A subjective hazard is best described as a hazard we have control over. Examples of subjective hazards in arboriculture are the condition of climbing gear/PPE, how we use cutting tools while aloft or whether we have received adequate training prior to performing a task.
Objective hazards are described as those we have no real control over, and are inherent to climbing and working with trees. Some objective hazards include tie-ins or anchor points with no known breaking strength, difficult-to-see defects in the tree’s structure or even the possibility of a dangerous insect or animal interaction that couldn’t be identified from the ground.
Many of these hazards could require a climber to descend from a tree expeditiously, or may even require a rescue from another crew member. Due to the risks inherent to tree climbing, it is undeniable that our risk exposure – and the likelihood of needing a rescue – increases the second we decide to climb any tree. A commonality between the aforementioned types of hazards is that the level of risk is not mitigated by the fact that you’re an influencer on social media or have decades of experience. So, if no one is immune, how will we ensure we’re able to come down safely in the event of an incident?
We as an industry can do better at making sure we have the tools and procedures available to ensure someone can get out of a tree and receive medical care.
Increasing the odds
There are many ways to increase the likelihood of a successful rescue. Not all will be applicable to every tree or job site, and it is more realistic to have an “as much as possible” attitude. That said, our “rescue-ability” exists on a spectrum. Let’s give it a name, perhaps “rescue-ability quotient,” or RQ.
The RQ represents the likelihood of a successful rescue being able to be performed and has no quantifiable metric. There are some practices and equipment we can have in place to increase our ability to get ourselves down safely or improve the chance of success in someone rescuing us. This is not an exhaustive breakdown of every possible rescue scenario or technique, but rather a conversation around broader concepts that complement them.
Self-rescue
Any time we can perform self-rescue or descend from a tree without having to involve others, we’re reducing overall risk exposure. The likelihood of someone becoming a second victim is removed when we have the tools and skills to address incidents and ailments by ourselves.
Some examples include having attached on our harness a way to stop major bleeding, having enough rope to get to the ground without switching tie-ins and having the tail of our climbing line neatly flaked in a clear descent path below us. While working a spar, a separate climbing system with a cinching anchor should be in use with our positioning lanyard, regardless of whether we’re cutting or not. This allows immediate descent in the event of an emergency – think hornets or bees.
Just those preparations alone are cost-effective and simple ways to improve our safety, yet they are overlooked constantly in our profession. Gauze and rope are rather cheap compared to involving emergency medical services or the fire department.
Of course, there could be situations when you are unable to get yourself to the ground. How will we ensure that our co-workers are best set for success in aiding us in the event of an incident?
Preparedness
At its very core, rescue-ability starts with a company’s emergency preparedness and safety culture. The success of a rescue is not only based on whether the patient was safely brought to the ground, but also whether they were able to receive the needed medical care in time. This foundation for emergency response should be laid before any tree-climbing operation or potentially hazardous job-site task begins. Imagine trying to buckle your seatbelt in the middle of a car crash.
It is imperative to start each job by assessing possible hazards on site and documenting them in the form of job safety assessments (JSAs), or perhaps it would be more appropriate to call them job hazard assessments (JHAs). Whatever we choose to call them, they provide numerous benefits to job-site safety and emergency preparedness. Most important, they prompt a crew to look for likely hazards on the job site and allow a single location for noting other pertinent job-site info.
The first steps in any rescue should be to assess the scene and dial 911. If you call EMS or 911, they will have many questions about your emergency, many of which can be answered by anyone on the crew with a well-implemented and thorough JSA or JHA.
Prepare vehicles and inspect gear
A binder with the JSA or JHA forms, other emergency contact info and a first-aid kit should be on each work vehicle and stored in a uniform, easy-to-access location. On vehicles used by crews performing climbing operations, consider including a rescue kit. It could include a 150-foot rope, a descending device, mechanical-advantage options and anchor-building materials.
Like a first-aid kit, this would be in a uniform location across the company’s vehicles and easily accessible. It must only be used in the event of an emergency and have its inventory regularly checked, just as with a first-aid kit. There will be people counting on its contents to be there and in working order when needed.
Regular gear inspections, including company-wide and pre-climb inspections, are essential when working aloft. These can identify faulty gear prior to taking on the inherent risks of tree climbing, and significantly reduce the likelihood of needing rescue. Also, we want our rescuer’s gear in proper condition prior to attempting a rescue. When doing these gear inspections, don’t have the climber look over their own gear, but instead, swap it with another crew member. It is human nature to try and rationalize bad habits and that our possessions are still usable.
Hands-on training is essential
The company providing time for hands-on aerial-rescue training will greatly increase the preparedness and skillset of its employees. This starts at the fundamentals and gradually increases to scenario-based rescue training at half speed. The idea is to keep it low and slow when training and without the aid of a dummy; arborists have gotten injured practicing aerial rescue. Consider the use of backup systems to protect whoever is the victim or patient in the scenario.
It is important that aerial-rescue training includes all field employees of the company, whether they are full-time production climbers or the brand-new ground person. Safety and emergency preparedness are everyone’s responsibility, and there are a few rescue options that can be performed by non-climbing employees with proper training, i.e., lowerable base-anchor options.
Access for all
The installation of an access line for all work at a considerable height is worth very serious consideration. An access line is any suitable rope that, while initially used for access into the canopy, facilitates rapid ascent for a would-be-rescuer in the event of an incident aloft. A starting point for when to keep an access line installed may be any climbing operation above 50 feet.
However, it can be impractical for a separate access line to be installed during tree removal. When working a spar, climbers should be using a cinching configuration with their climbing line. Their climbing-line tail, provided it is in good condition and their injury is not made worse by its use, can expedite access to the victim in lieu of a separate access line. Spurs may not be the fastest way up a tree or spar.
Choosing the final tie-in point
How we choose to arrive at our final tie-in point matters, and each avenue carries its own inherent risk. If we choose to enter the canopy low and advance up to properly inspect the tree, we expose ourselves to misconfiguration or dropping of climbing-system components upon repeated disconnecting and connecting. If we set an access line so high that we cannot properly assess the quality of its anchorage, we increase our exposure to tie-in-point failure.
It is a common thought in our industry that if our base-tied initial tie-in point fails, the limb below it will catch our fall. While some tree structures will facilitate this, most initial tie-in-point-failure outcomes are made worse as each successive limb or union is loaded and broken with increasing force.
Make the habit of discussing where and how you are going to be tied in with your crew during initial access into the tree, and upon arrival at your final tie-in point, if advancing through the crown. Choosing two-person, loadable tie-in points and systems can expand rescue options. Some work may need to be performed on trees or parts of the tree structure that may not be suitable for a two-person load. If this is the case, discuss it with your crew and consider the use of a remote tie-in if available, as well as a system that provides lowering from the ground.
Our harness as a toolbox
Some of us carry everything and the kitchen sink on our harnesses. Our harnesses are our toolboxes as production climbers, and what we carry can provide work-positioning improvements. For whatever reason, be it a hoarding habit or a product of the work we do, it also increases our RQ by expanding our rescuer’s tool kit. Just carrying a few extra slings with locking carabiners, an extra climbing device, ascenders and a first-aid kit will provide many more options for our rescuer. They might need to switch you over to another climbing system or create mechanical advantage during the rescue.
Consider wearing a chest harness throughout the entirety of your climb, as this can be used to get you seated upright, therefore aiding in your air and blood circulation as the patient. A positioning lanyard can be used in a similar fashion, but it may be needed to further your security to the tree until a suitable lowering system can be established.
With the chance of our rescuer needing to use our gear in a state of panic or duress, let’s make sure as many components as possible are rated for life support, and that all are in proper working condition. Cross training with different climbing devices can build familiarity and prevent a secondary mishap caused by someone performing the rescue and not fully understanding the device.
Conclusion
Implementing these concepts will increase your rescue-ability quotient and overall safety as a climber. As an industry, we need to emphasize the importance of regular, structured aerial-rescue training. Unlike most things we train on in arboriculture, rescues are performed during an emergency and in a panicked state. Because of this, we will revert to muscle memory and our training. Luckily, aerial rescues are not performed every day, but this has likely caused a sense of complacency concerning the importance of being ready and able to act in the event of an incident.
Understand that just because we’ve had five, 10 or 20 years of everything going fine doesn’t mean we’re invincible. Everything we do either magnifies or minimizes the subjective and objective hazards of our profession.
Karsten Foerster is the field supervisor at Tree133 LLC, a five-year TCIA member company based in Seattle, Washington. Foerster is an ISA Certified Arborist and holds the ISA Tree Risk Assessment Qualification (TRAQ) credential. He has more than 10 years in the profession, and is a Marine Corps veteran and a native of Indiana. He also is an avid alpine climber and skier.
This article is based on a session covering the same topic that he co-presented with Craig Bachmann, CTSP, lead trainer and manager with Tree133 LLC, at TCI EXPO ’23 in St. Louis, Missouri. To listen to an audio recording created for that presentation, go to TCI Magazine online at tcimag.tcia.org. Under the Resources tab, click Audio. Or, under the Current Issue tab, click View Digimag, then go to this page and click here.
