Weta

I thought that it might be interesting/educational to start a thread on close calls that arborists have personally had, and what was learned by it. Admittedly, accidents are kind of embarrassing and thus people are a little loathe to share such experiences, so I'll get the ball rolling...
Around 5 years ago, when I was within my first month of graduating from my arb course, we were taking down a big poplar - no embellishments here; it was big, we had to use the 42" bar to fell the spar. My boss Stu and I were up the tree, and we had removed most of the tree's canopy. I must have looked like I was handling it, because Stu got me to remove a large lateral branch. It was roped off for lowering, and I step cut it. Being very green, there was poor communication with the groundie, who had the rope too tight and didn't allow the branch to fold, and I cut too far with the second (top) cut, going all the way through the branch. The branch swung back, caught me in my midriff and took me on a massive swing upward, before dropping me back down. I was roped in (of course), with a high TIP. The reasons I weren't seriously injured were that:
- I didn't lanyard in, so the branch swung me up without any resistance
- There wasn't anything behind me to get squished against during the swing
- The branch caught me in my centre of gravity. Face or neck, no good!

I had to act like I was cool, but there was a little bit of trouble getting to sleep for the next wee while. My mistakes, that I could see, were:
- A step cut was inadequate for the size of the branch
- I should have stopped cutting long before I did, and moved away from the branch, allowing the groundie to fold it down
- I also should have discussed with the groundie about not holding the branch winched tight, but allowing it to run with the weight of the folding branch.

Now that I've finished humiliated myself, it's now up to somebody else to tell a war story worse than mine...