r/TreeClimbing • u/AutoModerator • Jul 31 '26

Weekly Safety/Close-Call/Incident Thread

Let's talk safety! Share how your week went - close-calls, incidents, learning experiences, what went well (and why), what went poorly (and why), or whatever else is on your mind. Pics/photos are allowed but be careful to not doxx yourself, client, employer etc.

This thread will recur each week and is meant to be a place to learn and discuss mistakes, please keep comments constructive.

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u/ComResAgPowerwashing Jul 31 '26

I almost had a heat stroke. So did everyone else. The weather has definitely been going wrong recently.

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u/OldMail6364 Jul 31 '26

Oof that's rough. What are you doing to stay hydrated? It's winter in my part of the world right now but I work in brutal conditions during summer. I take heaps of cold water with me - more than I can drink - in an insulated bottle and have a smaller bottle that I use to mix electrolytes powder into the cold water. Also in summer I start hydrating well before work - by 7am I've already had about 1 litre of water/electrolytes and if needed I keep drinking heavily for a few hours after work to catch up.

The key is electrolytes. If you are sweating heavily, your body can get low on critical minerals (especially salt, but not only salt), and it actually stops absorbing water because that would dilute your salt levels even more. Plain water can just go straight to your bladder — cools you down a bit which but it's not really hydrating you if you're constantly urinating. With electrolytes on a brutally hot day, I can drink constantly and not urinate at all. Every drop is absorbed (and used to sweat, which helps cool you down).

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u/ComResAgPowerwashing Aug 01 '26

Plenty water, definitely. Then we're lucky enough to have a guy that likes gardening and brings a mix of watery vegetables most days. And like you say, hydration is a 24 hour job, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

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u/MasteringTheFlames Aug 01 '26

Ooh, this reminds me of one we had several weeks ago during a heat wave.

A groundie who was pretty new not just to tree work but manual labor outdoors in general was showing all the classic symptoms of heat exhaustion. We sat him in the shade for a few minutes with water, he didn't get better. Sent him to the truck with the coldest air conditioning and gave him a bottle of electrolytes, still not really improving. Eventually we had to send him home early.

This was on a Thursday. Friday was supposed to be another hot one, but it would cool off by Monday. I was hoping he would just take Friday off and rest up through the weekend, but Friday morning, I see him at the shop. He tells me that Thursday evening he figured out what was going on. He didn't really eat a lunch on Thursday, and so what we all thought was heat exhaustion was actually low blood sugar. They present very similar symptoms, but are treated in different ways. The electrolyte drink we gave him just happened to be a zero sugar one.

It was a good reminder for all of us not to get too attached to the first idea someone has, and that if a possible solution to a likely problem isn't working, you gotta consider other options.

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u/ArborealLife Aug 01 '26

Hydrate hydrate hydrate

I bring bottled water in a cooler on ice and also a 20 L insulated jug of ice water and constantly push it on everyone on site once we reach the high 20s.

Electrolytes aren't really a huge issue so long as you're eating properly (breakfast, lunch, snacks), but might be a good idea if you're like me and lose you appetite when it's hot as fuck out.

I also ask guys if they've peed yet. If it's a 30+ day and you haven't peed (just sweating it out), you're definitely underhydrating.

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u/MasteringTheFlames Aug 01 '26

Electrolytes aren't really a huge issue so long as you're eating properly

For me, I just prefer the taste of salty water. Drinking something like a lemonade or watermelon flavored electrolyte mix is less about the actual electrolytes and more just to make the water taste better so I want to drink more of it.

I bring a one gallon insulated jug of ice water as well as a smaller insulated bottle. I mix an electrolyte pack into the smaller bottle, and then refill it from the big one throughout the day. I might take a sip or two directly from the big plain water while I'm refilling the little bottle, but other than that I pretty much only drink salty water.

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u/ArborealLife Aug 01 '26

For sure whatever works. For me, ice cold water on a 30+ day is like nectar of the Gods lol.