Re: Accident Info
cts@arbornauts.com
Fri, 13 Jun 1997 12:44:40 -0500
Taken From Horticulture Week
12/6/97 an article about
Power Line Tree Clearance by David Lloyd-Jones
As a former Utility Arborist and Utility Arborist team supplier, while I
welcome the formation of the British Utility Arborist Association (BUAA)
certain conflicts of interest exist within various Regional Electricity
Companies (RECs) tree clearance contracts that will have to be addressed
and will test the role of any association proposing to represent the interests
of British Utility Arborists.
The issue is PROXIMITY ZONES (safe working distances from live
equipment)
Given the structure of existing contracts the Arborist and his manager can
find themselves making a difficult decision between maintaining productivity
and reducing system downtime on one hand and adhering to the health and
safety guidelines issued by the RECs on the other. It is widely understood
within the industry that recently the choice has rationalised down to:-
Rigorously apply the RECs safety guidelines OR undertake Electricity line
clearance.
It is extremely difficult to do both in such a competitive industry and in short
the RECs guidelines are not being effectively monitored or managed by
them or uniformly adhered to by the contractors, for commercial reasons.
This situation must be addressed, the structure of contracts should change
and the role of the RECs in establishing, maintaining and managing safe
working around their system, should be more clearly defined.
The BUAA has the opportunity to act as a forum within which such issues
can be resolved.
To do less is to ignore the safety requirements of this discipline, prioritising
commercial efficiencies, poor contract safety supervision, management,
monitoring and quite simply passing the liability, continues to leave the
Arborist with the eternal conundrum:-
If Proximity Zones are not rigorously applied HOW CLOSE IS TOO CLOSE ?!
.
I for one would browse such a page, there must be valuable lessons to learn and the fragmented nature of our industry serves us badly where Health and Safety matters are concerned, as in the example above
It remains to be seen what reaction I get to this article but I will let you know if required
David Lloyd-Jones