Working at height is one of our most hazerdous operations in the tree care and vegetation management industries. The most popular method of accessing trees for many years has been through the use of rope and harness after undergoing the correct training to achieve this. A well set up climbing system utilised by an experience arborist is an extremely safe and efficient way of accessing a tree to carry out work. However, in recent years, there has been an influx of less experienced people into a generally unregulated industry (certainly on the domestic tree care side) which has led to an increase in accidents. The increase in accident statistics prompted the HSE to take a closer look at the climbing methods employed, and as a result made some instant, drastic changes relatively quickley . This lead to the addition of a second climbing system, which was something that was not required previously. Arboricultural work has always required the use of two anchor points (main anchor and work positoning) but only one main climbing system up to the date of said changes. This brought things in line with systems used in the ropes access industry.
The introduction of this new method was done in such a way that some companies were not even aware of a change to the law and as such were effectively operating illegally because of it. The other issue was the lack of thought that went into how a second system could be efficiently applied. Although on the face of it both tree care and ropes access use similar equipment to work at height, the two industries couldn't be further apart operationally! To date it has taken at least two years for the industry to catch up with new technique guides and changes to training programs finally introduced.
The main knock on effect of the new law was an increase on commercial pressure, with the new legislation increasing the time scale for a lot of jobs. This was obviously not recieved very well as job rates are already on the low side due to the cut throat nature of the industry.
Regardless of these changes PLS Group UK decided to take the step of aquiring a new 'spider' MEWP, to try and minimise the need for operating from a rope and harness in the first place. Yes, the new machine would be an additional cost to every job but the safety, speed and efficiency tends to outway this. The machine chosen was carefully selected for it's ease of use and incredible off road abilty. We aquired our Laguan 190 from CPS lifts, who proved to be very easy to deal with, providing us with a thorough induction on the machines operation at point of delivery. This particular machine has been designed with the specific needs of arborists in mind. It is able to quickly traverse rough, steep terrain with ease, which is ideal for PLS Group UK's utility arborists where they often have to negotiate agricultural land and rough tracks. It's compact size allows it to fit through small gaps, with the ability to even remove the basket if needed. All in all, a very versatile machine. The Laguan has a maximum reach of 19m straight up and an impressive 9 meter plus out reach.
As with all PLS machinery aquisitions, we spent time analyzing the the areas we actully work in so it allows us to make an informed decision on the best machine for the job rather than just going bigger is better!! For us, access is key. It's OK having a piece of plant or machinery to carry out a specific task but it's no good if you can't get it there!!
Our Laguan is available for hire with operator or if you have a specific project in mind that PLS Group UK can help you deliver please contact us with any enquiries. For more information on it's capabilities please click the link to the Laguan website.