Survey says...The safest tree care companies are accredited with CTSPs on staff

The results are in and the data couldn't be clearer. For workers, commercial tree care firms are safer than landscape companies that do tree work and safer than municipal tree crews. Among commercial tree care firms, it is safer to work for a TCIA member than a non-member. Among TCIA members, the safest companies in the entire industry were accredited and / or enrolled in the Certified Treecare Safety Professional program. With more than 15 million hours of data to work from, the results are unmistakable: TCIA member companies involved in the association's credentialing and certification programs have lower rates of recordable accidents and a lower number of lost workday accidents. And the differences are staggering: Accredited companies and accredited companies involved with the CTSP program are more than 10 times less likely to experience a lost workday incident than their non-accredited counterparts. Safety is an investment that pays off – for the employee and the company!

Summary
Analysis of the data from TCIA's Accident Survey for 2006 and 2007 shows strong correlations between companies that are safer and those that enjoy TCIA membership and participate in Accreditation and CTSP. And the number of incidents dropped between 2006 and 2007.

Our Methodology
The data was compiled from three survey sources: a "belly-wrap" survey with TCI magazine, with completed surveys either mailed or faxed back; a fax-in survey from TCIA members; and a "Zoomerang" electronic survey, also to members. TCIA's accident survey focused on tree care operations among TCI magazine readers and TCIA members. More than 15.5 million hours worked reported by over 1,000 organizations were analyzed in the most recent year of this survey. Two widely used "lagging indicator" accident statistics were measured: 1. Incident Rate (IR, or Recordable Case Rate) is the number of recordable accidents per 100 workers in a year. A recordable accident is defined as one that requires medical attention beyond treatment in the field. 2. Lost Workday Illness & Injury Rate (LWDII) is the number of lost workday accidents per 100 workers in a year. A lost-time accident is defined as one that causes the injured worker to miss time from his/her ordinary duties beyond the initial date of injury.

Risk Comparison: Tree Care Companies vs. Others
Tree care firms experience fewer recordable accidents than landscape firms or municipal crews engaged in tree care. Furthermore, tree companies appear to have made the greatest gains in worker safety as evidenced by 2007 lost workday illness/injury rates. It appears that there is a relationship between being a TCIA member and being safer. TCIA members achieved the greatest reduction in recordable and lost-time accidents of any group measured.

Comparison of Accredited and CTSP Companies
Among TCIA members reporting, significant differences were found between those companies that were accredited (on or before June 1, 2007 for reporting purposes), those that had employees enrolled in the Certified Treecare Safety Professional (CTSP) program and those that were not involved in either program.

Here are some comparisons:

• Member companies tend to be much larger and work their crews more than non-members. Implementing safety measures and assuring safe behaviors on the job is much more challenging in a larger organization, and conventional wisdom is that increased hours lead to accidents. Nevertheless, members experienced a 28 percent reduction in recordable accidents from 2006 to 2007, whereas nonmembers saw an increase in accident frequency of almost 11 percent. Lost workday illness and injury rates for the two groups were comparable.
• Accredited companies as well as accredited companies involved with CTSP are over 10 times less likely to experience a lost workday incident than their nonaccredited counterparts (Table 3). Companies involved in both Accreditation and CTSP have the lowest lost workday incidence rate of all, suggesting that they have greater proficiency not only in preventing the severest of accidents, but also in managing accident cases after the fact.

Conclusion
The data is clear: becoming accredited and involving employees in the CTSP program pays off in fewer accidents, injuries and lost work days.