Electrical conductors
Risks
Contact between conductors and rescuers , equipment or tree parts may result in electrocution and death .
Control measures
Around 30 % of tree work fatalities each year are the result of contact with electrical conductors .
It is critical to accurately identify all potential electrical conductors onsite and ensure that a work plan is adopted that will avoid workers coming in to close proximity with the conductors .
Single Wire Earth Return ( SWER ) constructions are found in rural locations and can be extremely hard to spot - ensure that inspection is careful and thorough .
Accurately identify all potential electrical conductors on site before starting work .
Know and maintain safe approach distances to live conductors .
Arrange for the conductors to be deenergised ( shutdown ) by transmission authorities if required .
Epicormic shoots
Risks
Epicormic shoots may be weakly attached , even when quite large .
Epicormic shoots may fail at unexpected and low loads .
Epicormic shoots are fastgrowing shoots originating from buds in the bark of the trunk or structural branches . They may be weakly attached into the outer layers of the structure of the tree and may be easy to dislodge even when quite large .
They can usually be identified as comparatively small , straight branches with different-coloured foliage growing directly from the trunk or large branches of a tree .
Control measures
Identify epicormic shoots and investigate attachment points and timber integrity .
Avoid attaching rigging or climbing anchor points to epicormics if possible .
Recognise that epicormics may fail at much lower loads than other similarlysized branches in the same tree ; limit loads applied to epicormic shoots .
Avoid anchoring life-support or rigging systems to epicormic shoots .
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