Taking the ZZZ’s out of the Z133

by | Jul 16, 2019 | Safety | 0 comments

Taking the ZZZ’s Out of the z133

Almost everyone that I talk to wants to improve upon their safety culture, no matter how good it is today. And most agree that the ANSI Z133 (or Z) should be handed out to every employee just like a pair of chaps and safety glasses. But the unfortunate reality is the Z gets left out of sight and out of mind in most tree services, because it is a 74 page document that is full of seemingly stuffy ‘shoulds’ and ‘shalls’.

Back in April, I was invited to attend the Z133 committee meeting in Baltimore as a guest. While I, like most tree care company owners, always understood the importance of this document, it wasn’t until this committee meeting that I finally grasped the simplicity of how to actually implement the Z into your daily routine within your tree care company. Below are four simple steps to engaging your team with the Z and propelling your safety culture forward.

Familiarize Yourself with the Z – Taking the Z seriously within your company has to start from the top with your knowledge and interest of the document. Grab the Z and flip through it. Learn how it is set up with the different sections and how the sections interact with each other. See where the Z references other safety requirements per OSHA or FMCSA.
Appoint a Champion for Each Section – Everyone in your organization has their own passion and excitement for the tree care industry. Use that passion to break up the Z and appoint a champion for each section. The section champions are responsible for understanding what is in their section and how your company can follow the requirements. When the section champions begin to feel responsible for safety items within their section they obviously will put more energy and effort into adhering to the requirement.

Track Close Calls Back to the Z – Many tree services already discuss close calls, but stop there. Take each close call and look back at the Z to see how the unsafe behavior or mistake could have been avoided and which specific line item addresses it. We have started to do this within our insurance agency for the claims that get submitted. In just a few months of tracking this, it is pretty amazing the patterns that we are seeing. It has helped us implement better loss control services for our clients. Any trends that you begin to see are obvious areas that your safety meetings should focus on.

Choose a Section Every Week – During your weekly safety meeting, choose a section or part of a section to go over. Have your team members read out loud each point and discuss it as you go using close calls to explain the importance of each point. Within a couple of months, you and your team will have gone through the entire Z and the document will have become part of your culture.

Use these four easy steps to take the Z from a boring document to an active part of ensuring every employee makes it home safe each night.

Since ArboRisk’s mission is to get every arborist home safe each night, we’ve designed a specific consulting package to work one-on-one with your organization. Visit our webpage for the Thrive Safety Package to learn more. In addition to the Thrive Safety Package, all ArboRisk clients receive a Safety Culture Assessment that allows you to peer into your safety culture and find areas that need improvement.

Written by: Eric Petersen

Principles of Estimating

by | May 21, 2019 | Business Strategy | 0 comments

Principles of Estimating

Have you ever heard the phrase…

“It’s not the job you lose that puts you out of business, it’s the job you won.”

I know you’re nodding your head in agreement. We all have taken on a job that we shouldn’t have and it cost our company dearly from a time, team morale, equipment or profit standpoint. Many times, all four of those items suffer and our company regresses.

The importance of proper job estimating in the tree care industry is undeniable. In order to become and remain successful, your company must be proficient at providing accurate estimates to win profitable jobs. When your team begins to feel confident with their estimating skills it is easier for them to walk away from a job that won’t meet your profitability numbers. I wrote an article on the power of saying no to certain jobs in November of 2018. You can read it here: The Power of Walking Away.

So what goes into job estimating? How can you get your sales team to produce profitable jobs for your company? Let’s begin by looking at the steps in the estimating process.

Steps to job estimating for the tree care industry:

Discussion with Property Owner – Obviously, everything begins with setting clear expectations with the property owner for the work that is desired. This also means specifically describing what will not be done during this job. When discussing what they want you to do, dig into the emotion of their request. Why are they asking to have those services performed? When done properly, the sales conversation changes and a relationship is born, one that usually produces additional work as well. Read one of my prior articles titled, The Most Important Question to Ask Customers for a simple way to help your sales team connect immediately with the customer.
Assign Number of Hours – Once you have a clear description of the work to be done, you can start to assign the number of work hours necessary for each task to complete the job. Make notes regarding, drive time, site/equipment set up, completing the work, and cleanup. By doing this you can show the property owner everything that goes into performing the job safely and efficiently without damaging anything. Be sure to also include notes on any special equipment necessary for the job.
Signing the Work Order – Once the property owner has chosen your company, get their signature on the work order approving the specific work to be done, the cost for each service (either in time or dollars) and the payment terms agreed upon. This agreement is vital to ensuring both parties know what to expect. As you know, many times the property owner wants to make slight changes or additions to the work once the crew is on-site, so having the initial cost and job specs outlined will help you accurately account for any additional work so you can appropriately bill for the addition.
Job Completion Analysis – Looking back at completed jobs can be difficult to do. Most companies feel they do not have the time to get each job done, much less enough time to analyze how each job went. However, if you do not take the time to look at how your jobs are performing, how do you know if your estimating practices are solid? To do this, simply have the crew foreman complete a post-job analysis that looks at each of the factors from #2 above to see how close the job estimation was to reality. These post-job forms should be brief, but must be completed at the jobsite before the crew drives away. Any jobs that have a large discrepancy on any of the factors need to be looked at further by the management team.
Lastly, if you are not using an integrated proposal building software like Arborgold, ServicePro or SingleOps, get one today. Being able to produce professional looking proposals in the field that automatically sync up with your customer database is invaluable for a tree service. While the software may come with a large price, ask any owner who has made the switch from paper proposals to one of these and you will quickly see the efficiencies that you gain make you much more profitable even with the additional software cost. The software will also help you analyze your estimating process, thereby allowing your team to continually better their proposals and win more profitable jobs.

Don’t let poor estimating practices put your business at risk for failure. Work only on jobs that will produce a positive outcome for your company and you will see your business reach its goals.

Written by: Eric Petersen

4 Tips to Create a Cohesive Brand

by | May 14, 2019 | Marketing | 0 comments

4 Tips to Create a Cohesive Brand

As a tree service owner, diving into the realm of branding can seem like a daunting task. For so many companies, it’s overwhelming or gets filed in the “I’ll do that later” folder. Your brand is your company’s entire image and the story that is being conveyed to customers and prospects, so it needs your attention.

Before a customer uses your services, they have interacted with your brand in some way. Whether they drove past a truck with your logo, walked their dog past a house with your sign in the yard, or saw your latest Instagram post, all of these seemingly small interactions are the building blocks of relationships with your audience and ultimately what defines your brand.

With a few tweaks and fine tuning, you can create a cohesive brand for your tree care company that attracts new customers.

Determine your brand identity: Your brand is so much more than your logo. It is the story your customers tell. The first place to start determining your brand identity is by defining your “why”. The “why” is so critical for many aspects of your business, but will essentially define your brand identity. We wrote an article recently all about this topic and can help you define your why: https://arboriskinsurance.com/2018/08/what-is-your-why/ Clearly outline your key services, the history of your company, your company’s values, and where you want to go in the future. Once it is determined, your brand identity will influence everything in your marketing plan from the words on your website to your social media posts.

Utilize a consistent color palette and fonts: Your logo is your company’s most identifiable aspect. Your brand colors should include those of your logo and complementing colors that align with the principles of design. From mailers to social media posts, utilize these colors in all artwork. Your fonts should remain consistent just as your colors. When choosing fonts, make sure they are easy to read and can be used for a variety of purposes. If you select a “fancy” font for headlines, make sure to pair it with another that is more ordinary. Here is a resource that helps pair complementary fonts: https://fontjoy.com

Create a professional website: Did you know it only takes 3 seconds for someone to make a decision whether to stay on your website or not? Your website is the first place prospective customers go to check out your business before they decide to use your services. With such a short time frame to make a great impression, having a professional website is a critical aspect of your business and your brand. If you are like most, website design isn’t included on your resume. Invest in a web designer and a professional photographer to create a site that helps your business stand out!

Use a recognizable voice: Whether you are doing all the writing yourself, or outsourced to another company, decide on a writing style that portrays the brand identity you have created. Start by choosing 3 words to define your brand’s personality and voice. From there, choose a style that appeals to your target audience and keep it consistent. Use the same tone and formality throughout your website pages, blog, direct mailers and social media posts.

With a clearly defined brand, you will attract the right kind of customers. Following the 4 tips outlined above you will begin to create a cohesive brand that will help your tree care company stand out from the crowd!

Do you need help with your company’s overall branding? ArboRisk’s exclusive Thrive program includes brand building initiative to help take tree services to new heights! Contact [email protected] today to learn more!

Written by: Amanda Eicher

Will You Watch Out for My Safety?

by | May 7, 2019 | Risk Management | 0 comments

Will You Watch Out For My Safety?

“You don’t have to tell me that, I know what I’m doing.”

How many times have you caught yourself saying that to someone who is just trying to help?

I know I have done that more often than I’d like to admit. Especially when you are in a leadership position, it can be challenging to accept advice from one of your subordinates. However, this is the exact opposite reaction you should have if you want to promote a culture of trust and open communication within your company.

At TCIA’s 2019 Winter Management Conference, John Drebinger spoke on how safety is a benefit for your employees and how the owner or crew leader’s attitude plays the largest factor in the success of building a safety culture. For a company to truly build a great culture, all employees must feel comfortable to speak up when they see something that doesn’t seem right. If the owner or crew leader shuts down an employee by saying that they know what they should be doing, the chances of that employee ever saying something again are slim. As soon as that communication breaks down, your culture of mutual respect within your company takes a major hit and preventable accidents may occur.

There are many reasons, why people don’t say something including:

They don’t think something will happen.
They are uncomfortable speaking up.
They do not know how to point out an unsafe situation.
So what is the best way to avoid this breakdown in communication? Train yourself and your team members on how to bring up a safety concern as well as how to accept safety criticism from anyone on the team.

At your next safety meeting, start by asking individuals directly if they will look out for your safety. Speak directly at 3 or 4 of your team members to drive home the point that everyone should be looking out for each other. “John, will you look out for my safety? Bob, will you look out for my safety?”. And so on.

Giving your employees the authority to say something that could prevent an accident from happening will dramatically change the safety culture of your organization.

After you have given the authority to look out for everyone’s safety, provide your team with a few simple ways that employees can point out safety concerns comfortably.

“As you know” – One of the easiest ways for any team member to address another is to begin with this phrase. This technique doesn’t threaten the intelligence of the worker, but reminds them that they are working unsafely. Ex: As you know, you should be wearing your chaps, even for one small cut.

“I’m new, why are you doing it that way?” – Asking for advice is actually a great, innocent way of getting your point across to a veteran employee that their work practice is unsafe. It will stop them enough to realize they are setting a bad example and allow for a small moment of training between the two. Ex: Since I’m new to your crew, why did you set up the chipper in that manner?

“This one time, I…” – State how you had a close call by doing a similar unsafe act. Relating to your team member by stating that you have done the same unsafe act, but were lucky enough to not have an accident is a powerful way of helping that individual. Ex: This one time, I didn’t put on the chain break when bucking a log and my chain got caught in my chaps as I moved to the next limb.

After you have given a few examples of how to point out an unsafe act, you have to talk about the proper way to accept criticism regardless of who is giving it to you. Remember, the main reason you want a safe workplace is so everyone will make it home each night. Explain that checking your ego and saying thank you is much easier than taking an ambulance ride to the emergency room. Also, acknowledging that it may have been difficult for that team member to say something goes a long way to ensure they feel comfortable to say something again in the future.

Foster a culture of gratitude within your company by setting a great example for your team and training everyone on how to address and accept the advice instead of shutting it down.

For help building the best safety culture possible, contact the ArboRisk team today!

Written by: Eric Petersen

Is Your Safety Program Working?

by | Dec 5, 2018 | Risk Management | 0 comments

Is Your Safety Program Working?

As a risk manager for the tree care industry, I am often asked, “how does a tree service make sure their safety program is working?” Because of this common question, I want to share three simple ways that you can internally audit your safety program to ensure you are doing all you can to get every employee home safe at night.

Are your employees able to explain what to do?

An effective safety program will teach your team members exactly what to do in case of an injury. Simply ask employees from all departments to describe the steps to take. They should know who to call, which clinic they need to go to depending on location, and what forms to fill out as soon as the injury happens. Of course, if they cannot explain what to do during a non-emergency situation, they won’t know during a panic-filled time of injury. Make this the topic at your next safety meeting to train everyone on the procedure for an injury. Have your procedure written down, and kept at all locations and in each vehicle for an emergency.

Can you prove your program is being implemented?

Documentation is a key component of an effective safety program. Whether it is for OSHA or to obtain a lower insurance rates, being able to prove that that your safety program actually exists is the goal. You should have employees sign that they acknowledge and understand the safety program and employee handbook, as well as attendance sheets for the weekly or bi-weekly safety meetings. Be sure to note the topics on the attendance sheets as well. This also helps you recognize if an employee is not being properly trained on a piece of equipment or operational service that you provide.

Numbers Talk!

Have a safety committee member be in charge of monitoring your data. A simple Excel document is a great way to track important statistics like; number of incidents, number of different employees injured, number of missed work days, etc. These numbers should be reviewed monthly or quarterly at the very least. Make note to monitor both positive and negative trends as you’ll want to reward a strong safety environment while addressing any obvious issues.

Remember, even TCIA Accredited companies have serious injuries and fatalities that could have been prevented. Don’t let your safety culture get stale and ineffective. Use these three ideas to monitor the strength of your program so you know when and how to improve it.

Written by: Malcolm Jeffris, CTSP