A Close Call with Arborist John Schliemann

John Schliemann has been climbing trees professionally for 15 years. As an arborist, he is in his boots six days a week—and for the past seven years, those boots have been HAIX® Protector Ultra Signal Red. Until recently, though, he never truly knew whether they would actually hold up when it mattered most.

That changed on a routine workday when a chainsaw kicked out, a lanyard caught the throttle, and the saw traveled down his chainsaw pants and between his legs. He hit the chain brake in time. And walked away without a scratch.

Schliemann, who now works independently after years as a lead foreman climber at Davey Tree Expert Company in Latham, New York, agreed to share his story — something he acknowledges doesn't happen often enough in his industry. What follows is a conversation about the incident, the culture of silence around close calls in arboriculture, and why he recommends HAIX boots to every young climber he trains.

Q&A with John Schliemann

Can you walk us through what happened?

So I'm an arborist, I'm a tree climber. I climb just about every day, six days a week, and recreation climb with my girlfriend. But I was at work. I wear the red Protector Ultras—it's probably my fifth pair—and it was the first time I've actually experienced them working.

I was doing tree work and using the top bar of my chainsaw—which obviously pushes the bottom poles—and the pressure from the wood when it sat, it kicked out. When the saw kicked out, my lanyard grabbed a hold of the throttle and proceeded to go down my chainsaw pants and in between my legs. I managed to hit the chain brake, but it did a number on my boot.

For those of us who aren't up in the trees — the lanyard is holding the chainsaw in addition to your hands?

Yeah.

And the outcome — were you injured?

No injuries. Just one of those close calls of like, man, imagine if I wasn't wearing these boots.

You mentioned you've had about five pairs of Protector Ultras over seven years. What made you switch in the first place?

Someone turned me on to the HAIX and I was like, yeah, it's like a snowboard boot but it's extremely comfortable, and that level of protection is there. I can be in spikes, I can be in a foot ascender, and it's still comfortable. I actually wear these boots outside of work because when I don't wear them, I get a little sore in my back.

You were pretty open about the fact that in the moment, you weren't doing everything strictly by the book. Can you speak to that?

Complacency happens in our industry, and we don't really discuss a lot of our accidents or close calls because we're always afraid of somebody being like, "Oh, you're an idiot, why didn't you do it this way?" Armchair quarterbacking is so common, and people get criticized. I've been doing this for 15 years and everybody gets complacent. I used the carabiner on my 500i instead of taking the strap off, strapping the rear of my handle, and using it that way.

That's a really important point — that even experienced professionals can find themselves in these situations.

Right. Nobody wants to say that the bad thing we all think is never going to happen to us actually happened to me.

You train younger climbers. What do you tell them?

I say the same thing to everybody. When I was lead foreman climber at Davey's Latham, New York office, I'd get these young kids and say, "Hey, you really need to invest in some boots. This is what I recommend." Sometimes you’ll have to wait for their promotions to buy them, but I'm telling you, if you invest in yourself, it'll pay off in the long run. Don't worry about that initial expense—in the long run, your safety is more important.

Any final words?

I stand behind my HAIX. Tried, trusted, and true.