OSHA puts heat enforcement back on tree care for five years

Summer's barely started and OSHA already has tree care on its list again. Two workers died in separate incidents the first week of June. And TCIA is ending a long insurance partnership that a lot of member companies relied on.

Heat and high voltage

OSHA renewed its heat program and tree care is still a target

On April 10th OSHA put out an updated Heat National Emphasis Program that runs five years. Tree care and landscaping (NAICS 5617) stays on the high-hazard list. The new version drops numerical inspection quotas and ties enforcement to National Weather Service heat warnings and advisories instead. So when the heat advisory hits, the inspectors have a reason to show up (Tree Care Industry Magazine).

The federal heat standard is still in the works, but it isn't here yet. Until it is, you get cited under the NEP. That means you need to show real heat illness prevention for crews aloft and on the ground: water, shade, acclimatization for new hires, and a written program you can hand over. If your heat plan lives in your head, it doesn't exist as far as a citation is concerned. Build it before the first bad week of July.

Texas reminds everyone who gets to prune near the lines

The City of Lubbock is pushing its energy safety messaging, and it comes with a rule worth knowing. Under Texas Health & Safety Code Chapter 752, only utility-authorized professionals may prune or remove trees within ten feet of high-voltage power lines. Lubbock also regulates which trees can go in rights-of-way and under lines, which works as a local vegetation management ordinance (City of Lubbock). If you work in Texas, know the ten-foot line before you bid the job.

Two workers killed

Ohio man struck by a falling tree in Monroe County

A 50-year-old man died Saturday, June 6, while cutting trees in Monroe Township, Monroe County, Ohio. He was part of a crew working on private property when a falling tree struck him in the head. EMS responded but he was pronounced dead at the scene. The Monroe County Sheriff's Office is investigating. Initial coverage mentioned no OSHA involvement (AOL).

Lumber yard worker killed by machinery in Northport, Alabama

A worker at W.G. Sullivan Lumber Company on Highway 171 in Northport died the evening of Tuesday, June 2, after being severely injured by industrial machinery. Responders were called around 7 p.m. and he was pronounced dead at the scene. OSHA has opened an investigation. The same facility took OSHA citations after a machinery injury back in 2017. The exact mechanism of this one, whether struck-by or caught-in, hasn't been released (ABC 33/40).

Bugs, beech, and stressed pines

Beech leaf disease is established in central Virginia, and the moths followed

The Crozet Gazette ran a feature on two threats moving through Albemarle County. Beech leaf disease was first confirmed there in summer 2025 after a hiker reported sick trees in Preddy Creek Park. The Virginia Department of Forestry has set up monitoring plots in Albemarle and four other counties and has stopped asking for new local reports because it's already established. Look for dark banding between the veins, yellowing, leathery leaves, and early drop. Small saplings can die in one to two years; mature beeches go in seven to ten. ISA-certified arborists are using an experimental thiabendazole trunk injection under special local need labeling in 24 states, mostly to hold high-value trees (Crozet Gazette).

The same piece tracks box tree moth, a boxwood defoliator that came into the U.S. through New York in 2021. It's now in Michigan, Ohio, Massachusetts, Delaware, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and the northern tip of Virginia as of summer 2025. VDACS has declared a quarantine for Winchester and Clarke and Frederick counties, restricting movement of boxwood plants and cuttings. Chlorantraniliprole, Btk, and Spinosad are the approved options that work. Report suspected finds to ReportAPest@vdacs.virginia.gov.

Wisconsin's rough spring is feeding the pine pests

Wisconsin DNR Forestry News says spring 2026 piled on the stress events: snow and ice damage, wind and hail and flooding, a mid-April record heat wave, then late-April snow and freezing rain. Weakened pines are now drawing pine root collar weevil and red turpentine beetle. For the weevil, pull the duff and soil off the base and look for black pitch-soaked soil and girdling at the root collar. The beetle hits pole-sized and larger pines, leaving pitch tubes on the lower two to three feet of trunk, and heavy attacks can mean salvage logging. Keep planting depth correct and the lower stems open to air (Wisconsin DNR Forestry News).

That lines up with a wider feature noting forest pest damage across North America has climbed over the last 20 years as warming lets insects run more generations a year, push into higher latitudes, and survive winters that used to kill them off. Drought-stressed trees take the worst of it (AOL).

The business desk

TCIA and ArborMAX are ending their endorsement partnership

TCIA and ArborMAX Insurance announced they're concluding their long-running endorsement deal, per a June 4 item in TCI Magazine. ArborMAX is an insurer built around tree care. The notice didn't name a replacement endorsement or a termination date (TCI Magazine). If your coverage runs through that relationship, ask your agent now what changes and when, rather than finding out at renewal.

Lucas Tree Experts puts $500,000 into vegetation management research

Lucas Tree Experts set up a $500,000 endowment to fund Integrated Vegetation Management research, reported May 20 in TCI Magazine. The money is aimed at applied work that shapes best practices for utility and rights-of-way crews (TCI Magazine). For utility arborists, this is the kind of funding that eventually rewrites specs and training, so it's worth watching what comes out of it.

Davey is hosting this year's North American climbing championship

The Davey Tree Expert Company is hosting the 2026 North American Tree Climbing Championship at its SEED Campus, per a May 28 brief in TCI Magazine. It's an ISA event that pulls top climbers, gear makers, and trainers into one place, which is usually where new rigging and technique show up first for production climbers (TCI Magazine).

One for the snag pile

Dead trees keep working long after they die

A synthesis covered by Inside Climate News makes the case that snags do real ecological work. In boreal forests, leaving skeletal trees standing after a fire goes with higher seed density in the soil nearby, which helps regeneration. Dead eastern hemlocks left standing moderate the microclimate enough to help hemlock seedlings survive (Inside Climate News). None of that overrides a hazard call near a target. But on the back forty, the dead one might be earning its keep.

Stay hydrated and watch the weather. See you next week!

The TreeNerd team