Women’s ArbCamp 2022

Boel Hammerstrand

Womens ArbCamp 2022 was held in southern Sweden in September. More than 30 women attended from Sweden, Norway, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Denmark and Taiwan.

Women’s ArbCamp (WAC) is an initiative run by women, for women, trans and non-binary people within the arb profession. The goal is to create a safe, friendly, fun and inclusive event for all levels of skill and all interests, from climbing and pruning work to consultancy and business management. The event also provides networking opportunities, continuous professional development and a means to help support women, trans and non-binary people already in arboriculture or who are thinking about entering the profession.

The event is free of charge for participants and all inclusive, offering all food and a place to sleep in addition to the full programme of sessions and workshops. This year there was camping on site. We are eternally grateful to all our sponsors who make it possible for us to host this as a free event; our sponsors provide the finance and supply the goodies we give away to the attendees, and experts give their time to host workshops and lectures during the camp. This year the event had more than 20 sponsors who supported it in different ways, including the Arboricultural Association, the Swedish Tree Association and the International Society of Arboriculture. iClimb provided custom-made carabiners for all participants. To find out about all our sponsors and to see more pictures from the event, visit our website: www.womensarbcamp.com

WAC 2022 included practical workshops on aerial rescue, first aid, ergonomics on the ground as well as in the tree, machinery and splicing. During the machinery workshop, participants got to try out an Avant mini loader, a Bonnet firewood processor, a Timberwolf woodchipper and a Worky Quad thanks to Leires Trädvård and Maskinkompaniet. The ergonomic workshop demonstrated different ways to use bigger muscles when working in tree care; it also showed how the techniques could be applied during climbing activities and explained ways to think about positioning and work methods. During the aerial rescue session we learnt about accident prevention, work planning and risk assessments and the importance of practising rescues with your work colleagues and the equipment that you normally carry whilst climbing.

All pictures by Sylvia, Ren-han Hsu

Other workshops included a session on pregnancy and tree work, tree inventories, the structural hierarchy of companies, pull testing, planting and a talk from Andreas Rellfelt and Fian Hunter who gave their accounts of two sides of an accident. Andreas and Fian talked very openly about the workplace accident where a top snapped out of a pine tree that Andreas was climbing, leaving him paralysed from the waist down. Fian, who was the other worker on site, talked about the accident from his perspective – a perspective which is often forgotten as he was ‘only’ the second person on site and not left with any obvious scars from the event.

Eva Maria Hellqvist from Tradeko explained the similarities and differences between planting trees of all sizes, from a small sapling or potted tree from a nursery to a 180-tonne tree that was moved 76 m in Gothenburg – she was involved in planning and executing the move. Eva Persson shared her experience of working while pregnant and after pregnancy, Arjan Raeymaekers demonstrated and explained the process of doing a pull test and making a report, and Anneli Lewis Skoglund from Skoglunds Trädvård talked us through how to make a tree inventory and report on trees.

WAC 2023 will be held in Belgium on 30th August–3rd September. More information will be available soon on our social media sites – we are called WomensArbCamp on all platforms. If you are interested in sponsoring the event or can help out with a workshop or presentation you can also contact us via email: boel87@hotmail.co.uk

This article was taken from Issue 199 Winter 2022 of the ARB Magazine, which is available to view free to members by simply logging in to the website and viewing your profile area.