old bugger? I seem to have a problem understanding some of the newer threads posted on the forum these days and tend to spend five minutes deciphering what is being said or is trying to be said. Some of the threads need more patience than trying to understand the engima code. Is it just me and do I need to get with the times or is anyone else suffering the same problem.

well you learn something new everyday. Better start asking around although I suppose i actually need to get the job first.

Yeah thought as much. The top has died back, about 25 feet or so and they don't think it's worth saving the rest. From what I remember there's no lowering required but it's the thought of handling those branches that's giving me the eebiejeebies. Might have to try and find a couple of local turners too as if it's half decent it seems a shame to waste the wood on the fire.

If you can find a ship big enough to carry it

Okidoke, in the twenty odd years I've been working with trees I've never had to deal with Monkey Puzzle. I have to price to dismantle a dying tree tomorrow so some advice would be good please. Anything I need to look out for? They same to be quite hard and spiny so is the stuff pretty sharp when handling and what is it like on the gear? Any thoughts would be appreciated ta.

We burn a lot of Euc over here in NZ. I usually find that it takes a good 18 months for it to burn well and if you can leave it a bit longer all the better. Make sure it's split wet though as it can turn as hard as concrete when it's dry and tends to explode on some hydraulic splitters. Had one chunk fly off at speed and nearly took out my crown jewels. Stuff like Birch you can burn green but it'll soot up the chimney so chimneys need to be cleaned out more regularly. If it's wet most wood will burn eventually but most of the energy is used up drying the wood out so the heat output is low.

Don't forget to take in the salts as well as the liquids. If you work hard and sweat a lot replenishing the fluids should be obvious but you also lose a lot of salt which needs to be replaced. I usually go for the isotonic drinks or something that have mineral salts in them to replace what I sweat out. I haven't suffered from cramps yet but a friend of mine had them quite badly from only drinking water through the day and having hardly any salt in his food. I believe he started adding sachet salt replacement stuff to his water and doesn't get the cramps anymore.

Near miss reporting can be used to good effect in finding out where short cuts might be taken and then looking at resolving those issues. Most near misses I've dealt with are from lack of discussing site safety, having a proper tail gate meeting or just plain ignorance but then on the other hand you have those companies that have been told by various outfits such as OSH that no company is free of near misses and therefore OSH should be able to see a plantiful selction of them. Those companies are looking for benefits such as reductions in ACC (accident compensation) fees here in NZ and have to prove they have all systems in place including near miss reporting. They will then actively hunt down near misses to show the heirarchy that they do have them and something is being done about them and because they are nipped in the bud at near miss stage they are unlikely to have a major accident so deserve lower insurance premiums, if you undertsand that load of waffle. What it boils down to in many cases is not the company wishing to have a safer working enviroment but the company wishing to reduce its overheads.

Some electrical contractors working for MANWEB several years ago in North Wales rewired a whole 11KV circuit straight in to the 240v lines. Blew nearly every appliance in the village. Hefty repair bill and much embarressment followed.

Just because its a phone line doesn't mean it can't be dangerous. Phone lines are often run on the same poles as live power lines and it has been known for the phone line to become entangled in the power line meaning that line then becomes energised. They should both be treated with the same respect unless it's blindingly obvious that the phone line is the only one there.