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Arborist Safety
There are many aspects to safety within the field of Arboriculture. Some of these precautions involve analyzing and ensuring proper safety measures when they arrive on the work site and when they are in the process of taking down the tree. Where as other precautions involve proper safety equipment and proper training with this equipment.

Arriving at the site
When arriving on the work site there are procedures that Arborist follow to ensure safety for all workers and surroundings. The first step in this process is the assessment of the work site. When assessing the work site it is essential to consider both high and low Hazard. The process of analyzing high Hazards consists of looking for Power lines, chicots (standing dead tree), and widow makers (large hanging branches that may fall). The next step in ensuring a safe work site is assessing the ground hazards which are broken up into two categories: Dips or Dip slope and Trips. The hazard of Dips primarily consists of land depressions, extreme slopes, and/or holes in the ground. The second category of ground hazards pertains to: Trips; pertains to any large rocks, Tree stump, any Vine, or any fallen Tree branch .

Analyzing the tree
After assessing the high and low hazards of the work cite and ensuring no danger may occur the next safety step in this procedure is to analyze the tree that is being Felled (cut down). When analyzing the tree that needs to be felled the arborist must evaluate the tree from the bottom to the top. The exposed bottom of the tree is often referred to as the root flare (later on becomes a stump when extremities are removed). The danger that can be brought on from the root flare may involve root rot or weak holding roots. This is dangerous to the arborist because it creates weak points that may cause the tree to fall in a different way than planned. After examining the root flare the arborist must then consider the tree stem. When the arborist evaluates the tree stem they must consider various aspects such as: is it multi-stemmed? Are there obstacles near or surrounding the stem? And is there stem rot? . If a tree possesses a multi-stem, it can carry many dangers for the arborist and how they intend to fell the tree. These dangers include whether or not the canopies are intertwined and the degree of lean each stem has. If the canopies are intertwined the arborist runs the risk of the tree getting hung up (a live standing cut tree) which makes that stems fall unpredictable and dangerous. The second danger for multi-stemmed trees is the degree of lean for each stem can greatly affect the arborist’s directional intention for the fall of the given stem. The second danger involving the stem of the tree includes the obstacles (if any) and the surroundings of the tree. The role that this hazard poses is for equipment protection. Often trees may be found growing around or with a man-made object such as a steel t-bars and fencing. These materials can obstruct how and where the tree needs to be cut and runs the risk of damaging or de-railing the chainsaws chain. If the chainsaw chain is de-railed or breaks it may cause the chain to whip around and cause severe bodily harm to the user. The last danger surrounding the stem of the tree is whether or not the stem is rotted. When the stem is rotten it can affect the structural integrity of the tree and may cause the arborists notch to fail and allow the tree to fall earlier than expected. To ensure this hazard does not happen the arborist often uses a safety technique called boring. Boring is when the arborist plunges (cutting straight in with the head of the chainsaw bar) their saw into the stem of the tree cutting with the grain to analyze the chips that are coming out. By examining the color and consistency of the chips the arborist can determine whether or not there is rot within the tree.