by Jim Cain, Ph.D.
One of the techniques employed by businesses today is the practice of competitive benchmarking. Studying what a similar organization is doing well and applying those outstanding practices to improve your own organization. In the field of constructing, inspecting and designing programs for challenge courses, one 'similar' field is the urban forestry trade. A trade certainly concerned about safety spends quite a bit of time working with tools while hanging from trees, utilizing ropes, climbing hardware, and standardized procedures for their work. Yet employs many techniques and technical equipment that we do not in the challenge course industry.
Given the similar nature of the work that both the forestry industry and the challenge course industry perform, I thought the ACCT community might be interested in finding out about some of the techniques and skills used by our neighbors in the trees.
First of all, you might want to visit the internet homepage of Tree Climbers International at: www.treeclimbing.com. This website is a great place to get started, and provides some good information on single rope techniques. Be aware that single rope techniques do not utilize the same type of climbing ropes that we standardly use on challenge courses (static and dynamic), but rather a rope with an insulating sheath that protects against wear and heat buildup due to friction between the rope and the tree bark. After you visit this site, you may notice that tree climbers and arborists typically use a different style of waist harness than we do in the ropes course industry. An arborist harness is designed to carry the full weight of the climber at nearly all times, while the standard climbing harness is essentially designed to protect the climber during falls. As a result, especially for those of us hanging about in trees while building a course, the arborist harness is a bit more comfortable at the end of the day. Especially if you have been hanging in it for several hours.
I bought my first arborist harness, throw bag, and climbing rope from Karl Kuemmerling, Inc. in Massillon, Ohio. They have a catalog of arborist tools and equipment (Phone 1-330-477-3457 or Fax 1-330-477-8528). Weaver Leather, Inc. also carries a line of arborist equipment (1-800-932-8371). Finally, Forestry Suppliers, Inc. has a 560 page catalog filled with arborist, forestry and environmental equipment and supplies (1-800-647-5368).
After checking out the equipment, you might want to visit the website of a arborist company that does quite a bit of education and training, such as the Davey Tree Expert Company in Kent, Ohio at: www.davey.com, or email them at:
infor@davey.com. This site not only carries information about trees, but provides practical and safety concerns about working around them, and a 'tree college' page on their website. You might be surprised to know that Davey Tree personnel also helped create the standard that defines climbing, pruning, hardware installation and other safety skills for arborist. In fact, very similar to our own ACCT standards.
Other organizations, such as the Pine Knot Training Center in Pine Knot, Kentucky, train future arborists as part of their Job Corps training program (Phone (606) 354-2176). Graduates are capable arborists, having skills in tree climbing, pruning, working at elevation, and have many skills that future challenge course builders, interns and temporary employees needs. So the next time you are looking for another qualified person to join your building team, check out the Job Corps sites that have an urban arborist program.
Paul Smith's College near Saranac Lake, NY also has an arborist program on site (in addition to a very nice challenge course built by one of ACCT's Professional Vendor Members). In addition to teaching an arborist curriculum, you can also take short courses offered by the college in arborist skills (www.paulsmiths.edu).
You can also find arborist and arborist organizations on-line by searching on the word arborist. The National Arborist Association (NAA) has a webpage at www.natlarb.com. Here you can also obtain a free subscription to their trade publication. Also check out www.arborist.com.
I would sure like to know if any of you find this information useful? It is my hope that by studying the best practices of related trade organizations, we all might become better and safer at what we do here at ACCT.
