A toolbox talk ready to deliver for foremen and supervisors. An 8 to 10 minute spoken script plus a briefing register for the team to sign.
Overhead power lines are one of the few things in tree work that can kill you instantly, from a distance, without you ever touching them. A branch, a pole saw, a wet rope or a thrown length of timber getting too close to a live line is enough. This talk is the script a supervisor delivers before any work near lines, so everyone knows to treat every line as live, keep well clear, and never take a chance to save moving the ladder or the truck.
Working near overhead lines is covered by HSE guidance note GS6, Avoiding danger from overhead power lines, and the Electricity at Work Regulations, alongside the Industry Code of Practice for tree work near power lines. The key fact is that electricity can jump a gap. You do not have to touch a line to be killed, it can arc across to you, your tools or a branch if you get close enough. Work near lines that cannot be kept clear should be done with the line isolated by the network operator, or by a team trained and authorised for utility arb work. For the rest of us the rule is simple: keep yourself, your kit and the timber well outside the exclusion distance, every time.
Spoken script for the supervisor. Read or paraphrase, in order.
Treat every overhead line, cable and even a phone line running alongside as live and dangerous. You cannot tell by looking whether a line is live or what voltage it carries. So we never guess, we never assume it is dead, and we never go on it looking old or sagging. Live until proven otherwise, in writing, by the people who own it.
This is the one people do not know. High voltage electricity can arc across a gap to you, your saw, your pole or a branch before you ever make contact. That is why keeping clear is about distance, not about being careful not to touch. Get inside that distance and it can come to you. No PPE we wear will save you from that, only distance does.
Before work starts we walk the job and find every line, including the ones half hidden in the crown, running to the house, or dropping to a pole across the road. Lines get lost in foliage, so look properly. If there is a line anywhere near the work, it gets flagged and planned before a saw comes out, not noticed halfway up.
Nobody, no tool, no rope, no branch and no length of timber goes inside the exclusion distance for the lines on this job. That distance depends on the voltage and the situation, so your supervisor or the network operator gives you the exact figure and we mark it out. When in doubt, treat it as much further than you think and stay well back.
Where the work genuinely cannot be done outside the safe distance, that is not a reason to have a go closer. It means the job stops until the network operator has isolated the line, or a properly trained and authorised utility arb team takes it on under a permit. That call is not made up the tree, it is made before we start.
Alloy poles, pole saws, wet ropes, ladders and long lengths of timber all conduct, and all extend your reach towards a line without you feeling it. A pole saw lifted up to a branch is a straight path to a line above it. Be very aware of anything long or metal in your hands near lines, and lower it, do not swing it.
Think about where material goes, not just where you are. A branch swinging on a rope, a section being lowered, or a crane or MEWP jib can all reach a line. Plan the drops and the machine positions so nothing travels towards the lines, and keep the ground crew clear of where a line could come down.
If a tree, a branch, a machine or a person does contact a line, treat the whole area as live. Do not touch the casualty or the machine, keep everyone back at least the distance you have been given, and call 999 and the network operator straight away. The ground itself can be live around the point of contact, so do not walk into it.
If you are in a truck, MEWP or machine that has hit a line, the safest place is usually to stay in it until the power is confirmed off. Only if there is fire or another immediate danger do you get out, and then you jump clear with both feet together and shuffle away without touching the machine and the ground at the same time. We agree this before the job, because it is not something you work out in the moment.
What the supervisor should be actively spotting on walk-arounds.
Ask one or two of these at the end. Confirms attention more than a silent nod.
A toolbox talk is generic by design. It works on every site. Your RAMS isn't. Briefkit writes a site-specific RAMS for your actual job: the hazards, sequence, PPE, competencies and emergency arrangements that apply to this work, at this address, by this team. £30 per document.
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