Address- 1 Wood View, Upper Greenwoods Lane, Punnetts Town

East Sussex, TN21 9HT.

Tel: 01435 831625

Mobile: 07771503342

Data Protection Statement

The information and data provided herein shall not be duplicated, disclosed or disseminated by the recipient in whole or in part for any purpose whatsoever without the prior written permission from Ben Harman Arboriculture..

Staff Information Sheet

The following method statement has been developed to provide a safe system of work and must be adhered to at all times, any significant deviation from this system must first be authorised by your manager or safety representative.  Please read the entire sheet before beginning the procedure, if you have any questions please contact your manager or safety representative.

The main hazards to your safety and health are;

  1. Falls from height
  2. Injury from slips trips and falls.
  3. Manual Handling
  4. Contact with overhead power lines
  5. Injury to members of the public during works
  6. Contact with children
  7. Injury from machine hazards
  8. Inclement weather

Preventative Measures you must take;

  1. You must be “competent” to carry out the task.
  2. You must hold the correct certification to carry out the task.
  3. Barriers and/or warning signs must be placed around the work area where risk assessments has deemed necessary
  4. Visitors and other members of staff are prohibited from entry unless accompanied by competent person, all visitors issued with personal protective equipment and supervised during visit
  5. You must be competent to operate tree surgery machinery and hold the correct certification.
  6. You must read and understand the information sheets on the machinery you are operating

Personal Protective Equipment you must wear;

  1. Safety Harness
  2. Chainsaw protective clothing
  3. Hard hat and mesh face protector
  4. Hearing protection
  5. Gloves
  6. Safety boots

Quality Control

  1. Adhere strictly to the following procedure to ensure quality of service
  2. If in doubt contact your manager for clarification before proceeding.

General Precautions

To be observed by all staff at all times, any deviation from these control procedures must be authorised by the site foreman or safety representative.

Staff & Training 

The tasks will be carried out by staff from Ben Harman Arboriculture, all staff are time served and experienced tree surgeons, young and inexperienced workers will be closely supervised at all times.  All staff training is carried out by experienced trainers from the Plumpton Collage based in East Sussex..

PPE

All site workers will wear Safety boots, protective clothing at all times, other items of PPE such as eye protection and gloves are available to be worn as and when necessary.   All members of staff including ground staff will wear full chainsaw protective clothing during chainsaw work.  All members of staff who work at height will be required to wear a safety harness.  All harnesses will be to the relevant British Standard and checked regularly it is the responsibility of the operative to ensure all items of PPE are looked after properly and not subject to unnecessary damage

Preparation & Induction 

A risk assessment will be carried out for all tasks which will be discussed with members of staff and the sub contractors, any queries or concerns will be raised with the contract manager who will ensure it is dealt with, sub contractors will be asked to supply method statements for their area of work.

Machine Safety & Maintenance 

Machines such as chainsaws, chippers and stump grinders are visually inspected on a daily basis before start up; all machines are serviced on a weekly basis and checked for safe operation.  Under no circumstances will any machines be left unattended at any time.

Manual Handling

All staff and contractors have been instructed on the potential dangers of manual handling, and have received manual handling training.   Staff and contractors will not lift items of tools or equipment beyond their capabilities.  Trees will be sawn into manageable sized pieces for lowering and handling.  Heavy or awkward items of equipment will be broken down into smaller pieces or dual lifted where this is not possible.

Visitor/Member of Public Safety

The person in charge of the site will ensure that no member of his staff will cause an obstruction or otherwise endanger the safety and health of visitors or members of the public, work shall be organised to avoid busy times, extra care shall be taken when children are present, if necessary suitable barriers and warning tape will be erected to prevent unauthorised access

First Aid

It is the responsibility of the company to ensure adequate first aid provision for its staff.  Adequate means provision of a trained first aider, suitable first aid equipment and/or the provision of an appointed person at the minimum.

A trained first aider will be a suitable person who has attended an HSE approved course of at least four days’ duration and he/she will re-train at least every three years on a course of not less than two days. From 1st October 2009 first aiders will have to attend a 3 day training course every 3 years and a refresher course every year in between.

An Appointed Person is a person provided by the employer to take charge of the situation (e.g. to call an ambulance) if a serious injury/illness occurs in the absence of a first aider.  The Appointed Person can render emergency first aid if trained to do so.

Access egress

Ben Harman Arboriculture are responsible for providing safe access and egress to the site, Ben Harman Arboriculture staff will ensure safe access and egress is maintained for themselves and other contractors/members of the public in the area they are working in, good standards of housekeeping will be maintained by all staff. Debris will be cleared away on a regular basis and the site left clean and tidy at the end of a shift or task

Working Near Overhead Power Lines

Occasionally staff may be required to work near overhead power lines.  Work will not be carried out within 75 metres of un-insulated and 20 metres of insulated overhead power lines unless and until the operative has received the appropriate permit to work signed off by both the site manager and local electricity board supplier.  The permit to work shall not be signed off until the electricity board have confirmed the power lines have been made safe

Working at height

Falls from height remain the single biggest cause of death in the construction and services industry. 

All employees have been made aware of the dangers and consequences of falling from height, all working at height will be properly planned, organised and supervised; only competent members of staff will be allowed to work at height and it is the responsibility of the site foreman to ensure conditions are safe before allowing any work at height to take place.  The foreman will carry out a risk assessment before carrying out work at height and put in place equipment and measures to prevent falls occurring.

Where he can not eliminate the risk of a fall he will put in place measures and equipment to minimise the distance and consequences of a fall, should one occur.

All company equipment will be inspected on a regular basis and any damaged equipment will be withdrawn from service immediately.

Ladders; ladders will only be used as an access to scaffold or for carrying out light work of short duration.  Ladders must be tied and or footed. 

Ladders which are owned and maintained by Ben Harman Arboriculture, will be inspected on a regular basis, damaged or unsuitable ladders will be removed from site immediately

Scaffold; (when required) Scaffold will be provided and erected by an approved contractor; the hand rail will extend a minimum 1 metre above the working area.  All work will be carried out from the scaffold; the site foreman will ensure a handover certificate is received from the contractor prior to allowing access to the scaffold.  During the works access to the scaffold will be via ladder which will be tied off at the top, ladders will be removed or boarded off at the end of each shift to prevent unauthorised access.

MEWPS (Mobile Elevating Work Platforms) to include Cherry pickers, Scissor lifts, self propelled booms, vehicle mounted platforms etc.  MEWPS will be supplied by a competent company; the site foreman will ensure that only competent staff are allowed to use the MEWP, competent means someone with the necessary knowledge, training and experience to operate the MEWP safely and without risk to himself or others, i.e. PAL card holders.

Safety harnesses will be worn whilst working in the MEWPS.  All staff will be trained to operate the MEWP from the ground controls and recover a “hung up” worker who has fallen whilst wearing a safety harness

Aluminium tower scaffold; the site foreman will ensure that Aluminium Tower Scaffolds are erected correctly by a competent person.  Aluminium tower scaffolds must be used on flat level ground and the stabiliser riggers must be fully deployed and secured prior to working from the tower

Daily visual checks will be carried out by the site foreman on all the above items and defects reported immediately, any equipment suspected of being unsafe for whatever reason will be withdrawn from service

Method Statements

Scope of Works

This method statement describes the work process for Professional tree surgery services including;

    1. Trimming down
    2. Complete tree removal
    3. Stump removal
    4. Hedge Cutting
    5. Tree planting

Tree Surgery

  1. Collect all necessary equipment from the workshop and load onto trailer
  2. When arriving on site staff will report to the client and collect any instructions
  3. Put on your personal protective equipment
  4. Area to be worked will be marked out with warning signs (and safety tape if necessary)
  5. Unload equipment by rolling off the trailer
  6. The site to be worked will be visually inspected for safety of operation, the location of power lines, telephone cables, vehicles etc will be noted and the area made safe before work commences
  7. Visually inspect the equipment and remove from service if there are any obvious faults
  8. Put on your safety harness and chainsaw protection clothing
  9. Erect access to tree ascend and fix harness to a suitable branch
  10. Start the equipment and check all safety features are operating correctly; you must not attempt to defeat any safety function nor use any equipment with damaged or malfunctioning safety features.
  11. Trim/dismantle the tree as required
  12. Lower branches etc to ground using rope
  13. Ensure the site remains clear of persons/children, if not then stop work until the site is clear again
  14. At the completion of sawing, stop the engine and ensure the safety cut off is engaged
  15. Clear all debris and fallen greenery to the designated area or load to vehicle and remove from site
  16. Ensure that debris under 150mm is processed through chipper
  17. Debris over 150 mm should be sawn in to manageable sizes and loaded into the trailer for disposal.
  18. Carry out stump removal using proprietary stump machine
  19. Remove the safety warning signs and ensure the area is left in a safe condition

Refuelling Procedure for petrol driven equipment

Petrol for the machines is carried in explosion proof metal containers which are secured in the vans.

    1. Machines will be refuelled away from the van, visitors, and members of the public.
    2. Smoking is not permitted during refuelling and operation of the machines. 
    3. Fuel is poured from the proprietary containers through a funnel into the machine tank
    4. Caution will be exercised to prevent overfilling and spillages, all spillages will be cleared up immediately.
    5. Return the petrol can to the van and ensure it is clamped in position and the van locked