In April, a worker died after losing his footing in a tree.
COBB COUNTY, Georgia — Georgia lawmakers will address safety issues in Georgia’s tree industry. This follows the death of a Cobb County tree worker a few days ago.
One proposal is to require the state to license tree workers. Some Georgia lawmakers say the hazard of tree work is worth considering.
Art Alcantar lost his uncle, 57-year-old David Hernandez, who was a tree worker, in April. He died after an accident while felling a tree in Cobb County. He “had a lot of people who loved him,” Alcanter said.
Christie Bryant, a past president of the Georgia Arborists Association, said it’s high time the state made training and licensing for tree workers mandatory.
“Do you know that if you get your nails done, you need a license?” Bryant asked, pointing out that barbers and electricians also need state licenses. “Guess who doesn’t need a license? The person doing the most dangerous thing in your yard is not required by the state of Georgia to have a license.”
MP Victor Anderson (R-Cornelia) is behind legislative efforts to at least consider whether licenses are required for tree workers.
“It’s one of the most dangerous industries in Georgia,” Anderson said Wednesday. “The traditional model for a startup in this industry is that you can be a pruner with a pickup truck and a chainsaw.”
But new regulations could be hard to sell in a Republican-controlled General Assembly. When Brian Kemp first ran for governor in 2018, he told voters he wasn’t a fan of state regulations. Wielding a chainsaw in a TV commercial, Kemp said, “I’m so conservative, my chainsaw is ready to break some regulations.”
But two years ago, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration wrote, “The number of deaths, injuries and uncontrolled hazards in the tree and landscaping industry … is alarming and unacceptable.”
“I see tree companies working in almost every neighborhood. And it’s embarrassing how consistently it happens that I join a tree crew that doesn’t even have the basics of a hard hat,” Bryant said.
A subcommittee of the House Regulated Industries Committee is expected to make a statement later this year, said the committee’s chair, Rep. Alan Powell (R-Hartwell). Legislation would come later.
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