If you love to climb trees and are skilled with a chainsaw, tree lopping may be relatively easy for you. While you are high in your tree, however, you need to take precautions to make sure anyone who is helping you is safe below. Here are five essentials that can help with safety on the ground:

1. Eye protection

Just as eye protection can be useful while you are doing tree lopping, it can also be useful if you or an assistant is down below. Wood particles, insects, dust and pine needles may fall from the tree as it is being lopped. Eye protection can ensure whoever is on the ground doesn't get any of these particles lodged in their eyes.

2. Chainsaw straps and harnesses

If you are doing the tree lopping and you drop your chainsaw, it may break the chainsaw, but it won't hurt you. However, a falling heavy piece of machinery with spinning blades can certainly hurt your assistant below the tree.

Use straps and harnesses to connect all power tools to the person in the tree using them. In some cases, you may also be able to attach machinery to ropes connected to higher branches.

3. Aerial lift or ladder

If the tree features a lot of dead, small or cracking branches, don't climb it. Not only is it dangerous for you, but it can also hurt the people down below if the branches break and fall to the ground. Instead, use ladders or aerial lifts such as hydraulic cranes or cherry pickers to climb to the branches that need to be trimmed. If you use a ladder to climb the tree, tie it to a sturdy branch. That both stabilises it and prevents it from falling on anyone on the ground.

4. Helmets

As is the case in any construction zone, the people working below the people at heights should wear helmets. Ideally, a construction helmet works the best in terms of protecting your assistants from falling objects, but they can also use rock climbing or bicycle helmets if they don't have anything else.

5. Caution Tape

For the moments when you plan to drop branches out of the tree, you need the area down below completely clear. Ideally, the area should be lined with caution tape to define its perimeter, and you should shout out so people move before the branches start falling.

While people need to stay out of this area when you are dropping branches, they can move through it otherwise, as long as you have implemented the safety tips above.

For more information about tree lopping, contact a company like Treesafe Environmental Services.