Two tree workers died this week

Two crews lost a worker this week, one to a falling tree and one to a power line. OSHA's updated heat program keeps tree care squarely on its target list as summer ramps up. And emerald ash borer turned up in three more Texas counties. Coffee's hot. Here's what happened.

A bad week in the field

A 31-year-old climber was electrocuted in a bucket in Pennsylvania

Erik Reyna-Wright of Reading died Wednesday, June 10, while trimming a hedgerow from a bucket truck at a private home on the 4000 block of Grant Street in Exeter Township, Pennsylvania. The Berks County Coroner's Office identified him. The equipment he was running contacted an overhead high-voltage line. Responders gave first aid, but he was pronounced dead at the scene. The coroner ruled the death accidental. He worked for New Castle Lawn and Landscape, Inc., and OSHA is sending an investigator (People).

Hedgerow trimming feels low-stakes until the boom or a tool finds a line you stopped looking at. He was 31.

A tree trimmer was killed by a falling tree in Monroe County, Michigan

A tree trimmer died around 7 p.m. Saturday after a tree fell on him in Monroe County, Michigan. Local reporting cites MIOSHA, which confirmed two workplace deaths in the county over the past week and listed this as one of them. No name, employer, or age were released in the brief. MIOSHA is investigating (Monroe News via AOL).

Two deaths in one week, two of the oldest ways this work kills people. Power lines and drop zones. Nothing new about either hazard, which is the hard part.

Heat season and the training fine print

OSHA's updated heat program still names tree care

OSHA announced an updated Heat National Emphasis Program on April 10, and tree care and landscaping (NAICS 5617) stays on the high-hazard target list. The update revises inspection and citation procedures and drops the old numerical inspection quotas. It keeps heat-related programmed inspections in place when a heat warning or advisory is issued (TCI Magazine).

What that means for your crew: when the forecast trips a warning, your county is fair game for a programmed inspection. Have the water, shade, and rest schedule written down and actually running, not just laminated in the truck. OSHA's June 8 QuickTakes also pointed tree workers back to its hazard materials covering traffic, drop zones, chippers, lifts, and power lines, and flagged the National Utility Contractors Association's Trench Safety Stand Down running June 15 through 19 (OSHA).

First aid and CPR guidance changed

TCI Magazine ran a piece June 9 on updates to recommended first-aid and CPR practices and what they mean for tree work. If your company keeps a safety manual and runs in-house refreshers, this is the kind of thing that quietly makes your training out of date. Worth checking whether your certifications and procedures match the new guidance before someone needs them (TCI Magazine).

Bugs on the move

Emerald ash borer hits three more Texas counties

Texas A&M Forest Service confirmed emerald ash borer in Young, Montague, and Clay counties after adults turned up in monitoring traps. State officials are considering wood quarantines to restrict movement of ash and slow the spread (Fox 26 Houston). The detections sit in the Texoma area and widen the beetle's known range in the state (AOL).

If you work ash in those counties, plan for treat-or-remove conversations with clients and watch for a quarantine that changes how you haul wood.

And it's now in every town in one Vermont county

Up in Vermont, a local report says EAB has been detected in every town in Orange County. The state's Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation notified Bradford after a forester found infested trees along the Waits River, with this year's detections also listed in Topsham and West Fairlee (Journal Opinion).

Napa is chasing 157 missing grapevines

Napa County put out an alert that grapevines sold at the Napa Costco may carry glassy-winged sharpshooter, with infested shipments tracked across Sonoma, Marin, Solano, and Yolo counties. Of 220 grapevines delivered to the store, 63 were destroyed and 157 are unaccounted for. The county told anyone who bought grapevines, citrus, or other fruit trees to isolate them and call in (Napa County). If you do plant health care work near vineyards, this is a vector worth knowing about.

Spotted lanternfly quarantine holds across southeast Pennsylvania

The lanternfly quarantine is still on across a long list of Pennsylvania counties: Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Chester, Delaware, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lehigh, Monroe, Montgomery, Northampton, Philadelphia, and Schuylkill. The rule restricts movement of the pest and any gear or material that could carry egg masses (Ephrata Township). Same drill as past seasons: check trucks, chips, and equipment before you leave a quarantined county.

The business desk

TCIA and ArborMAX are ending their partnership

The Tree Care Industry Association and ArborMAX Insurance will wrap up their long-running endorsement partnership, per an industry brief dated June 4. The specialty insurer has served tree care companies for years through that arrangement. No replacement endorsement or timeline was named beyond the announcement (TCI Magazine).

If your coverage runs through that endorsement, don't assume nothing changes. Ask your agent what this means for renewal before it lands as a surprise.

Private equity is shopping in tree care

TCI Magazine ran a primer June 4 called "Private Equity 101: The Basics for Tree Care," aimed at owners weighing outside money. It walks through how these deals get structured and what they do to ownership and day-to-day operations (TCI Magazine). The reason it exists is simple. The buyers are out there, and they're calling owners of mid-size shops. Worth understanding the playbook before the offer letter shows up.

One for the climbers

Davey hosted the North American climbing championship at its new campus

Davey Tree ran the 2026 North American Tree Climbing Championship at its new SEED Campus, per TCI Magazine's industry news. Don Roppolo, Davey's VP of health and safety, called hosting it at the campus an honor (TCI Magazine). If you've ever watched a footlock event and thought you could shave ten seconds off, this is the crowd that proves you wrong in person.

Work the drop zone, keep your boom away from the wires, and check the truck before you leave a quarantine county. See you next week.

The TreeNerd team