We asked about a dozen arborists, all of whom have been contributors to TCI Magazine at one time or another, if they had an example of a time when personal protective equipment (PPE) made or could have made a difference on the job. Could they briefly recount a time when PPE saved the day? Or when the lack of it cost or nearly cost someone an injury, or worse?

Kristoffer Rasmussen, CTSP, QCL and TCIA-approved instructor, has all the appropriate PPE for using a chain saw on the ground. Photo courtesy of Kristoffer Rasmussen.

Most came up with something without hesitation. Some could recall more than one occasion.
Following here is a collection of their responses. See if you can relate to the situation or circumstances that led to the incident.

Craig Bachmann, Board Certified Master Arborist (BCMA), Tree Risk Assessment Qualification (TRAQ) credentialed, experienced safety/skills trainer, lead arborist and founder of Tree133, a tree-preservation company and a five-year TCIA member company based in Seattle, Washington.

Anecdote 1: “Back in 2015, while living in Denver, I was working from a roof using a pole pruner. The roof was made of wood shakes. It was a bit slippery, but not particularly steep. When making a larger cut, I pulled hard on the pruner cord, which slightly ‘unweighted’ my feet. I slipped and went off the edge of the roof. Good thing I was tied in to the adjacent tree.”

Anecdote 2: “Back in 2017, while contract climbing in Seattle, I saw my employer – a long-time arborist – leaning into a trailer to cut down the load of brush with a Stihl 066 with a 30-inch bar or similar. Without going into the underlying hazards of that choice…he pulls the saw out of the brush pile and turns around to talk with another person. In doing so, the tip of the bar swings down and contacts his foot, with the chain still turning. At that moment, I noticed he was only wearing tennis shoes. Somehow, he realized in time and only cut a strip out of the top of his shoe, missing his toes by perhaps a quarter-inch. Yikes! That made the point that wearing work boots, or better yet, chain-saw-protective boots when running a saw, particularly a big saw, is essential.”

Mark Chisholm, CTSP, director of operations with Aspen Tree Expert Co. Inc., a dual-accredited, 37-year TCIA member company based in Jackson, New Jersey. He also is a spokesperson for Stihl Inc. and an ambassador for Teufelberger and Kask.

“I’m sure I could speak about multiple incidents where PPE made a difference, but here is the first that comes to mind.

“While working a clearing job on a steep incline that was snow covered, one of my crew members slipped just a couple of feet while cutting small trees. The saw contacted green briar that pulled the saw into his thigh, cutting his chaps all the way through to the knit layer. There was no injury, as the chaps performed their job perfectly, but this could have been a potentially life-threatening injury.”

Chris Girard’s cut chain-saw pants. “If I had not been wearing my chain-saw pants, I would have destroyed my knee and leg,” he says. Photo courtesy of Chris Girard.

Chris Girard, New Hampshire and ISA Certified Arborist, Society of Professional Rope Access Technicians (SPRAT) Level 1 Technician, civil-engineering technician, contract climber, writer and trainer, as well as co-owner and operator of Girard Tree Service, a 15-year TCIA member company based in Gilmanton, New Hampshire.

“Great timing for this question! I just took a vicious hit across my knee with my chain saw the day before yesterday, and my chain-saw pants saved my leg.

“I was cutting through a pile of snow-covered brush when I slipped on an icy patch of ground, and my chain saw, a Stihl 362, slashed right across my left knee. This truly was an accident that would have been hard to avoid, and if I had not been wearing my chain-saw pants, I would have destroyed my knee and leg.

“I don’t care whether I am cutting on the ground or cutting up in the tree while climbing, I will always wear chain-saw protection pants.”

Joseph Eves, CTSP, CEO of Rancho Coastal Tree Care, an accredited, 10-year TCIA member company based in San Diego, California, now a SavATree company.

“In the tree care industry, safety is paramount, and no one is too experienced to overlook the importance of PPE. Proper PPE serves as the last line of defense against serious injuries, ensuring that every team member returns home safely at the end of the day.

“Facundo Hernandez, our most seasoned climber, has nearly 50 years of experience in the field. He began climbing as a teenager, and now, in his mid-60s, has earned the nickname ‘The Artist’ for his meticulous pruning skills, which transform trees into living sculptures. Facundo is methodical, efficient and, above all, prioritizes safety – yet even the most experienced professionals can have moments of complacency.

“One day, after completing a tree removal, Facundo needed to make a final base cut on a tree located on a slope. Since it was just one cut, he decided not to take the time to retrieve his chain-saw chaps from the truck. Unfortunately, midway through the cut, the saw kicked back into his shin, causing a deep gash that required immediate medical attention. Thankfully, the injury was relatively minor, and he only missed a few days of work. However, the incident served as a powerful reminder that no task is too small or experience so great to justify skipping PPE.

“This could have been a much more serious accident, but we are grateful it wasn’t. Since that day, Facundo has been even more vigilant, ensuring he always wears the proper protective gear – including his chaps. Let his experience serve as a reminder; safety is not just a habit, it’s a responsibility. PPE is non-negotiable, no matter your skill level or how routine a task may seem.”

David M. Anderson, CTSP and Massachusetts certified arborist, is a manager with Mayer Tree Service Inc., a 33-year TCIA member company based in Essex, Mass. He also is a member of the TCI Magazine Editorial Advisory Committee.

“I was pruning an ornamental tree. The orchard ladder was against a branch under tension. While I was repositioning the orchard ladder, the branch released and hit me across my eyes. If not for my safety glasses, I could have been injured. The impact was so hard I was disoriented for a few seconds.

“Another time, we were doing some training on chain saws with some new hires. One of the new hires was cutting and put the saw against their pants while the chain was still going. It would’ve been a really bad wound if they weren’t wearing chaps.”

Lindsey Purcell, ISA Board Certified Master Arborist (BCMA), American Society of Consulting Arborists (ASCA) Registered Consulting Arborist (RCA) and principal with Lp Consulting Group LLC in Bradenton, Florida. He spent many years as an urban-forestry specialist and teacher in the Department of Forestry and Natural Resources at Purdue University, and serves as the executive director of the Indiana Chapter of the ISA.

“One of the best experiences of my career involved being the city forester of Indianapolis, Indiana. It came with its typical challenges, such as budgets, invasive pests and the discovery of emerald ash borer (EAB). There was, of course, the challenge of working with the crews, training and managing personnel and ensuring a safe and efficient day while working in our urban forest. There was a particular project that I was working on with the crews that was life threatening, without needing to be.

“Often when working in the downtown area, we chose to conduct tree removals and sometimes plantings during the night hours for obvious reasons, such as reduced vehicular traffic, less pedestrian traffic and concern over our tree removals. This was just such a night, as we were removing some declining and dying locust trees downtown.

“One of the crew had installed a tagline in the small, 6-inch-diameter tree to pull it away from the buildings and into the street. However, once it was down, the tagline was forgotten or overlooked in the darkened conditions. As the top of the tree was being fed into the chipper, the tagline was following along with it. As I watched the brush feed into the chipper, the line wrapped around my ankle and brought me to the ground.

“I was being dragged toward the chipper table. This is where I am thankful for the safety feature of the Vermeer chipper and the feeder stop bar. A bottom feeder stop bar is strategically located to make it possible for the operator’s leg to strike the bar and shut off the feed mechanism, either intentionally or automatically in an emergency situation. Well, as the tension and angle on the rope increased on the feeder bar, the chipper stopped. Thankfully, I was able to untangle the rope from my leg. It was a deadly serious lesson for myself and the crews.”

Michael Roche, CTSP, now retired, is former owner of Vermont Arborists, an accredited, long-time TCIA member company based in Stowe, Vermont, now a SavATree company. He’s still a Certified Arborist, now living in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire.

“You can’t close your eyes fast enough.

“I was driving my bobcat with a scissor-style grapple that swiveled manually, the type where you bump it into a log to spin it. Unbeknownst to me or any of the crew, there was a little burr on the swivel right near where one of the hydraulic hoses slid by. This caused a wear in the hose that no one noticed until it blew, and when it did blow, the timing couldn’t have been worse.

“One of the crew members was right in front of it, and the release of the hydraulic fluid was so fast and so much that it covered his face and chest in a millisecond. The guy was screaming because of how disgusting it was, but he wasn’t screaming that it was in his eyes. We always wore eye protection, and this one incident proved more than ever the need to always use it. There’s no excuse otherwise.

“I am positive he would not have been able to close his eyes fast enough, and even if he had gotten them partially closed, there’s not enough rinse in those little bottles in the first-aid kits to wash the residue off your eyes. The employee changed his shirt and wiped off his face with a towel, then went back to work after he settled down. It was a lot better than being blind for the rest of one’s life.”

Josh Morin, Board Certified Master Arborist (BCMA), owner of We Love Trees, a TCIA member company based in Niwot, Colorado, and a past member of TCIA’s Board of Directors.

“When I think of times when proper PPE would’ve made a difference, Bob Timmons comes to mind. I worked with Bob in Bala-Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. He had hired on to the company in 1967 and was still working in tree care production when I started working with him in 2006. He was still leading a crew and would climb periodically.

“There were several incidents that happened prior to this incident that we recognized, and I even shared them with my safety coordinator. They were close calls and small accidents, like leaving the door unlatched on an equipment box and having it hit a parked car, or tipping over a stump grinder on a slope, causing the engine to blow. It felt like something bigger was coming. As a younger arborist in a sales and management role, I wasn’t sure how to stop the trend without demoting Bob or somehow restricting his responsibilities.

“I remember the day I got the call. There had been an accident, and Bob was on his way to the hospital in an ambulance. He had taken a fall as he was climbing a ladder to get on top of one of the trucks.

His safety glasses prevented this wound from a whipping branch from being worse, says Dave Anderson. Photo courtesy of Dave Anderson.

“In that location, it was common practice to use a 40-foot aluminum ladder to climb up into tall trees, and the crew would load and unload the ladder on and off the truck almost every day. The rubber feet on the ladder Bob was using had long since worn off. The ladder was leaned up against the side of the truck, and Bob climbed it. But without anyone footing the ladder, it slipped out from under him.

“He had been wearing a Bullard-style hard hat that did not have a chin strap. When he fell, the hard hat came off of his head. The crew heard him yell, and when they came around the truck, they found Bob lying on his back, unconscious, his hard hat off. He experienced what would become a career-ending, and eventually life-shortening, traumatic brain injury.

“I remember driving down to the hospital, to find Bob in the emergency room in rough shape. The road to recovery was long for Bob, and he was not able to continue working in the field after his recovery. That incident marked the end of his career, and he passed away a couple of years later.

“We changed our policy at the office to require chin straps on helmets, replaced all of the ladders missing the rubber feet and created a best practice to never be on top of the truck without a secured hard hat.

“I’ve shared Bob’s story with many employees over the years when I’ve observed them aloft without a hard hat or without a secured chin strap. We can learn from our mistakes and from the mistakes of others. Always buckle up, you never know when you’ll need that hard hat.”

Kristoffer Rasmussen, CTSP, QCL, TCIA-approved instructor, Accreditation/Loss Control Auditor and owner of arboriststrong.com, providing consultation, safety training and Red Cross CPR/first-aid certifications.

“Unfortunately, I have more stories than I’d like to recall about times when PPE saved the day. My helmet prevented a serious brain injury after I failed to identify a hazard from above before making a felling cut. My safety glasses protected my eyes from chipper blowback when I stood watching a piece of wood get chewed up instead of turning away after feeding it into the chute. The most sobering experience, however, happened while helping my brother clear dead Ponderosa pines from his property in Colorado.

“I was wearing chain-saw pants; he was in jeans. I stopped him and insisted he put on chaps. He reluctantly agreed, and less than 30 minutes later, his chain saw made contact with his protective chaps. That moment was a wake-up call – we had no first-aid kit for life-threatening bleeding and no cell service. Worse, my brother hadn’t been trained on how to move safely with a chain saw. In all three cases, PPE prevented serious injury. When training is lacking or hazards go unnoticed, PPE becomes the last line of defense.”

David Schwartz, president of Schwartz Tree Care Inc., a 29-year TCIA member company based in Coventry, Rhode Island.
“I was climbing, and a twig was deflected from my glasses. It would have blinded me.

“I was climbing a hemlock on a hot summer day. My head was turning to get into a position to make a cut. As I leaned forward, a twig was deflected because of my safety glasses. It would have been a direct hit in my eye. It is easy to pay less attention to the repetitive actions that we repeat many times daily. We have to be present for our actions.

“A brief thought on hearing protection. I started climbing in 1969. For many years I did not use hearing protection (not wearing it around chain saws, chippers). When I finally did get tested, I had 40% of my hearing left. My son grew up thinking his name was ‘What?’”

Howard Gaffin, BCMA, RCA and Massachusetts Certified Arborist, is the owner of Gaffin Tree in Rowley, Massachusetts. He also is a member of TCI Magazine’s Editorial Advisory Committee.

“While browsing through my e-mail the other afternoon, I came across a request from the TCI editor asking if I had any PPE stories to relate. Well…

“I had just returned from an engagement with some semi-dwarf apple trees, primarily pruning ¾- to 1-inch-thick, whip-like suckering growth. I was not more than 4 feet off the ground. There was no power equipment involved. Cake, right?

“It was not long before I got thwacked in the cheek, poked in the eye (even with my glasses on) and bloodied my gloved hand with a handsaw. While picking up a brush pile, I was wearing a baseball hat for protection when I smacked the ol’ squash on a limb hard enough to expel an inspired cornucopia of profanity. All this in under four hours – and no cake.

“The glasses and gloves probably prevented more serious damage, and a helmet might have prevented a grown man from crying.

“On another occasion last fall, a group of fellow arborists and associates were on our annual sojourn to a semi-
isolated arboretum on a small island off the coast of Massachusetts. My good friend and fellow arborist John does Dr. John Ball proud. Even if only a few cuts are needed, he dons his safety gear – chaps included, the headphones drowning out any commentary from the peanut gallery. Long in the tooth and deaf as a haddock, he appreciates the fact that his chances of serious injury are above average and acts accordingly.

“John is a true professional who also teaches chain-saw operation and safety. But while making one of the tens of thousands of cuts he has made in the past, the saw took a bite out of his leg, just above the knee. The chain immediately jammed in the chaps, and no harm was done. While most of us were trained in first aid, the injury that would have resulted without the protection of the chaps may have been fatal. We were a mile or so from the boat dock, and the only emergency-response teams were on the mainland. Praise Kevlar.”

Conclusion
Do these anecdotes sound familiar? Did you notice that they started to repeat? There is a lesson there.

Do you have your own close call to share? If so, please go to this article online at tcimag.tcia.org and add your own brief anecdote in the comments section at the end of the article.

Don Staruk is editor of TCI Magazine.