From the Ground Up
Lower the Load And Prevent the Tip-Over By Tchukki Andersen, BCMA, CTSP
The following observations are based on an interview with Evan Englehart, general foreman at Seacoast Tree Care in Stratham, New Hampshire, conducted during a residential tree care job. Tree work puts heavy equipment to work in condi- tions that would make safety professionals in other industries wince. There are sloped residential lots, tight driveways, overhead power lines and, often, all of it within a stone’s throw of someone’s living room window. Skid steers and grapple trucks, sometimes called log loaders, are two common pieces of heavy equipment on a tree crew, and they have at least one major thing in common. Beyond the grapple — often jok- ingly called the “grippy, clenchy thing” that moves tree debris — both machines can lose stability under load and tip-over. Does this type of incident happen frequently? It is difficult to know. These incidents are often unreport- ed, particularly when no one is injured. But the po- tential for a tip-over is real, and it can have serious consequences when it happens. The possibility of a mini loader tipping under load increases when the operator receives poor training,
or no training at all. Much of what it takes to keep these machines upright under load is passed down from crew to crew rather than found in the manufac- turer’s operating manuals. Equipment can change faster than the literature can keep up. Operators may also overlook the manuals, while the manuals themselves rarely capture everything crews learn through experience in the field. The manual that comes with a skid steer or log loader is an important starting point, but it is not the com- plete picture.
Understand the controls before you need them. Familiarity with the machine works in tandem with quick reactions when things go sideways.
ArborTIMES ™ Fall 2026 | 41
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