Agreed that caring of trees is a noble recreational activity! However, according to Daryl’s Tree Care & Surgery, a team of certified arborists, offering services like tree removal Melbourne; it is good to be cautions of hazards and risks associated with it. Let us discuss some common injuries that occur during tree care along with measures that can be adopted for preventing such occurrences.
Common Causes of Injuries
Injuries mostly taking place during tree care are due to one of the following reasons:
- Falling and slipping off a ladder while using it may lead to severe injury. Such eventuality can be prevented by properly securing and stabilizing the ladder and by ensuring that the footwear you use has proper tread. The safest means of preventing such injury is to get yourself securely tied to the ladder.
- Injuries can also be caused while lifting. This can be avoided by ensuring the handling of only manageable load of branches or trunks. The way of lifting should also be proper.
- Falling objects may strike and cause injuries. These objects may be parts of a tree, rigging ropes, grappler etc. You should protect your head by using a helmet. Other safety devices such as abdomen protector, hand gloves and eye protectors should be used.
- Often injuries occur when a person falls from a tree, a bucket, a crane or a roof or is struck by handled objects such as few branches or the entire tree. It is therefore advised that the person involved is fit, flexible and trained.
Compensations due to Injuries
Any injury caused during tree care is liable to be compensated financially. Over 23% of the claims arise out of lifting injuries and the average cost per claim can be over $12,000. Injury caused due to falling and slipping from a ladder accounts for about 1% of the total claims and each claim may cost an average of $ 126,000.
When an employee witnesses an accident by falling from a tree, a bucket, a crane or a roof, the impact of gravity varies according to the level from which the fall is initiated to the ground level. Over 4% of the claims come under this category of fall and such injuries account for 15% of the overall cost to the tree industry. The average claim per case may be to the tune of $50,000.
Sometimes, injury arises from getting struck by objects, such as the whole tree, some portion or branches of the tree, while lifting, planting or moving the tree by ropes, cranes or grapple ladders. While 13% of number of total claims falls under this category, it accounts for 8% of the total cost to the tree industry. At an average, the cost per case comes to over $9,000.
Avoiding Injuries – Reducing Financial Burdens
A statistics of 2012 reveals that, tree care industry had to incur a total average of $14,000 per claim. A WC premium of over $53,000 can cover a few average claims which may cause great financial crunch to a tree care industry. To get relief from such financial burden, illness and injury prevention are the only solution. This can be achieved through training, reviewing and following-up of the training sessions besides enforcing safety measures.
In order to avoid incurrence of such high incidence of compensation for injuries, it is pertinent that you take adequate measures for training and make the employees aware of the method of lifting properly and getting tied to the ladder carefully while using it. You need to review and be sure that the potential employees are physically fit to carry out their responsibilities. They should be trained for asking help from other crew members.
For fighting against common tree care injuries, it would be best for you to avail the services of Daryl’s Tree Care & Surgery located at Box Hills South, Victoria; Daryl is a certified Horticulturist, Arborist and Tree Surgeon. We offer professional services in everything related to trees, from Tree and Hedge Pruning, Tree Trimming, Transplanting and Replanting, Hazardous Tree Assessment and Tree Removal Melbourne. Visit us at Daryl’s Tree Care & Surgery. For instant assistance, call us on (03)9897 4918 or e-mail us at [email protected].
