A. “Just think, for a minute, about the tree care companies you compete with in your market. How many of them have good reputations? How many of them treat trees and clients ethically? How many have good safety records? How many have neat, clean equipment and crews? We are competing with all of these companies and Accreditation has given us a way to let our clients know that there is truly a difference.”
-- Randy Owen , Owner, Owen Tree Service, Attica , Michigan – MI-001
A. "The way things are now, anyone who can cut down a tree could call themselves a tree service. A program that will help the industry on the business end has been a need for a long time."
"I believe that this program is the most important development in our industry since the certified arborist program. The biggest problem in the tree service industry is that people can run a company with no rules, regulations or set standards. We need to continue to strengthen our industry, especially in the area of business and safety compliance. Accreditation is one step in a long process toward a higher level of professionalism."
-- Tim Kastning, Owner, Grace Tree Service, Hayden , Idaho – ID-001
A. “After we became accredited, we inserted an announcement in our newsletter about our accomplishment and we were pleasantly surprised at the reaction of our clients. Many clients congratulated us on our accomplishment. New clients are informed of our status as an accredited tree care company and the ‘buy in’ we get from that is quite incredible. Accreditation is not a painless process, but it is definitely one of the best things I have done to improve my business.”
-- Robert Brudenell, Owner, The Natural Way , Inc., Englewood , Colorado – CO-001
 A. “I think it’s imperative for our industry to regulate ourselves beyond the status quo. We need to go forward with excellence and establish ourselves as a real industry, not the lowest common denominator. It has been presented to me that it was people who couldn’t do anything else who ended up in tree care. They couldn’t be doctors, or lawyers, so they ended up in tree care. Accreditation will help to change that.”
-- Erich Schneider, Owner, Schneider Tree Care, Taylors , South Carolina – SC-001
 A. “TCIA and its members have an opportunity to take commercial arboriculture to the next level. Our success in pushing our industry forward will depend entirely on how quickly and fully we embrace TCIA’s accreditation program. The primary goal of accreditation, over all the other things accreditation will do, is to allow consumers a practical way to identify professional tree care companies.”
-- Tim Harris, Owner, Buckley Tree Service, New Berlin, Wisconsin – WI-001
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A. “Accreditation helps you, as a whole company, to look in the mirror and find ways to improve. With human nature as it is, you get busy and it’s easy to come up with a lot of excuses and to let some things slide. Accreditation gives you a real structure to pull all the random pieces of your business together and to find any pieces you might be missing. Also, since it is done by a third party (TCIA) you can get away from finger pointing and take personalities out of the equation. Everyone at our company is working as a team to get and stay Accredited.”
-- Chris Frank, Owner, C.L. Frank and Company, Northampton , Massachusetts – MA-001
A. “TCIA Accreditation provided incentive and assistance for the development of my company in pursuit of becoming a truly professionally run business. I cannot stress enough the amount of assistance we got from Bob Rouse and TCIA throughout the accreditation process.”
“TCIA Accreditation provided a template for my office manger and I to model many areas of our business after. The template helped our company become organized in a way that I thought would not have happened unless we became a big business. I thought that to be organized like a big business we would have to put in many hours researching, creating, troubleshooting, and implementing various policies, procedures and internal organizational structures. TCIA Accreditation provided ideas, methods, forms, and formats for structuring many aspects of our business.”
“I recognized immediate positive changes in many areas of my business such as: how we handle customer complaints, employee files, employee training, future planning, budgets, and how we document many aspects of our business. Most importantly, accreditation is a process that enabled me to become more intimately aware of areas of my business that I had neglected or was unfamiliar with. I found gaps in my business that needed to be filled, and quite frankly, it was easy to fill those gaps. My focus for the future of my business is more clear now then ever. I see the future needs and demands of my business in a new way and am planning for that future. Accreditation is the process behind the saying “make your plan, follow your plan.”
-- Robert Brudenell, Owner, The Natural Way , Inc., Englewood , Colorado – CO-001
(Note: A number of Accredited companies have reported insurance savings. This is not an automatic savings resulting from Accreditation at this time, however Accreditation does help you set up business and safety practices that can result in insurance savings.)
A. “A lot of (insurance) companies have elected not to write insurance for tree and landscaping companies, and the ones that still insure them are pretty selective about who they insure. If you choose to insure a bad business, there will be more claims, you’ll pay out more losses, and from an insurance standpoint it will be less profitable. Worker’s compensation is one thing, but you’re also talking about general liability insurance, automobile insurance, and property insurance. It is expensive, and companies that go through Accreditation and have safety programs in effect and controls in place to mitigate those losses will get better consideration and be afforded better rates and premiums than someone who doesn’t have those things in place.”
“At all times, we’re looking for applicants that we can say are a better-than-average risk. To be accredited, a company will have all of those things in place, plus a business plan. (All of those) make a tree care company look more appealing to an insurance company. As an underwriter, we look at Accreditation as another piece of the puzzle – another positive variable.”
-- Mike Rook , Vice President, Summit Insurance Services, Inc., ArborMAX Insurance Program, Las Vegas , Nevada / East Granby , Connecticut
A. "Accreditation taught us how to work
as a team. As a small company,
everyone pulled together to help us get accredited."
--August Hoppe, Owner
Hoppe Tree Service
Accreditation No. WI-006
August Hoppe
A. “The press release sent out by TCIA after we were Accredited ran in our local paper. Our employees were absolutely pumped about being recognized as working for a leading company by their local newspaper. Their friends and family saw the article and told them things like, ‘I didn’t realize you worked for such a great company!’”
-- Rolf Briggs , Owner, Tree Specialists, Holliston , Massachusetts – MA-002
A. “We concentrate on making the work environment safe for the public and our employees by meeting the standards acceptable for TCIA. Accreditation is a way of making our company more attractive to both potential employees and customers, by adopting best business practices and receiving an endorsement for our focus on safety. It helps with telling others about the value of our company.”
-- Randy Owen , Owner, Owen Tree Service, Attica , Michigan – MI-001
A. “Has it? Let me tell you what happened to our company this week! I was eating my lunch recently when the foreman of our pruning crew called on my cell phone. I almost choked on my salad after his first four words, ‘OSHA is on site.’ I exclaimed, ‘What?’ He repeated very slowly, ‘OSHA is on site.’ I told him to stop all work at the site, cooperate with the inspectors, and to call me immediately when the inspectors left. Unknown to us, we had been working at a job site less than a half block away from a local OSHA office. The inspectors were on their way back from lunch when they spotted my crew and stopped for an inspection. A recent directive from the U.S. Department of Labor – Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) has established a regional emphasis program for targeting tree trimming operations in Region 8’s jurisdiction (Colorado , Montana , Wyoming , Utah , North and South Dakota). The directive was ordered due to ‘increased rates of fatalities, injuries, and illness rates in our industry’ and because we ‘fit the profile of a unique business where OSHA is trying to make a positive impact.’
”I had heard horror stories of fines, red tape and – did I mention the fines? An hour or so later I got the call from my foreman that they had left. He told me that they interviewed all four people on the crew, videotaped our crew and equipment, and inspected our equipment and the work site. We hold weekly training sessions and I am constantly on my guys to wear their hard hats and eyewear, to put out cones – but there are so many other things. During the inspection, the inspectors questioned several things at our work site. They asked questions about one climber’s Kevlar helmet that did not have an ANSI tag in it, a small carabineer that was holding a figure eight on a saddle, awareness of a Hazard Communications Manual, training the workers had received, and Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) for the chain saw gas and bar oil. Later that afternoon I got a call from the OSHA inspector. The inspector asked for the MSDS for the chain saw gas and bar oil, all training records for the employees who were on site, a copy of our Hazard Communications Manual, verification that each employee was familiar with the manual, and anything else that would help them confirm our compliance with OSHA and ANSI standards. The inspector wanted all of this the information the next morning! I was very polite on the phone and told the inspector that the Tree Care Industry Association (TCIA) recently accredited our company and that I was pretty sure that we had everything the inspector was requesting.” I also emphasized that we were willing and wanted to comply with all OSHA and ANSI standards because we were a professional company.”
“After I hung up, I ran to our file cabinet and asked our office manager if the Safety Manual we recently developed with the aid of TCIA during our accreditation process contained Hazard Communication information. I thought it did but the terminology OSHA used threw me. When I reviewed the safety manual, I realized that our Safety Manual contained the information that OSHA called Hazard Communications. Next I looked in our employee files for additional information. I knew we had been keeping our employee files current because it was easy, helped us to keep things straight, and it simply made sense. I wasn’t certain, however, if we really had everything that OSHA was asking for. I pulled out training sheets that outlined the different levels/status of the employees that were on site. The employee training checklists, such as the Initial Safety Orientation Checklist, Tree Care Apprentice Training Checklist, and Tree Care Specialist Training Checklist, made verification of our training a simple process. Line items of the checklists covered everything OSHA was asking for and more, including: Introduction to company safety policy; Introduction to ANSI Z133.1 safety standards; and a form for, “This employee has been checked-out on the following equipment (a, b, c …).” We also had documentation of our weekly tailgate safety meetings; a certificate stating the employee had received, reviewed and agreed to abide by our employee handbook; and, a Certificate of Driver’s Road Test in each employee file. I just had to make copies of this information.
“In an hour, I had all the information the inspector asked for. Less than one year ago, I would have had no training documentation other than the Tailgate Safety information and would have been in more trouble with OSHA than I thought I was already in. TCIA had provided all the templates for the manuals, checklists and certifications during accreditation, we just had to insert our company name and make minor changes and additions. They had done our homework for us and developed all the information we needed; all we did was implement it and keep it current.”
“The next morning I called the OSHA office. I told the inspector I had everything they had requested and would be providing additional documentation of training. When the inspector asked if I had been able to verify if the helmet in question was ANSI approved, I told her I could not find anything to that effect and that the helmet had been taken out of service, that I had already ordered the climber a new helmet and that he would be wearing a standard hard hat in the meantime. I asked if there was a good time to meet and the inspector told me to drop off the information at the front desk and they would call me to schedule a hearing after a thorough review of my documentation. I stopped in the OSHA office later that morning and handed them a folder of copies of the employee files and a color copy of our safety manual. I included all the extra training documentation to be sure my bases were covered. I had a thick stack of MSDS forms for all the liquids kept on our trucks and a copy of my receipt for the new hard hat I had ordered for the climber with the questionable helmet.”
“Later that day I received a call from OSHA. The inspector thanked me for providing all the required documents and verification of training and said that the phone call would be the closing hearing. The inspector thanked me for being cooperative during the process and commented on the politeness of my crew. I was waiting for the amount of the fine when the inspector told me that I would be getting a letter of recommendations that would discuss areas of improvement and that there would be no fines. ‘Excuse me,’ I said. The inspector repeated, ‘There will be no fines imposed on your company. Your company is doing everything right – keep it up. Great job Robert. Great job.’”
“I was elated, to say the least. I know my company is not doing everything right according to OSHA and ANSI standards – that is impossible. But it appeared that we were and, most importantly, we documented our efforts. I told my wife, a lawyer, everything the inspector told me, and that we were not going to be fined. She said, ‘I can’t believe it. I thought OSHA fined everyone. You know, I bet that accreditation process helped.’ Little did she know. Accreditation not only helped, it was the process that put my company and my employees in the position not to be fined.”
-- Robert Brudenell, Owner, The Natural Way , Inc., Englewood , Colorado – CO-001
 A. “I can't tell you how much this process is appreciated by myself and my company. It made us think about a lot of things that we had to do in new and or different ways. We are all very happy to have this new distinction, especially to be the first tree company on Long Island to be accredited. My hat goes off to the entire TCIA staff as well as the accreditation committee for organizing this great program. We know there are some things that we still need to work on and our whole company is aware of it and is poised for the challenge. I now have one more thing that doesn't keep me up at night. Please extend my sincerest thanks to the entire staff, your all doing a great service to the industry and consumers of our services. Thank you for taking the time to visit our company.”
-- Tom Golon , Wonderland Tree Care, Oyster Bay , New York – NY-002
A. “ When I began thinking about the concept of a business plan I never realized the impact it would have on me. Initially, the goal was to develop a plan for the purpose of accreditation and a line of credit from my bank. But after 25 years of owning and operating this business, I have just begun to see the light and what 1 have been missing all of the past years. Perhaps I was never ready to accomplish this task and had to encounter problems from an abundance of mistakes (which will probably continue to happen through life's journey). However, during extensive hours of research and development of this business plan, I have learned more about my company than ever before. Despite the benefit from the accreditation process and the improved standing at my bank, the most important goal will be the projected success I will achieve for years down the road (and I'm confident I will achieve success).”
“I have been a member and supporter of the Western Chapter ISA for seventeen years and have found it to meet my needs and inspire my involvement in the tree care industry. But my hat's off to you folks at TCIA. It took me a while to get it (I've been a member for years). I am really beginning to understand the significance of this organization for business owners.”
-- Bill Spiewak, Owner, Bill's Tree Care, Santa Barbara , California – CA-002
A. "We had a lot of things in place already - An employee handbook, company safety policies and documentation, DOT folders and drug testing. One thing we didn't have was a written business plan. My plan was in my head. There were also a few other things like better record-keeping for DOT compliance and a change in our bid proposals to comply with ANSI A300 standards."
"It was an absolutely wonderful program. Every step that we take to make our company more professional not only benefits us, but the whole tree care industry, by raising the bar to other companies and challenging them to provide the same exceptional service that we provide on a daily basis.”
-- Tim Kastning, Owner, Grace Tree Service, Hayden , Idaho – ID-001
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Q. Why Should a Company get Accredited?