| Those are good points - and match what I've seen with arborists who climb trees, prune, and do full removals for a living - chunking trees down from the top, oftentimes while they're in them. A lot of safety procedures and best practices diverge wildly from those in other industries. I get the impression it's probably the same way with chimneys in the UK, given that industry's long history. [1] In arboriculture, the following weird things are acceptable(-ish, depending on the country): - The climber is often supported by a single non-redundant rope, unlike rope access in other fields where two ropes are required. - "Riding the ball", or using a crane to hoist a human load, is done in exceptional circumstances. - Some critical PPE gear is often hand-made, it's very common for climbers to splice their own ropes. - Even the most die-hard chainsaw-safety advocates will grudgingly acknowledge that sometimes situations call for one-handed use. Some of these industry practices are in direct-conflict with more broad OSHA and/or EN safety standards. It isn't that the industry disregards safety - most climbers and crews I know are very safety conscious. Rather, the situations are different enough that the risk-mitigation calculus arrives at different answers. Where a ladder climber may be not-always attached to the ladder, in the tree-care industry, that's utterly unacceptable. [1] eg, one of the many Fred Dibnah videos on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3R3-YwDZrzg |