Helmets that cost more than a Prada purse
Professional tree removal jobsites are crazy. At any given time there’s a wood chipper with decibels like a Nascar engine, chainsaws ripping through logs on top of that, and 70 ft above is an arborist climber who needs to communicate about dropping 3,000 lbs of new wood into the drop zone.
And some tree services don’t wear helmets. Are you KIDDING ME?!?
There are usually 4 helmets on a Nova jobsite which cost $632 a piece, or $2528 total - literally more than a (cheap) Prada purse. We pay that price so we can communicate above the noise, via bluetooth, straight into each other’s earmuffs from hundreds of feet away. No matter where we are on the jobsite, we need to be able to talk, even if that Nascar wood chipper is running. This isn’t a matter of preference, and here’s why.
99% Accuracy Eventually Causes Major Damage
99% isn’t good enough. Why? Because we do more than 100 jobs a year.
In one day alone we usually make 100+ chainsaw cuts, 100+ safety related decisions, 100+ damage prevention decisions - the list goes on. With so many important decisions, verbal coordination in real time across the jobsite is key:
‘I’m making the backcut, please stand clear of the drop zone’ - (team responds) ‘all clear’.
‘Can somebody tighten up the tension on that rigging line? This piece is heavier than it looks’.
‘Please put a trash can over those flowers before I cut this piece’.
These are just a few tiny examples of the kinds of things which need to be communicated, in real time, even if the jobsite is noisy.
Property damage and safety events are rampant in our industry. The margin for error in arboristry is so small that you will fail if you leave anything to chance. Successful arborists must be absolutely relentless with safety and professional practices to a degree that can frustrate even me. I have calculated that I will make more than 500,000 chainsaw cuts in 20 years. It’s not rocket science to suspect that once or twice the saw could touch my legs - so I wear chainsaw pants EVERY day which would stop the blade before it could cut me.
The same goes for helmets. Debris is regularly dropping from the air all around us, anything from twigs to 10,000 lb trees. In a lifetime, it is more than reasonable to expect that things are going to hit your head. It doesn’t even take a week of working for a skilled tree service in Indianapolis to realize that your helmet is pivotal.
3 Questions For Homeowners
The goal of this post is to ask questions to help you consider that helmets might be more than a preference.
Why would an employee who doesn’t care about personal safety have concern for your roof?
Will their crew-leader care about professional tree pruning when the branches get hard to reach?
Is the business owner going to care about you more than making an extra buck?
Top to bottom in a company, if the production crews don’t wear helmets then they don’t care enough about good work. But there’s more: this job requires humility, the humility to recognize how challenging the stats are and that we can’t beat them. The only way to have a shot at delivering an excellent outcome is to control everything you can. Helmets are just the start.
Then who do I hire for professional tree removal or tree pruning in Indianapolis?
Start by searching for certified arborists in Indianapolis. When you find one, look on their Google page for photos - make sure that everyone is always wearing helmets. From there ask the arborist who does your quote what the risks of that specific job are, and how they manage those. Ask more questions, and more questions, and more questions. A relentless company will have answers, or admit when they don’t and seek them.
This industry is crazy, but it’s a little less crazy with a helmet. Go find a company that wears bluetooth connected helmets and work with them.
