All provinces and territories · Editable Word template

Tree care and arborist safety manual template

A complete written health and safety program for tree care companies and arborists doing pruning, removals, climbing and rigging, aerial lift work, stump grinding, chipping, plant health care and storm clean-up, wherever in Canada the tree is. It is laid out on the 14 national COR elements and written for the work: limits of approach to overhead lines and who may work inside them, utility line clearance for qualified crews only, the job briefing and tree inspection, climbing systems and tie-in points, chainsaws aloft with two points of attachment, rigging, lowering and the drop zone, aerial lifts and bucket trucks, crane-assisted removals, felling, chippers, stump grinders, storm damage under tension, pesticides, street work zones and aerial rescue. Section 15 sets out the law of every province and territory, and federal workplaces, side by side, with each jurisdiction’s limits of approach, tree work and climbing rules, aerial device and chainsaw rules, and who licenses pesticide applicators. It arrives as an editable Word file you make your own.

A look inside

Sample pages from the manual, marked and cut short. Your copy has no watermark.

Cover with room for your logo and company name

Linked table of contents, laid out on the 14 national COR elements plus a section on working across Canada

Section 3: twenty safe work practices written for tree crews, overhead power lines shown

Section 15: each jurisdiction's limits of approach, tree work and climbing rules, and pesticide licences

Appendix A: all 74 documentation questions of the national COR elements mapped

Print-ready plans and forms: the aerial rescue plan and drill record shown

What’s in the manual

1. Safety and health policy

A signed, dated policy, the written program, and responsibilities for management, crew leaders, climbing arborists, ground workers, aerial lift and crane operators and plant health technicians.

2. Hazard assessment, analysis and control

Formal hazard assessments by type of tree work, the 5 × 5 risk matrix, a critical task inventory, and the tree job hazard assessment and briefing before every job.

3. Safe work practices

Twenty practices for tree crews: the client and the public, the briefing and tree inspection, power lines, utility line clearance, climbing systems, saws aloft, rigging, aerial lifts, crane removals, chainsaws, felling, chippers, stump grinders, storm damage, pesticides, street work zones, aerial rescue, noise and handling, weather and new climbers.

4. Safe job procedures

Step-by-step procedures for inspecting a tree and choosing a tie-in, climbing to make a cut, rigging down a limb, sectional removal from a lift, feeding a chipper, cutting a storm-damaged tree under tension, working near a line and rescuing an injured climber.

5. Company safety rules

Life-saving rules for tree work (never inside the limit of approach unless qualified and authorized, tied in twice to cut, nobody in the drop zone, never reach into a chipper), and a progressive discipline process applied the same way every time.

6. Personal protective equipment

Climbing helmets, chainsaw leg protection, eye, face and hearing protection, and climbing gear chosen and inspected as PPE.

7. Preventative maintenance program

Ropes, harnesses and hardware, chainsaws, aerial lifts and bucket trucks, chippers and stump grinders, and trucks.

8. Training and communication

Climbing and aerial rescue, chainsaw training, aerial device operators, electrical hazard awareness, pesticide licences, and supervised work for new climbers.

9. Inspections

Climbing gear and rope logs, aerial lifts and chippers checked before use, and job site inspections.

10. Investigations and reporting

Falls, chainsaw cuts, electrical contacts, struck-by incidents and near misses reported and investigated.

11. Emergency preparedness

An injured climber aloft, a power line contact, a chainsaw cut, a crushed ground worker, and first aid on every crew.

12. Statistics, records and document control

Briefings, rescue plans and drills, gear inspections, lift plans and pesticide records, kept for the longest period any jurisdiction requires.

13. Legislation

OHS law and its tree work rules, ANSI Z133 as an industry standard, the CSA chainsaw and aerial device standards, pesticide law, and the right to refuse.

14. Procurement and contractor management

Working for owners, municipalities and utilities, crane subcontractors, and buying climbing gear, saws and equipment.

15. Working across Canada

Whose law applies, then every province and territory and federal workplaces side by side: the act and regulation, the regulator, limits of approach and who may work inside them, tree work and climbing rules, aerial devices and chainsaws, pesticide licences, and serious incidents to report and how fast.

Appendix A. COR cross-reference

Every one of the 74 documentation questions in the 14 national COR elements, what it looks for in plain words, the section that answers it, and whether the auditor will also want your records.

Appendix B. Forms

37 print-ready forms that match the manual, each with a form code: among them the tree job hazard assessment and briefing, aerial rescue plan and drill record, climbing gear and rope log, aerial lift inspection, chipper and stump grinder inspection and crane-assisted removal lift plan.

Written for the work, not just the province

Tree workers are killed by power lines, falls, chainsaws and wood that moves the wrong way. This manual is written around them, practice by practice and procedure by procedure.

Every tree climbed gets a rescue plan with the kit at its base, and work inside the limit of approach to an energized line is for qualified utility arborists with the utility’s authorization, nobody else.

One program for every province you work in

Your crews follow the occupational health and safety law of the province or territory where the tree is, not where your office is. The manual sets your company’s rules once and gathers what changes at each border into section 15, so a supervisor starting work in a new province looks up what applies there.

It is laid out on the 14 national COR elements, so it suits a COR audit wherever you certify. Each certifying partner uses its own audit tool, so check it against yours; our provincial manuals follow each province’s audit exactly. No template can guarantee a certificate on its own, and we don’t claim to.

Who it is for

Tree care companies and arborists: pruning, removals, climbing and rigging, aerial lift work, stump grinding, chipping, plant health care and storm clean-up. Logging has its own manual.

A template is a starting point, not legal or engineering advice: a qualified person must adapt it to your work and the provinces you work in before you issue it.

Lifetime updates

When the law changes, we publish a new edition and email everyone who bought the template. Every update is free, for as long as we publish it.

Version 1.0 October 29, 2026
- First edition, written for tree care companies and arborists and laid out on the 14 national elements of the harmonized COR audit.
- Section 15 sets out the law and the limits of approach, tree work, climbing, aerial device, chainsaw and pesticide licence rules of every province and territory and federal workplaces, checked against the legislation in force on 29 October 2026.