Arborists work within an array of regulations, standards and policies. The foundation for these is the federal Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act of 1970. This Act mandated that workers have a safe and healthy workplace environment. There are two key parts to this Act that outline employer and employee duties.

Employers are required to provide a workplace free of recognized hazards that may cause death or serious physical harm to employees. This is the General Duty Clause found under OSH Act Section 5(a)(1).
Employers are required to comply with all appropriate occupational safety and health standards under this Act.

Employees also are given responsibilities under the OSH Act. They must comply with occupational safety and health standards and applicable rules and regulations pursuant to this Act.

Safety is not the responsibility of just the employer or the employees – it is a shared responsibility.

There are three legs to the safety stool for arboricultural operations: OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) safety regulations, the ANSI Z133 safety standard and each company’s safety policy. In this article, we’ll take a look at how they apply to electrical hazards.

OSHA safety regulations

OSHA safety regulations are the first leg to the safety stool. There are two OSHA regulations that can apply to arborists working near overhead power lines. Line-clearance arborists are covered under one, all arborists under the other.

Line-clearance arborists prune space around the conductors on behalf of the utility or the organization that controls the lines and equipment. They might not be working directly for the utility but for a contractor or subcontractor.
Line-clearance arborists work under OSHA’s Electric Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution Standard 29 CFR Part 1910.269. The CFR stands for United States Code of Federal Regulations. Title 29 applies to labor laws. This is a vertical standard, one that applies to a specific industry and addresses its hazards.

The standard covers workers engaged in “the operation and maintenance of electric power generation, control, transformation, transmission and distribution lines and equipment.” While portions of this standard apply to arborists engaged in line clearance, it does not make those arborists line personnel nor permit them to perform line-personnel duties. Line-clearance arborists work near overhead power lines and equipment, not on them.

All arborists work within OSHA’s Electrical Safety Related Work Practices Standard, 29 CFR Subpart S, 1910.331-335. This is a horizontal standard that applies to any worker who may be exposed to the hazards of energized conductors during their workday. Arborists working near overhead power lines while performing arboricultural operations for residential/commercial entities or for municipalities fall under these regulations. They are not engaged in clearing space on behalf of the utility or the operators of the electric-delivery system.

State OSHA plans

There are also 22 states operating OSHA-approved workplace-safety and -health programs. Many of these state plans follow OSHA in determining the qualifications of who can work near overhead power lines and the minimum approach distances (MADs) based on the nominal voltages of these lines.

But, as discussed earlier in this series, not all state plans follow federal OSHA, and many have set their own requirements. It is the responsibility of the tree company to determine whether the state or states they are operating in have a state plan and, if so, what their requirements are for working near overhead power lines and equipment.

Being held to erroneous standards

An OSHA standard that does not apply to arborists is 29 CFR 1910.266, Logging Operations. The distinction between logging and arboricultural operations is not always clear. OSHA has sometimes cited arborists under the logging-operation standard.

While arborists are not loggers, neither are we a profession with an OSHA safety standard that specifically applies to us. Instead, we are covered under a patchwork of general industry standards, such as one for aerial devices, under 29 CFR 1910.67, Vehicle-Mounted Elevating and Rotating Work Platforms, and one for saws, under 29 CFR 1910, Subpart P, Hand and Portable Power Tools and Other Hand-Held Equipment. This makes it difficult to determine what standards apply to arborists. But that may be changing.

Pending tree care standard

An OSHA standard under development is 29 CFR 1910, Tree Care Operation Standard. The process of preparing this new standard began in 2008 with the publication of the advanced notice of proposed rulemaking. It has gone through several steps in the process, including stakeholder meetings, but the standard is not yet completed. The OSHA Tree Care Operation Standard will apply to companies, municipalities and organizations that perform tree care, even if only on occasion. Landscape companies, as an example, will be regulated by this new standard while conducting arboricultural operations.

The driving force behind this new standard is the high fatal and severe nonfatal incident rates in the tree care industry. According to the Tree Care Operations Preliminary Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis, conducted by OSHA as part of the standard preparation process, arborists represent about 0.03% of the U.S. workforce but nearly 1% of all its fatal injuries. OSHA proposes that the incidents can be reduced through federal regulations and enforcement of a standard.

At this time, arborists can be cited by OSHA for violations under the General Duty Clause. Investigation reports covering these incidents, along with the associated violations and citations, frequently mention the ANSI Z133 Safety Requirements for Arboricultural Operations. An OSHA citation for arboricultural operations may include a mention of the General Duty Clause Section 5(a)(1) and phrasing such as “the employee did not furnish employment free from recognized hazards…” as employees were not following “safety standards set forth in ANSI Z133.1-2017…”

ANSI Z133 safety standard

That’s why the second leg to the safety stool is the American National Standard Institute (ANSI) Z133 Safety Requirements for Arboricultural Operations.

ANSI is a private, non-profit organization that administrates and coordinates industry standards. It was founded in 1918 with a mission to provide a framework for industries to prepare their own standards. ANSI does not write these standards.

ANSI has some fundamental requirements to guide industries in preparing and reviewing their own standards. Additionally, ANSI standards are by consensus, and are prepared by an ANSI-accredited Standard Committee (ASC). To ensure a broad balance of interests for the consensus, the ASC must have a diverse voting membership. It cannot be dominated by a single-interest group. Beyond voting membership, participation must be open to all interested parties. Attendance at meetings is not restricted solely to members of the ASC.

The ANSI safety standard for the tree care industry, often referred to as the Z, is reviewed every five years, and a revised edition published. The new edition may retain much of the language of the previous editions, but will reflect changes in the industry – the new hazards posed by radio frequency (RF) towers are a good example. The last Z edition was published in 2017. The next edition will be out in 2024. This new edition, the 10th, took a little longer than expected due to the COVID pandemic preventing in-person meetings.

The new Z

The upcoming Z is divided into nine sections. Section 4 is devoted to electrical hazards.

The catalyst to create the Z was an electrocution. Jeffrey Hugg, an 18-year-old, was pruning a tree toward the end of the day during his second week on the job when he contacted a 4.8 kV overhead power line. This incident, which occurred August 10, 1965, and the efforts of his parents to improve safety in our industry, marked the beginnings of the ANSI safety standard for the tree care industry.

The ASC for the Z was organized in April 1969. The new Z standard was approved by ANSI in December 1972. The OSH Act was signed by President Nixon in December 1971, and OSHA was enacted in April 1972. The Z and OSHA have been intertwined since their beginnings. Portions of the Z133.1 were adopted under the Telecommunication Safety and Health Standard 29 CFR Part 1910, in August 1973.

While the Z is a voluntary standard, OSHA can cite it under the General Duty Clause.

The Z is peppered with two words: “shall” and “should.” The word “shall” within a clause means that the action is mandatory. As an example, a clause within Section 6, Power Tools, states that a chain saw “shall be operated” with two hands at all times. This means the action must be followed. The word “should” denotes a recommended action, not a requirement. As an example, there is a subclause within Section 3, General Safety Requirements, which states that job briefings “should be documented.”

While the Z is the standard for the tree care industry, there are other American National Standards applicable to the industry. These are identified in an annex to the Z. They include standards on ladders, head protection, eye and face protection and high-visibility safety apparel, among others.

Company safety policy

Company safety policy is the third leg to the safety stool for the tree care industry. Employers must have a safety policy. The written document must outline the company’s rules and procedures for safely navigating the numerous hazards found in arboricultural operations. At minimum, a company safety policy must follow the applicable OSHA regulations and the Z standard. A company also can set safety policies that exceed these requirements.

The goal of the policy is to prevent workplace deaths and injuries, along with the financial and emotional impact such incidents can have on the workers’ families.

PRICE is a good acronym for a well-prepared safety policy. It should:

• Prevent occupational injuries and illnesses.
• Reduce costs in workers’ compensation and other expenses.
• Improve compliance with regulations and standards.
• Create a workplace free of recognized hazards.
• Engage workers.

Without a well-crafted safety policy with buy-in from workers and management, OSHA and the Z standards become reactive and punitive. They are not followed by the company, but instead are used to cite violations.

Conclusion

This article concludes this series on the update of TCIA’s Electrical Hazards Awareness Program. It serves as a complement to the materials found in the online training for the highly popular EHAP program. This program is considered the “gold standard” for training in this critical aspect of tree care operations. All arborists are encouraged to participate in this training. It can be a life saver.

John Ball, Ph.D., BCMA, CTSP, A-NREMT (Advanced-National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians), is a professor of forestry at South Dakota State University.