Women’s Tree Climbing Workshop

How Important Is Documented, Up-to-Date Training?

If a safe workforce was a three-legged stool, one of those legs would have to be competency development. The other two legs are a right-minded workforce and safe tools and equipment. In this article, we’ll focus on competency development. Competency development Some people might call this first leg “training,” but since the desired outcome of […]

Paper Tiger?

The Tree Care Industry Association held a Legislative Fly-In during the summer before COVID, and we invited a couple of officials from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to talk to our group about impending Entry-Level Driver Training requirements for would-be holders of a commercial driver’s license (CDL). Finding good employees is challenging enough. […]

Consider All the Factors in a Climber’s Fall

Brett Nelson, owner of Good Earth Tree Care in Grand Rapids, Michigan, suffered a serious fall from a tree and chose to share his experience with us. The available information suggests there might be unanticipated issues associated with his climbing system that other climbers in situations like Nelson’s should carefully consider. This summary of what […]

OSHA Revisits Enforcement

Federal OSHA recently revised its enforcement guidance for the tree care industry by withdrawing a compliance directive issued in 2008 and replacing it with an enforcement memo that in certain key sections is very similar to what it replaced. Here is a link to the new guidance: https://www.osha.gov/memos/2021-06-30/inspection-guidance-for-tree-care-and-tree-removal-operations Particularly disappointing to us is the fact […]

Virtual This & Digital That, Part 2

Last month in this column (“Virtual This & Digital That…”), I talked about TCIA’s virtual/digital events. Online learning is an equally critical area within TCIA’s virtual/digital strategy. As you read this, TCIA has already moved all itscertificate-course testing online, and this summer and fall it has an ambitious plan to bring at least five training […]

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