Hi Marc, interesting points, if during repollarding of any species with great age I permitted the limbs I was working on to barber chair or tear down the bark I don't think I'd be getting a call back from that company again, and rightly so. Sounds, as you suggest that the chain was not sharp enough, nor the climber.
If I have to carry a large saw into the tree to remove heavy wood I always make sure I'm getting into a postion from which I can work with control over the saw, poor work positioning is the number one cause of stress injuries in climbers. One guy has said to me in the past that its tree work and its going to be uncomfortable, to which I replied that there was no requirement in our job to make things uncomfortable. There certainly are times when removing a limb requires me to get into very awkard positions, looking more like a yoga practitioner than anything else, but with careful forethought and planning of your cuts before you make them and the sequence that you make them in I have found the straining you describe to be very much the exception than the rule. As such that exception is something I will bear to maintian what I consider to be safe working methods.
I am very fortunate to be in a position where the company I work for values me and my skills, but I am not silly enough to fail to recognise that others are in positions that require them to "get it done" then move onto to the next job. The pressure on climbers for speed at the cost of safety is a real problem, I've seen it like everyone else. Its one of the main reasons why I am commited to getting best practice standards established here in Queensland, without them there is no job specfic protection for tree workers at all.
__________________ Sean  Trees are poems that earth writes upon the sky,
We fell them down and turn them into paper,
That we may record our emptiness.
- Kahlil Gibran
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