Editor’s Note: This profile, authored by Tamsin Venn, originally appeared in the February 2016 issue of TCI Magazine. Click here to read the full article.
Mundy Wilson Piper’s contribution to safety training for arborists is part selfless and part selfish.
Piper is the CEO and president of Chippers Inc., a full service green industry company headquartered in Woodstock, Vermont. Chippers recently generously pledged $15,000 over five years to TCIA’s Arborist Safety Training Institute (ASTI).
“My worst nightmare is one of my Chippers’ team would be injured or killed in the line of duty. That selflessness comes from a moral and ethical place, where if I can’t imagine it for my own people, I don’t want it for anyone. At our company, we have a very strong safety program and our core values revolve around safety; we work on our safety habits every day for every job. We contribute to ASTI so that everyone can make safety a priority if they choose to, whether or not they are TCIA members. A tree worker killed or maimed on the job tears out a little piece of my heart. We know from our own experience that proper and continual safety training saves limbs and lives,” says Piper.
“The other piece is selfish,” she notes. “Industry-wide, we all know that our workers’ comp rates are higher than they need to be, in large part due to companies without safety programs and without good training. Part of the reason Chippers is contributing is that we want to help lower those workers’ comp rates, and that allows for better wages, better benefits and better leadership opportunities both for my Chippers team and for all tree care professionals.”
She adds that she truly believes in JFK’s slogan that a rising tide lifts all boats.
“I see us being a part of that initial tide along with many other generous companies. That tide will lift all tree care workers and companies to be better trained and have a better safety record so we all benefit in terms of costs, both in human lives saved and bottom-line profitability. If we are perceived as an industry where safety is at the center of everything we do, our reputation will grow in the eyes of the public, and more young people will be attracted to our profession.”
Apply for a Safety Training Grant
The Arborist Safety Training Institute (ASTI) provides grants up to $1,500 to fund part or full-day safety training workshops for arborists.
Interested in hosting a workshop? The next application deadline is February 15, 2016 for workshops held August 2016 – January 2017. Learn more and begin the application process .