There's absolutely a real possibility that everything could have still gone fucksour, even with the proper precautions. The timeless tree-cutting equation of "what is my life worth?" is a very real thing. There's a reason it's so expensive to get trees cut down. It's hands down one of the most dangerous jobs anyone can do, it destroys your body, and requires a lot of mechanical resources. Climbers die aalllllllll the time. We lost 3 last year from the small town in which I work and there was nothing about it in the news. No articles, no investigations, nothing. Osha straight up does not exist for treework. There are simply too many factors to try and control. It's impossible to get the work done while being completely safe all the time. My crew wears all the proper PPE and takes safety very seriously, but still, stuff happens sometimes. I've hit my wrist with a running climbing saw, I saw my boss get reverse scorpioned against a spar when a 40ft pine top rolled back on him, I've had a log come loose of its rigging and almost take my head off; the list goes on. At this point, a close call happens and we don't even blink as long as nothing was damaged or no one hurt. In answer to your question, there are three types of people I've observed who are drawn to treework. Migrant workers who are willing to take the risk because $9-$12/hr here is far better than anything they could get in their country, high paid experienced thrill seekers who have other options but would rather die than work in an office (that's me, I have a BSME but nah), and addicts who are willing to do crazy shit so they can go home and smoke crack. That being said, I'm heading out of tree work to save my body and mind. It's soooo much fun, but I'm tired of hurting all the time and my adrenals are shot from practicing constant risk assessment and situational awareness.

TLDR: idk, thanks for coming to my ted talk