The Voice for Trees, a political action committee formed in early 2004, takes direct action on legislative and regulatory issues that affect the Tree Care Industry. Specifically, VFT-PAC makes political contributions to U.S. Senators and Representatives who support our profession with their votes. Because of election laws and ethical considerations, PACs are funded apart from their parent organizations, so that membership dues and political donations are not mixed.
OSHA drops tree care from safety agenda
 On May 10, 2006, TCIA formally requested that the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) promulgate a standard for tree care operations. The petition was filed for a number of reasons, not the least of which was OSHA's continued inappropriate application of the logging standard to tree care operations. While it is true both professions work with and around trees, there are numerous and substantial differences between arborists and loggers with respect to the hazards faced and practices used. In other words, what is safe for a logger is not always safe for an arborist and vice versa.
It is not just the logging standard - OSHA has haphazardly regulated tree care by relying on a patch work of outdated or inappropriate regulations that were written for other industries. The resulting confusion has left tree care workers, employers and safety inspectors without clear federal guidance on the specific safety measures needed to mitigate the unique risks in our industry. This is particularly problematic for the thousands of small businesses that comprise the vast majority of the industry.
The tree care industry is one of the most hazardous and there is no room for confusion about safety. So TCIA sought a standard just for tree care - one that captures and codifies the collective wisdom and experiences of employers and employees, organized labor, equipment manufacturers and academia. After much lobbying and many visits to Congress and the Department of Labor, in the fall of 2008 OSHA announced an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for Tree Care Operations.
 Ten years after the industry first asked for a standard and two years after a formal petition, OSHA finally decided to add tree care operations to the regulatory agenda. The agency began collecting data on injuries and fatalities in the industry in anticipation of finally writing a standard to improve safety in commercial tree care operations.
In April 2010, the Obama administration released its spring regulatory agenda and a safety standard for tree care operations was dropped from the list. Instead, OSHA has determined that "existing health and safety standards ... are sufficient to adequately assure and address worker health and safety protections ..." in the tree care industry. "This decision does not rule out rulemaking on tree care at a future time when circumstances permit. OSHA has decided, however, that where resources or other priorities do not allow us to work actively on a standard, that standard should be removed from the regulatory agenda until such time as resources permit the agency to make significant progress."
In other words, the new administration has its priorities - and commercial arboriculture isn't one of them. Most of the current list comes directly from the agenda of organized labor, which now has a strong voice within the Obama administration. Safety in commercial arboriculture, an industry made up of mostly small, non-union businesses, is not a priority of organized labor.
The industry is doing its part through voluntary regulation. Through credentialing, it has created stronger means of internal monitoring for safety. Through this latest action however, OSHA and unsophisticated employers run the risk of overlooking serious work site hazards that these other standards do not cover. These poor-fitting standards impose inappropriate safety measures that can be not only costly and inefficient, but may expose tree care workers to greater hazard.
OSHA Assistant Secretary David Michaels recently testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions about the loss of seven refinery workers in Washington State. A tragedy, to be sure, but just an average month in the tree care industry. Invisible, relentless daily tragedies that happen one dead worker at a time don't attract headlines. Apparently, they no longer attract the attention of the government employees charged with assuring "safe and healthful working conditions for working men and women" either.
Now that Washington has turned its back on safety in tree care, it is up to the industry itself to work, day by day, to truly make safety a value. And, of course, we need to continue working on Washington.
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