The old saying of what goes up must come down applies to many things including tree climbers.  It’s just a matter of whether it’s in a controlled manner or freefall situation that really counts. It’s not the fall that hurts but the stop at the end.

Gravity pulls and tugs on us like a poor rooted tree growing on a cliff face.  We are comfortable and familiar with it because it’s all we know, we have lived with it all our lives and it would feel foreign not to feel gravity.  But gravity does create fear and a sense of danger to some of us.

From this fear and sense of danger whole industries and businesses have grown.  They are more often seen as specialist industries that have staff specially trained and use equipment designed to defy gravity.  The tree industry falls into this group that defy gravity and work at height.  Does this make you feel special?

Gravity can be a curse for the climbing arborist. It requires that they wear harnesses, ropes and other attachment hardware to prevent them falling to Earth.  Gravity means that we have to force our bodies upward against the pull of gravity and this requires effort, equipment and training.  We all know that climbing into the tree is the hardest part of the climber’s job and that coming down is easy. Gravity rules okay.

Gravity also works in our favour as it means that if we do fall, we will fall towards other people and cars and hospitals and not off into space.  We fall into a comfort zone that is filled with assistance and help and not isolated, remote and untouchable.

Gravity also lets us lower branches and sections of trees to the ground without the aid of winches or hauling equipment.  Gravity and the fear of falling also limits the amount of people entering the industry.  Thankfully, not everyone is comfortable with working at height, especially with a chainsaw.  The image of somebody up a large tree, hanging on to a piece of fibre rope using a chainsaw terrifies most normal people and will generally exclude them from this industry. Fear may stop the homeowner attempting to remove the tree next to their house or we hope so.

It’s this fear factor that limits us all in one-way or another and it defined the type of work we do.  Some people choose not to be public speakers and I choose not to be a deep-sea diver.  Not ever one is cut out to be a tree climber.  We all like our comfort zones.

Fear and risk is viewed very differently from the work environment to a sport environment.  You may choose fear, risk and adrenalin as a sport on the weekend but when it comes to the workplace it should be avoided. You take full responsibility for your actions on a weekend but your employer is liable during the week.  This is not an industry for Rambo’s on a rope.

A genuine fear of falling and the end result of falling can tend to keep us safer.  We will take more care and double check things more regularly if we experience a sense of danger.  To feel no fear is to have a death sentence, we are not indestructible.  When you become over confident, or let your guard down or think that you are indestructible you are an accident waiting to happen.  Tree work has too many dangers to let your mind wander while on the job.  Stay focused and aware of your surrounding and situation at all times.

Gravity is big business. People spend a lot of time, money and effort attempting to hold things up or support them.  These things that defy gravity and occupy air space require constant maintenance, cleaning, demolition and rebuilding and trees are no different.  Trees are truly a growing business that is hopefully self-regenerating and the urban arborist will never be out of a job.  In the future I would like to see less demolition and more maintenance work occurring.  This could be achieved by building customer bonds and creating maintenance programs for their properties.

Gravity does rule, it’s amazing how quickly it kicks in.  One minute I was attached and the next I was on the ground with a broken back.  It’s that fast.  When I hassle climbers about free climbing unattached they think I am over the top on safety.  They say that if they do slip while freeclimbing that they will just grab hold of the tree with both hands and hang on.

I say that you will not even have time to think about it before you’re on the deck or even worse a star picket.

Imagine a typical day of tree climbing, you have been standing up and sitting down in your harness twenty or thirty times during this job and then on the thirty first time you sit back in your harness you free fall and gravity takes over.  Do you think you can react to that, one minute I was attached the next I was not.  A karabiner or snaphook may have rolled out of its attachment or your high point failed or whatever.  It all happens in the blink of an eye.

Treeclimbing and working in trees is exciting and challenging work.  It requires a person that can think clearly and make fast and accurate decisions.  Workcover (NSW) deems tree work to high risk and requires that controls be set in place to eliminate the risks or reduce them to the absolute minimum.

Risk Management apples to all levels of a company or organisation and at every stage of a job.  Risk Management for a tree climber is an ongoing and never ending process during a tree job.  The decisions a tree climber makes during the course of a tree job are critical to avoiding the pull of gravity and the stop at the end.

If you manage gravity and don’t let it manage you and if you avoid unnecessary risk you are set to have a great future as a climbing arborist.