For 33 years, Friends of Trees has been gathering with community members to plant and care for trees and green spaces. Each new year brings the opportunity to improve our events, our systems, and our community engagement, and our safety protocols and procedures receive the same review and assessment as all of our program areas.

We have always taken the safety of our staff and volunteers very seriously. Our longstanding safety protocols include:

• Keeping a close eye on the weather. Extreme rain, snow, wind, heat or cold – all of these conditions are assessed and events and activities are changed, adjusted or canceled as warranted.
• As part of planting day preparation site assessments take place, looking for any unsafe conditions ranging from site debris to troublesome vegetation; sites are cleared and cleaned as needed.
• Planting staff are required to regularly take CPR, First Aid, and Wilderness First Aid courses; a new feature is that staff not directly implementing planting events are also taking these courses.
• Once we break down into planting crews at events, the first order of business (after introductions and a check-in activity!) is safety. Crew Leaders demonstrate proper and safe use of all tools and equipment, including how to carry and set aside shovels, rakes and other sharp tools. Have you ever held a stake pounder? If so then you know how heavy this large piece of metal is, and why anyone using it wears a hard hat, no exceptions.

We know there is always room for improvement, so we’ve gathered material from partner organizations to help update our safety protocols; updates include:

1. A clear structure and timeline for event cancellations due to inclement weather.
2. Refined Crew Leader talking points around safety to ensure our volunteer leaders are sharing the same messages and emphasis on the importance of safety.
3. We now have AEDs (automated external defibrillators) in our offices and in vehicles that head out to more remote natural areas.
4. A tree risk assessment professional helped refresh our staff on how to observe and note potential risks at natural area planting sites.
5. A formal Safety Committee meets monthly to explore suggestions and improvements to our safety practices, review resources to help with improvements, and to ensure any updates are communicated to all staff.

Friends of Trees staff review safety protocols with Crew Leaders at every event.

What can you do to help us?

1. See something, say something. If you see something that you think could be improved, let us know, we are all ears! Our partners and volunteers make us who we are and our staff can only be in one place at a time, so we do not see all that is happening when teams are out planting. We want to know about it.
2. Share resources with us. We know there is a lot out there. If you have found a safety resource helpful, please send along!
3. Help FOT strengthen our culture of safety. A culture where everyone feels safe is the bedrock of this work. Let’s look out for one another and remind each other that being safe is our utmost priority.