Over the past years, I’ve worked with quite a few of Nashville’s tree companies. Through tenacity, I finally got hired by Quality Tree Inc. One of my main concerns with past companies was their lack of any type of safety program. Let’s face it, climbing sixty feet off the ground on a half inch diameter rope and operating a chainsaw at a distance no greater than arms length from that rope is not a natural act. Quality Tree has a safety program that not only protects my coworkers and I, but our customers as well.  I can still remember sitting in study hall during high school saying to myself “I’ll never use ANY of this stuff later in life!” One day, about two years ago, I found myself at the top of a Sugar Maple over someone’s house and patio contemplating the stress of the rigging, the angle of my rope, and how to explain my actions to my ground man who spoke no English at all. To perform tree care successfully, a climber needs to have a working knowledge of tree biology, physics, geometry and sometimes even Spanish. Quality Tree has a safety program that meets every other week. During these meetings we discuss topics such as tree physiology, rigging techniques, chainsaw operations and even how to back down the driveway without slaying the home owner’s garden gnomes. Every Quality Tree employee’s financial status is adjusted according to what they are willing to learn. How does this benefit the customer? To begin with, you’re guaranteed that the person performing the work on your living investment is a highly trained and proficient arborist. This dramatically reduces the risk of damage to the tree or your property. Where the rubber truly meets the road on this topic is when storm damage occurs or other more hazardous tasks present themselves. I’ve seen quite a few tree companies driving around town passionately declaring that they are “fully insured for your protection.” We insure ourselves here at Quality Tree as well. However, we do take it a step further. We seek the knowledge and training it takes to prevent the accident from happening in the first place.■

Jason Kenney