Bitter cold weather has been prevalent across this country this winter, causing problems for workers who spend their days outside. TCIA wants you to take precautions against cold-related health problems.

How to Protect Yourself

Tierson Boutte, owner of TCIA-member company Boutte Tree, Inc., in Atlanta, Georgia, granted TCIA permission to re-print and re-purpose his story, a December 2, 2012, TreeBuzz.com post he wrote about a bad crane accident his company experienced, “in hopes that others may learn from our accident and avoid something life-threatening.”

OK. The information below isn’t new. We’ve all heard it before. So why are we reviewing it?

It’s important.

The tree inspection process needs to be done every single time tree work is about to be performed. You must assess the tree and site for any possible hazards. We’ve outlined a few potential risks that you may see and will absolutely need to address:

Recently, a tree worker in New Hampshire touched a chipper that was energized when the boom of a crane made contact with electrical conductors during clearing operations. He created a path to ground for the electricity and later died of his injuries. Although it is hard to know exactly what happened, as with most accidents, there was probably a “domino effect” of events that lead to the fatality. If any one of those “domino” events had not occurred, the accident may have been avoided.