A customer rang today looking for a fibreglass pole lopper. We talked about the domestic offering from Fiskars and the professional pole loppers from Bahco, Castellari and Corona. I inquired as to the reason for the fibreglass pole in particular and the customer informed me they would be working around power lines and safety was an issue.
Unfortunately, many customers believe that a fibreglass pole automatically qualifies as a safe pole when working near high voltage - however this is not entirely true! Some fibreglass poles do qualify, usually those filled with foam, but the vast majority don't including those listed above available from Treetools.
Professional utility arborists around the country use Tex on Site headed by Ross Gamble to test their pruning equipment. If Ross says it is good to go you can be sure of the sticks safety. Tex on Site also sell the fully certified Hastings sticks with a Universal Tree Pruner designed to fit directly onto the poles along with other attachments.
The system is not cheap since you have to buy poles and head attachment separately but at least you know you (or your employees) will be safe. This is a professional system and should only be used by arborists appropriately trained for this type of work.
