19
November/December 2020
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THE DAVEY BULLETIN
Tree care requires strength, coordination, focus, and
dexterity to perform the work safely. Tree climbers are
industrial athletes who are at risk of injuring themselves
while at work much like any other traditional athlete.
Statistics show the majority of OSHA recordable incidents
are soft tissue injuries – twisted ankles, hand injuries, and
other strains and sprains. For the Davey Tree Surgery
Company, over one-third of all OSHA recordables fell
under this category between 2017 and 2018.
Davey Surgery wanted to take steps to ensure those
numbers stayed as low as possible. To help, Davey
reached out to WorkCare to create their own Industrial
Athlete Program.
Lindsy Klawiter-Donnelly, industrial injury prevention
specialist at WorkCare, began working with Davey crews
in February 2020. She instructed Davey employees
on a wide range of activities that boost work performance,
such as nutritional advice, sleep hygiene, injury prevention
An athletic trainer program implemented by select
Davey Surgery operations aims to improve the health
of employees working on select PG&E accounts by
reducing soft-tissue injuries at work.
ATHLETES BY TRADE
and intervention, as well as ergonomic corrections.
Klawiter-Donnelly developed a new stretch and flex
program, which Davey Surgery implemented across
all of its operations.
Biometric suits are also being slowly introduced to this
injury prevention program to gather quantifiable data on
what muscle groups are being used while doing a job.
This information will help Davey Surgery leaders identify
common problem areas and create a plan to improve
crew safety and efficiency.
EXPERTISE
Right: Davey Surgery crews have
experimented with biometric suits, which
track the muscle group movements of
employees as they perform various tasks.
