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THE DAVEY BULLETIN
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January/February 2020
HAZARD TREE CONTRACT BRINGS HEIGHTENED SAFETY
AWARENESS TO TEXAS SURGERY CREWS
Two whistle blasts echo through the woods. Davey employees
on the Sam Houston Electric Cooperative account now
know a fellow crew member is about to start their notch cut.
A chainsaw roars to life, goes to work and then falls silent.
A third whistle blast rings out. Now crew members know
their colleague is about to make the crucial back cut, and the
hazard tree they've all been working on is about to crash to
the ground. They all need to pay extra attention.
"Safety, planning and teamwork, that's what we emphasize,"
said Joe Belfield, general foreman, Sam Houston account.
"Planning and communication are absolutely the most
critical aspects of our work."
Davey's work for Sam Houston specializes in hazard tree
removals. All day every day, crews work in rural areas
removing dead, dying and diseased trees that pose a risk
to utility infrastructure.
Brandon Freeman, account manager, Davey Tree Surgery
Company, said an abundance of dead and hazard trees
started to develop in the area around 2011 as a result of
prolonged, severe drought in the region.
"Pine bark beetle became prevalent the few years after
the droughts," Freeman said. "The client asked us to come
in and evaluate the number of dead trees that could impact
their lines. It was catastrophic."
Davey determined the four crews, totaling 13 employees,
would be kept busy removing between 200 to 400
hazard trees per week, and they have been since Davey
Employees on the Sam Houston account, pictured from left, include:
Ezekiel Henderson, James Hooks, Jeff Diets, John Gardner,
Joe Belfield, Johnny Wisniewski, Juan Aguilar Gonzalez and
Melvin Marquez Fuentes.
started on the account in 2011.
"Felling dead trees all day requires a different skill set
due to the added concerns of fatigue and communication
issues," Freeman said.
In 2019, the Sam Houston account achieved a Total OSHA
Recordable Incident Rate (TRIR) of 0.0.
Belfield attributes their excellent safety record to education,
preparation and communication.
"When we conduct a pre-job plan briefing we look at the
tree and all the 'what-ifs,'" he said. "What if this happens?
How can we avoid it, how can we address the tree without
getting anybody or anything hurt or damaged? Everybody's
got a role in how we take the tree down. It's about planning
how we're going to do it and communicating so everyone
knows the plan."
The Sam Houston crews also benefit from regular
training, including advanced arborist tree felling courses
through Davey.
"These crews aren't up and down pruning trees all day,
like most conventional utility accounts," Freeman said.
"In this environment our employees have to be highly
trained and skilled tree fellers in order to perform this type
of work safely and consistently on a daily basis."
SAFETY
