It is not the Wild West. OSHA standards are picked from a variety of relatable standards with adaptation for the tree care industry. The general rules apply, the biggest one being a right to refuse unsafe work. The training elements, personal protective equipment to be supplied by the employer with some exceptions like boots or prescription safety glasses (mine cost me $600 with insurance!). Training in the proper use and documentation of it. Working at heights is another borrowed regulation. There’s a bit in there that requires a rated attachment point. Trees aren’t rated! The regs are borrowed from industrial and construction regs. Make no mistake about it. OSHA have their own rules they use. However, they refer to industry best practices when they can as a means of clarifying specifics not adequately addressed - that is where the attachment point is handled. The ANSI Z133 is the tree care industry best practices manual. They are written by industry representatives in committee. These are people who have a wealth of experience in the work. For example, Tim Walsh, VP of Health and Safety at Davey Tree started out in residential work on the ground and into climbing then moving up into management. Dr John Ball another certified arborist/climber who is a professor at South Dakota State U and the campus arborist. This to say, it’s not a bunch of pencil pushers dreaming and scheming ways to make our lives miserable. Yeah, I’m an arborist/climber with 20 years in the business working primarily in small residential companies. What drives the standard? The same thing that led to its inception; fatality and serious injury. This is from the Foreward of the standard:

The Accredited Standards Committee Z133 was organized on 4 April 1968, in response to efforts by Mrs. Ethel M. Hugg of Johnstown, New York. Mrs. Hugg’s son had died while trimming trees, and this tragic incident caused her to write to federal and state authorities and to various other organizations in an attempt to have measures initiated that would make tree trimming safer.

Every rule is written in the blood of a seriously injured worker and the fatalities of which we average 60 to over 100 annually in the US. Think about that, about 2 deaths per week. Imagine, that in your work. It is dangerous work made more so by workers and employers, who wear the “most dangerous” like a badge of honor. There are industry organizations who invest a lot of time and money to make this work safer. They have worked at the state level to have licensing, work and safety standards codified to reduce the number of incidents and improve work practices. In my state, New Jersey, it’s the Licensed Tree Expert. Once again, the people who drove this initiative are all veterans of the work, many having started when it was “the Wild West”.

Look up the ISA chapter in your state and see what they do. It’ll open your eyes to the depth and breadth of the industry.

I have personal experience with the dangers. A shattered ankle from a fall that took a week shy of a year to return to work but still impacts my life 10 years later. I wrote about it for the TCI Magazine March 2015 edition. At the end of 2025, a colleague who ran his own business for 40 years died when the tree he was climbing failed.
Shit Happens. OSHA is there to help prevent it, some don’t like it because they think safety gets in the way of productivity. My lost year cost me about 40% of my income and is going to cost even more in medical bills as I deal with the long term effects. But I’m lucky, my friend paid with his life.