The objective of this study was to identify and quantify the hazards present during arboricultural operations. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration Fatality and Catastrophe incident ...database and other Bureau of Labor Statistic sources were analyzed for arboricultural operation incidents within the 17-year period from 2001 through 2017. There were 865 fatal and 441 nonfatal incidents reviewed from this period. The leading four fatal incidents, from the largest to the smallest number of fatalities, were climber falls, workers struck by a falling tree, workers making indirect contact with an electric current, and workers struck by a falling branch. Climber falls were also the leading incident for severe nonfatal injuries, followed by ground workers struck by a falling branch, workers struck by a chain saw, and falls by aerial device operators. The American National Standards Institute Z133 American National Standard for Arboricultural Operations—Safety Requirements establishes safety requirements and recommendations for arboricultural operations in the United States. It addresses common hazard sources and has guidelines to avoid, eliminate, or reduce them. Safety training programs should emphasize the most common hazard sources for fatal and nonfatal incidents and follow the ANSI Z.
•More than half of the respondents who manage urban forests did not identify as urban foresters or arborists.•Urban forestry is an open profession, approachable from any education background.•Urban ...foresters and arborists both strongly identify with their job title.•Professional urban forestry organizations (e.g., International Society of Arboriculture) could grow by reaching out to non-tree professionals who manage urban forests.
Though the urban forest resource has been the subject of numerous studies quantifying ecosystem benefits and assessing tree canopy cover, little is known about the managers of this resource – the urban foresters. Literature from more well-established professions shows they routinely reflect on their own profession to identify opportunities and areas for improvement. A few examples of topics addressed by these reflections are recruitment of youth into the profession, monitoring of workforce conditions and employment trends, as well as comprehensive self-reflection. To address this gap in the urban forestry profession, we studied municipal employees whose primary responsibilities directly involve planning, managing, and implementing urban trees and greenspaces. The purpose was to determine who is managing urban forests, and if the professional identity of urban foresters could be outlined. Survey topics included usage of professional support mechanisms such as certifications, conferences, and memberships. Less than half of respondents were arborists or urban foresters. Over half (55 %) of respondents were from locations that were being managed by non-tree professionals such as public administrators, civil engineers, landscape architects, and urban planners. This group had low rates of participation in tree-centric education, certifications, conferences, or memberships, suggesting that urban forest expertise may not be their priority. A regression analysis showed a distinction in the usage of professional support mechanisms between urban foresters and all other professionals, including arborists. We identified the support mechanisms urban foresters use to define their professionalism in lieu of a certification tailored to them. Recommendations include creating mechanisms for non-tree professionals to develop tree-centric skills and knowledge, and creating a certification for urban foresters.
The landscaping services industry is one of the more dangerous in the United States, with higher rates of both fatal and nonfatal injuries than the all-industry average. This study uses claims from ...the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation (OHBWC) database to identify high rates of occupational injuries and illnesses in this industry in Ohio. The causes of those illnesses and injuries are highlighted to identify common factors.
The OHBWC database includes injured-worker industry identification, occupation, business size, demographics, diagnoses, and free-text descriptions of injury circumstances. We identified landscaping service industry claims from 2001 to 2017, and describe annual claim counts and rates.
Over the 17-year period, 18,037 claims were accepted, with "Struck by object or equipment" and "Overexertion involving outside sources" being the most common events or exposures. Sprains and fractures were the most prevalent of the more serious lost-time (LT) injuries. Free-text descriptions of claims indicate that arborist work and loading/unloading of work vehicles and trailers are particularly hazardous. Younger and shorter-tenured workers were injured most frequently, although the average workers' age was higher for LT claims. The total cost of claims to the OHBWC from the landscaping services industry for 2001-2017 was over $226,000,000. Almost $214,000,000, or 94.4%, was for LT injuries and illnesses, even though LT claims comprise only 18% of total claims.
Targeted improvements in landscaper safety could come from controlling events leading to LT claims. Engineering controls and improved training are strongly recommended to reduce falls, overexertion, and struck-by injuries.
Among the officials of local governments responsible for urban forest, a wide range of society, and even among people professionally dealing with trees, there are often conflicting opinions about the ...use of modern technology for their diagnosis. Knowledge of its applicability is crucial in making decisions about mature and aged trees. The work was based on many years of experience of the authors in the diagnosis of trees. It was supported by examples from practice and also presented research and opinions of the best specialists in this field in the world. Each device has its strengths and weaknesses. The ability to use it without proper interpretation of the obtained results may lead to wrong conclusions and thus the decisions made. The use of simple diagnostic equipment has been discussed. Instrumental diagnosis supports the correct assessment of trees, but requires a sufficient knowledge and experience in interpreting obtained results.
Rigging is a dangerous arboricultural practice that involves working at height with sharp tools; it also induces large forces and dynamic motion of both the rigged piece and the tree itself. ...Manufacturers have recently developed alternatives to conventional arborist rigging blocks (with a rotating sheave) with the intention of increasing friction in the block to reduce the likelihood of anchor failure in the tree. We measured tension in the fall and lead of rigging ropes run through a variety of blocks (with and without rotating a sheave) in three test methods—dropping, raising, and lowering a mass. The ratio of tension in the lead to tension in the fall of the rope differed among test methods, blocks, ropes, and their interaction. Some of the differences were expected from the underlying physics, but it was not true that blocks without a rotating sheave consistently provided more friction. Considering the inconsistent findings, rigging a less massive piece seems to be a better way to reduce the likelihood of anchor failure than managing friction in the block.
Summary
Collecting leaves or seeds from tall trees is a difficult task that many plant physiologists, ecologists, geneticists and forest managers encounter repeatedly. Tree branches are often much ...higher than a cutting pole or saw can reach. When this happens, the most common solutions involve the use of sharp‐shooters, cherry pickers (a.k.a. bucket trucks) or tree climbers. All of these methods can be expense, logistically complicated, and often involve additional permits and licences.
We present a cost‐effective and simple alternative for collecting leaves and seeds from tall trees using an arborist throw‐line launcher. An arborist throw‐line launcher is traditionally used to throw a rope over high branches for tree climbing. However, the same instrument can be used to collect leaves and seeds from trees without the need for climbing.
In the course of sampling over 4000 trees from a variety of species across multiple continents, we have developed several techniques to optimize leaf and seed sampling with a throw‐line launcher at heights up to 40 m. We present these techniques along with several time‐saving tips and tricks to increase sampling efficiency and reduce the occurrence of lost weight bags, broken ropes, and hung branches that will not fall.
These techniques remove many of the limitations commonly associated with sampling leaves and seeds from tall trees with more traditional methods. Without these limitations, the costs, risks and time associated with this type of data collection are reduced.
This paper presents a method for assessing the safety of tree branches subject to unorthodox climbing approaches and possible falls. The method entails finite element modeling of the tree branch, ...experimentally or analytically determining loads associated with an ascending or falling climber, and computing stresses and safety factor along the length of the branch using dynamic structural analysis. A case study example is presented for an Ulmus americana L. branch on the campus of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. This tree and branch were climbed using an unorthodox and controversial method during a competition in 2014. Case study models demonstrate that during an ascent, a climber’s skill has a significant effect on branch stresses, and during a simulated fall, the climber’s mass and fall distance are the key determinants of branch stresses. For loads induced during an ascent, safety factors for branches ranged between 3 and 4; for loads induced during a fall, safety factors were as low as 1.2. These values are dangerously low given the uncertainty of branch material properties. Climbers should be extremely cautious when attempting unorthodox climbing techniques.
•Australian tree professionals fall into five attitude groups, which vary in location, occupation and type of employment, but not gender.•Urban forest planners/strategists value trees as green ...infrastructure while on-ground arborists have a more emotional attachment to trees.•Tree professionals recognise that different values and attitudes can cause social conflicts based on tree type, size and abundance.•Tree professionals see various ways of resolving these conflicts, but differ in their opinions on the best ways to maintain urban tree cover.
Tree professionals are responsible for management of the urban forest. It is important to understand how they perceive trees and conflicts about trees. Information gained from semistructured interviews with tree professionals in eastern Australian cities was treated as qualitative (0/1) variables to derive a repeatable classification. The strongest differences between these groups were between a group dominated by urban planners and strategists and a group dominated by private arborists. The urban forest planners and strategists regarded trees as green infrastructure. The onground tree managers were more emotionally engaged with trees, similar to the residents reported in a previous study. The professionals had strong opinions about the public, believing that they overestimated risk from trees. Four types of conflict about trees were evident: between those who see trees as cost-effective machines for achieving urban goals and those in love with them; between those who had ideological attachments to types of trees; between those scared of trees and those sanguine about their risk; and, between adjacent land owners. Interviewees suggested that the first type of conflict could be avoided by appropriate selection of trees, the second mitigated by consultative processes, the third by education and the fourth by arboricultural advice and legal means. Most tree professionals felt that there was room for improvement in tree management in cities, but they disagreed on the effectiveness of different options for tree conservation, indicating that the effectiveness of the variety of mechanisms used to enhance tree coverage in Australian cities needs to be determined.
Recent research describing host resistance of hemlocks to the lethal, invasive insect hemlock woolly adelgid has suggested that Chinese hemlock (Tsuga chinensis) may be a suitable pest-resistant ...urban landscape replacement for eastern hemlock (T. canadensis). Presented here are the research findings of an in situ field questionnaire survey and participant observations. The study’s objective was to collect and evaluate arborists’ and other horticulturists’ perceptions and purchase preferences between eastern and Chinese hemlock to assess whether Chinese hemlock has potential to be accepted as an alternative landscape replacement for eastern hemlock. Fifty-five participants visually inspected both hemlock specimens and responded to questions about which one they would prefer to purchase, what their preferences would be in light of potential insect resistance, and the likelihood of fewer insecticide applications being required. Multiple cross-tabulations indicated that there was no statistical association (Fisher’s Exact Test, P > 0.05) between participant background (i.e., arborists versus others) and questions related to general purchase preference, and purchase preference if a specimen exhibited natural pest resistance or required less pesticides. Over three-quarters of participants were more inclined to purchase the specimen that possessed resistance to a serious pest. These findings suggest that Chinese hemlock may potentially serve as a hemlock woolly adelgid-resistant alternative to eastern hemlock in the landscape.
PDF
