Apprentice
Winter time is perfect for training new workers. Just last week I had to show a new guy from Alberta how to brush cut. Safely! The dude came to BC last fall because of our cheap housing. I’m kidding, of course; he followed his girlfriend who is studying here.
Since young people are most likely to get injured on the job, we had to start with safety. The brush cutter blade is fairly sharp and it can launch many objects, which is why a helmet with a face shield and ear protection is mandatory.
So, this is the trick for successful brush cutting: go low enough to eliminate the invasive, prickly bramble but not so low that rocks get launched into windows or legs. If you go too high, you’re not really brush cutting and this happened in a few sections. So I had to point it out and send the dude back to touch it up.
Now, obviously, this sort of work isn’t art. We just need to level the invasive bramble to keep it in check, but it’s also important to face your fears and give it a good go.
Targets
Additionally, we did have a walkway just below us where school kids and parents represented serious targets for about an hour in the morning. Always be aware of your surroundings. By the way, the same applies to your crew members: it’s important to brush cut as a team but not too close. The last thing I want to do is eat young Ethan’s rocks. And he did get too close for comfort a few times.
One extra problem we had to carefully point out was rebar sticking out of the bramble. Luckily it forms a line so you can tell roughly where it might become a problem. Hitting your blade against the rebar isn’t fatal but it’s jarring and scary. As a landscape manager I had to point this out to young Ethan.
To this day I have no idea why it’s there. I think it anchored something.
Lessons for managers
Training and learning never stop! At least not if you expect to have great, productive teams. And for training to be effective you must stick together as a team so when there is a mistake you can point it out. Same with great work.
Young Ethan also went home in great spirits, having learned a new machine and task. Now we just keep building on that and watch his confidence go up.
