6 Tips to Getting the Most out of Your Fleet

by | Aug 10, 2020 | Risk Management | 0 comments

6 tips to getting the most out of your fleet

As a business owner, it didn’t take me long to realize that keeping our vehicles and equipment in tip top shape is an absolute must for our business. Regular weekly maintenance is so important for our operation to run smoothly. Besides the possible OSHA violation, weekly maintenance helps thwart off much bigger problems.

Trust me, I understand that it is easy to get busy and overloaded with the daily chaos of your work day, but maintenance is not something that you can forget. The lack of maintenance affects all aspects of your business, especially the safety of your personnel. Keeping your vehicles, equipment and drivers safe, productive and on the road is essential to achieving your organization’s sales and service goals.

Use these six tips to get the most out of your fleet:

1.Preventative Maintenance – Maintained vehicles perform as expected without unscheduled repairs and downtime. Preventative maintenance is as simple as following the manufacturers recommendations for oil changes, tire rotations, inspection and general vehicle safety checks. Remember preventative means proactive. These are done before you notice an issue. A few examples that we have implemented within our business are:

High Ranger – Debris and oil collect on the witness bolts and cause them to reverse. Unfortunately it is difficult to see so you must check them at least every other day.

Chipper – The radiator air filter can become clogged with debris causing the chipper to overheat.

Tires – The tire pressure drastically affects how your equipment is towed or drives. Check the tire pressure regularly in your chipper, trailer, and truck.

Running lights – A burnt out headlight is a simple fix, but easily overlooked if you are not paying attention to it. Make sure you are checking your lights on your pre-trip inspections.

2.Total Cost of Ownership – We know that older vehicles typically cost more than newer vehicles due to necessary repairs, but do you consider this in the total cost of the vehicle? If not, you need to start considering repairs in the overall value of your vehicles. Understanding the manufacturer’s warranty coverage and how it may affect this is also a key part along with paying attention to the residual value of the asset, trends in the used vehicle market and the optimal time to sell the vehicle for a cost-effective fleet. If you know the total cost of ownership, you won’t be afraid to sell a lemon of a vehicle.

3.Spec Vehicles Properly – It is important to be aware of the demands each vehicle will face when purchasing a vehicle. Outline vehicle usage to when properly spec’ing a vehicle. Purchasing the right vehicle will greatly reduce the total cost of ownership. Know how many log loads your truck will haul and be aware of the gross load it can handle. Under-spec’ing a vehicle, based on usage and load carried for instance, leads to maintenance issues down the road that could impact your budget. Similarly, utilizing an over-spec’d vehicle will drive increased costs.

4.Create and Communicate Company Policy with Drivers – Make sure all drivers are aware of their responsibilities and company vehicle use policies. They should have a complete understanding of your company’s employee handbooks and how you expect your equipment to be taken care of. Enforce maintenance policies and know what to do if the vehicle needs repair or is involved in an accident.

5.Check Tire Pressure Regularly – I mentioned it above, but it is so important that it deserves its own section. Tire pressure should consistently be monitored as it affects vehicle handling, tire wear and fuel mileage – all contributing to vehicle and driver safety. Remember – it is important to check the tire pressure when the air temperature changes.

6. Create Positive Relationship with Maintenance Provider – Ensuring you have a good working relationship with your fleet maintenance provider, whether they are in-house or outside your organization is vital. The trust that you place in your maintenance provider will be reciprocated with consistent work for them in the future. If they are not proactively helping you look for trouble issues before they happen, look at finding a new partner.

Don’t fall asleep on your fleet. Use these tips to get the most out of your vehicles and equipment.

Written by: Dawn Thierbach

1 Storm – 4 lives

by | Nov 26, 2019 | Safety | 0 comments

1 Storm – 4 Lives. When will enough be enough?

Storms ripped through northern Wisconsin on July 19th and 20th, 2019 toppling thousands of trees and causing a tremendously dangerous cleanup effort, which in turn ended in tragedy for 4 individuals. Four separate deaths have been reported from tree cleanup activities related to this storm. Four!!

While the details about each of these events are still under investigation, multiple factors played a role in these four families being changed forever.

Were these individuals Certified Arborists or have any training in professional tree care? Were they getting paid to do the storm cleanup work or just helping out a friend or neighbor? I don’t know those answers and not to sound crass, frankly I don’t care. They died and they shouldn’t have.

How can we as an industry still allow this to happen? How can we as human beings still allow this to happen?

After attending my first ANSI Z133 meeting this past April as a guest, I made a commitment to myself and the people that I work with both on my team and my clients that I would read every one of the Accident Briefs in the TCIA Magazine to learn even more about what is happening every day in the tree care industry. Reading these small articles does one major thing for me, it pisses me off. It pisses me off that people are still dying and severely injuring themselves almost daily.

It’s said that the pain of change is only acceptable when the pain of remaining stagnant is unbearable. Well I’ve hit that point. One storm and four deaths is unacceptable.

While traveling home from the second Z meeting that I have attended I could not help but write this article as I feel responsible that four of my fellow Wisconsinites won’t be celebrating Christmas this year. They won’t be able to enjoy another Green Bay Packer Super Bowl victory or be able to choose to retire when they want. Their fate was sealed and now all that is left are a bunch of “what if’s”.

So where are you going with this Eric? Every one of us has a responsibility to ourselves and our community (family members, neighbors, employees, coworkers) to help put an end to this mayhem. Pick up a copy of the Z133. Study it. Ask questions about it. Talk to everyone you can about it. But most importantly, follow it! These safety standards were written in blood. Don’t let the next one be written about your blood or someone’s that you love.

Join me in the fight that together we can make a difference and help every arborist get home safe each night.

Written by: Eric Petersen

Peer to Peer Gear Inspection

by | Nov 4, 2019 | Safety | 0 comments

Peer to Peer Gear Inspection

By Peggy Drescher

The first step to an accident involves the false belief that experience makes you invulnerable. Seventy-five percent (75%) of all work-related fatalities in the United States come from making a mistake while doing routine work.

Every year at the International Society of Arboriculture International Tree Climbing Championship – World Championship, they hold a gear inspection for climbers and volunteers. Guidelines are maintained regarding competition gear and all competitors and all volunteers who will be working aloft during a competition or its set-up must submit to an inspection of all equipment and equipment systems before entering an event safety zone. This is one of the most important aspects of this competition. If your gear does not pass inspection, you do not participate unless it is corrected and passed by the head judge.

Why not take this routine and build it into your safety program? Although employees should be checking their gear on a daily basis, thoughts like, “I checked it yesterday, my gear is all right, I’ve climbed on it a hundred times, nothings gone wrong, etc.” normalizing and complacency can get in the way.

One way to combat this issue is to do a peer to peer gear inspection on a monthly basis. Some tips to get this going in your company.

You need commitment if you want to establish and sustain an effective new program so make sure you and your management/safety team are on board. You are steering the ship!
Write it into your safety policy. For example, we will perform a peer to peer gear inspection every month on the first Wednesday after dispatch.

Explain it to your crew why this is important and that this is to support the idea of helping each other out. It is not to bust people – it is because you care about each other and another set of eyes is always helpful. It is to correct a conflict with equipment that could cause an accident.
This can be a great way to mentor new employees. Have a veteran employee paired up with a newer employee. Hopefully this will help to invite questions from your crew as to why someone may think the gear is lacking in some way. It is imperative that your employees feel comfortable asking questions and bringing issues up to each other. Or perhaps you can have the crew that is working together that day check each other’s gear out.

Always have a specific area designated for this inspection. Whether this is outside or in a corner of your shop, a dedicated space brings validity to the importance of the gear check and eliminates an excuse for not doing it.

If something has to be taken out of service you must have a backup inventory so there isn’t temptation to ask or allow someone to use the flawed gear for the sake of production.

Train employees on how to properly inspect equipment. Explain it is your duty as part of the Z-133 safety requirements.

Gear inspection should be a dialog, a safe place for employees and management to talk to each other. Encourage your team to take not only responsibility for themselves but others too!

Here are some other helpful links surrounding safety and gear checks…

https://www.itcc-isa.com/Portals/0/Docs/2018-ITCC-Gear-Check-Form.pdf

https://www.itcc-isa.com/Portals/0/docs/rules_Equipment_2016GearCheckInstructions.pdf

Who Your Safety Director is Matters

by | Oct 29, 2019 | Safety | 0 comments

Who Your Safety Director Is Matters

A Safety Director is an important position in your company. But why do we just put any person available in this position? We, as an industry, must put a person in the Safety Director’s position that is fully equipped for the job. We sometimes give this position the last thought when hiring people. Why is that? Safety is the most important part of our job; yet we do not want to spend the resources into hiring the right person to fill the Safety Director position. A proper Safety Director can make or break your tree care business. Improper handling of the staff can create chaos in your company; proper handling of the staff will create a culture in your business where safety flourishes.

To fill the Safety Director position, you must find a person who is fluent with climbing skills, grounds person skills, equipment guidelines, PHC guidelines and MSDS rules, ANSI Z and OSHA Standards, computer skills, record keeping, training skills, middle management skills, etc. He or she must be familiar with all these skills – excellent at some, good at others, but able to perform all of them. He or she must be a strong personality that can handle safety infractions and incidents with a calm manner. This may include things such as a consequence schedule established for safety infractions – first offense warning, second offense suspension, third offense termination. At all times, the Safety Director should be seeking out information to help educate themselves and then educate their crews.

All these actions are hard on the Safety Director – to take disciplinary actions and apply them to crew members, and at times what used to be fellow crew members. They need to establish a culture that promotes safety. They need to be available to have safety talks with each crew or individually. They need to be understanding and firm at the same time.

Make sure you choose a level headed person for this position. Do extensive interviews, ask the right questions, have the person applying for the position do a performance test such as climb the tree, run the chipper, or PHC treatments. There is nothing wrong in testing their knowledge. After all, your crew’s safety and your money are on the line.

Make sure as a company owner you fill the position with a qualified person for the Safety Director position. Make sure they have enough well-rounded experience; your crews will recognize a Safety Director that is trying too hard to convince the crews of his knowledge in some area or acts like an expert – and in all truth is not an expert. Choose someone that the company can trust and is a welcome help rather than a hindrance.

For more help with your hiring and recruiting needs, contact an ArboRisk crew member today!

Written by: Dawn Thierbach

Your Role Before the Paramedics Get There!

by | Sep 24, 2019 | Safety | 0 comments

Your Role Before the Paramedics Get There!

The accident happens, the victim is rescued and down from the tree. Now, you are waiting for the ambulance to arrive; you have already gone to the truck to get the First Aid kit. Upon opening the First Aid kit you discover there is nothing in there to help your victim.

We, as an industry, need to re-think how the First Aid kit is stocked. This article is meant to help guide you when setting up your First Aid kit to ensure you have the right pieces to save a life before the paramedics get to the scene.

In addition to the traditional bandages, gauze and medical tape, your First Aid kit should also contain:

At least two tourniquets
Israeli Bandages
Compressed Bandages
Nasal Trumpet (nasopharyngeal airway)
SAM Splint

All First Aid kits on the truck should have these materials, however, it is also a good idea for a climber and a ground person to carry a small personal First Aid pouch with them whether in the tree or on the ground. The climber can carry it attached to his climbing harness with a carabiner and the ground person can carry one hooked to his belt with a Velcro strap.

The aforementioned tourniquet can be used with one hand for the climber to apply. It will take practice, but when you sever an artery, you will be glad you learned how to use it. With a severed artery, you have less than four minutes to survive. You know it is going to take longer for a rescuer to climb up the tree to retrieve you and descend with you than four minutes. Carrying a tourniquet as a climber could possibly save your life!

For the ground person, saving a crew member, having the tourniquet on your person rather than running back to the truck to retrieve the first aid kit saves time and possibly a life.

The Israeli Bandage and compression bandages are another great item to have in your First Aid kit on the ground person’s kit. They can be used as a tourniquet or compressed bandages for the head, chest, arms and legs. Compressed bandages can be used to help stop bleeding for gaping wounds.

The nasal trumpet can be used to create ease of breathing. All you must do is cut the tube of the nasal trumpet to the person’s nose length and then firmly insert.

The SAM splint is used to treat broken bones and possibly create a neck brace to lessen mobility so the rescuer can bring the victim down.

Personalizing your own First Aid kit to include anything that you think might be an advantage for saving your crew member’s life is an important part of taking safety seriously. Remember you are the first responder and if you are well prepared it might save your or your crew member’s life.

Because training is required for most of these life-saving methods, we would encourage you to contact our ArboRisk Thrive Consultants, Dawn Thierbach or Margaret Spencer, to sign up for one of their upcoming Trauma Classes.

Written by: Dawn Thierbach