Oregon OSHA tree climbing in logging industry rules

Burnham

Woods walker
Joined
Mar 7, 2005
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Western Oregon
Back in 2008 I was asked to join a group of "stakeholders" to help OR OSHA draft a new set of rules to govern tree climbing as it relates to logging and natural resource management, mostly the former. At that time the rules under which this activity was regulated dated to, believe it or not, 1956. OR OSHA asked me in, representing the USFS, because we had a documented set of operational procedures, as well as a sterling safety record, for tree climbing work.

It was a long, drawn out series of meetings, a lot of work to bring most of the other committee members (old school loggers, most all) up to then state of the art equipment and methods. In the end, from my perspective, the rules adopted were pretty watered down, with many obvious to me improvements left off the table...but if you look at the old rules, the new are a huge step forward.

Bureaucracy most often moves at a snail's pace...these rules were adopted in late 2010, and I received a CD including them this past summer. Thought y'all might like to look through them, for humor. This is what a high climber/rigger has to follow these days, in Oregon. WA and CA are expected to follow suit, but they both currently have decades old rules in place still.
 

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That's the truth. When the committe was done with it, it was much stronger and more specific...much. And had the support of OR OSHA reps in the group. Politics really wrung it out once it hit the bureaucratic seive.
 
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