Tree work words: safety and PPE
Hazard, risk, protective equipment, supervision and site-control words as OSHA, SafeWork NSW, WorkSafe New Zealand and the Alberta OHS Code define them.
Checked against the sources at the bottom of this page on October 8, 2026. Rules, fees and pay change: the source has the last word.
This page reports what the official source says. It is not legal advice: ask the office named here. Safety codes use a small set of words very precisely, and the same word can carry a different shade in different countries. This page gives each word as the named regulator defines it, with the country shown so a reader can see where the meaning applies.
Every meaning is written in our own words from the page named in its row. A word that none of those pages defines is not listed. The wider A to Z list is the tree work glossary.
Words and meanings
| Term | Meaning | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Personal protective equipment (PPE) | Anything used or worn by a person, clothing included, to lower risks to their health and safety. WorkSafe New Zealand's forestry glossary lists respiratory equipment, helmets, eyewear, boots, gloves, hearing protection, hi-vis clothing, sunhats, sunscreen and harness systems as examples. | WorkSafe NZ forestry glossary, appendix 1 |
| Hearing protection device | Alberta's code names protective equipment worn to keep noise from damaging the wearer's hearing. | Alberta OHS Code Part 1, definitions |
| High visibility safety apparel | Alberta's code names work clothing meant to make the wearer visible at a glance and conspicuous in hazardous situations, in any light and under vehicle headlights. | Alberta OHS Code Part 1, definitions |
| Respiratory protective equipment | In Alberta's code, protective equipment for the wearer where the air lacks oxygen or carries harmful airborne substances. Self-contained breathing apparatus is included. | Alberta OHS Code Part 1, definitions |
| Ballistic nylon | In OSHA's logging standard, a strong nylon fabric made to resist cuts. The standard uses it as the example material for chainsaw leg protection. | OSHA logging standard 1910.266, definitions and felling rules |
| Serviceable condition | In OSHA's logging standard, a tool, machine, vehicle or device that is able to work the way its maker intended. | OSHA logging standard 1910.266, definitions and felling rules |
| Guarded | In OSHA's logging standard, protected against injury, whether by covers, casings, shields, rails, screens or simply by where the thing is placed. | OSHA logging standard 1910.266, definitions and felling rules |
| Hazard | In New South Wales, a situation or thing that can harm a person. WorkSafe New Zealand's glossary says anything that can cause harm, and adds that under its Act a person's behaviour can be a hazard. | SafeWork NSW tree work code, glossary; WorkSafe NZ forestry glossary, appendix 1 |
| Risk | In the New South Wales glossary, the possibility that harm (death, injury or illness) might occur when exposed to a hazard. The New Zealand glossary says risks arise from people being exposed to a hazard. | SafeWork NSW tree work code, glossary; WorkSafe NZ forestry glossary, appendix 1 |
| Hazard assessment | In Alberta's code, an assessment done under section 7 or section 21 of the code. | Alberta OHS Code Part 1, definitions |
| Control measure | A way of eliminating or minimising risks to health and safety, in WorkSafe New Zealand's forestry glossary. | WorkSafe NZ forestry glossary, appendix 1 |
| Eliminate, minimise | To eliminate is to remove the sources of harm, such as equipment, substances or work processes. To minimise is to reduce the likelihood of an event, the level of harm if it happens, or both. Both are WorkSafe New Zealand definitions. | WorkSafe NZ forestry glossary, appendix 1 |
| Hazardous energy | In Alberta's code, any form of energy (electrical, mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic, chemical, thermal, gravitational or other) that could injure someone by moving, starting up or releasing unexpectedly. | Alberta OHS Code Part 1, definitions |
| Competent person | In New South Wales, a person who has gained the knowledge and skills for the task through training, qualification or experience. WorkSafe New Zealand words it as someone who can consistently show the skill and knowledge from experience or training for the type of work. | SafeWork NSW tree work code, glossary; WorkSafe NZ forestry glossary, appendix 1 |
| Designated person | In OSHA's logging standard, an employee who has the knowledge, training and experience for specific duties. | OSHA logging standard 1910.266, definitions and felling rules |
| Direct supervision | In Alberta's code, a competent worker who watches a worker who is not yet competent in person and can talk with that worker readily and clearly. | Alberta OHS Code Part 1, definitions |
| Close supervision | Direct and constant one-on-one supervision, in WorkSafe New Zealand's forestry glossary. | WorkSafe NZ forestry glossary, appendix 1 |
| Exclusion zone | A designated area where others, apart from the operator, are excluded. WorkSafe New Zealand says it is set by separation distances, usually two tree-lengths, by physical barriers, or by scheduling activities at different times. | WorkSafe NZ forestry glossary, appendix 1 |
| Drop zone | Any area in which parts of the tree may be felled or dropped, in the New South Wales glossary. | SafeWork NSW tree work code, glossary |
| Fall restraint device | A device used to prevent a person falling while working at height, usually a harness and lanyard system, in WorkSafe New Zealand's forestry glossary. | WorkSafe NZ forestry glossary, appendix 1 |
| Fatigue | A physiological state in which someone cannot mentally and physically function as usual. WorkSafe New Zealand names four causes: missing sleep, being awake too long, working and sleeping at the wrong points of the body clock, and workload. | WorkSafe NZ forestry glossary, appendix 1 |
| Impairment | A reduction of a person's ability to think or act as a result of drug or alcohol use, mental fatigue, stress, health conditions or traumatic shock, in WorkSafe New Zealand's forestry glossary. | WorkSafe NZ forestry glossary, appendix 1 |
| Psychosocial hazard | A hazard arising from the design or management of work, the work environment, plant, or workplace interactions or behaviours, that may cause psychological harm, in the New South Wales glossary. The glossary defines a psychosocial risk as a risk to health or safety arising from such a hazard. | SafeWork NSW tree work code, glossary |
| Emergency | In WorkSafe New Zealand's glossary, an uncontrolled event that has caused or could cause loss of life, injury or serious property damage. | WorkSafe NZ forestry glossary, appendix 1 |
| First aid, first aider | In Alberta's code, first aid is emergency care for an ill or injured worker at a work site, and a first aider is someone with one of the listed levels of training who is named to give it. | Alberta OHS Code Part 1, definitions |
| Health monitoring | Looking at whether a worker's health is being harmed by what they are exposed to at work, hearing tests for example, in WorkSafe New Zealand's glossary. Exposure monitoring measures what workers are exposed to. | WorkSafe NZ forestry glossary, appendix 1 |
| Chain shot | The high-speed ejection of a piece of chain when a chain used in mechanised harvesting breaks, in WorkSafe New Zealand's forestry glossary. | WorkSafe NZ forestry glossary, appendix 1 |
| Rollover protective structure (ROPS) | A structure meeting an ISO standard, fitted to mobile plant to lower the chance of injury to an operator wearing a seatbelt if the machine rolls over, in WorkSafe New Zealand's glossary. | WorkSafe NZ forestry glossary, appendix 1 |
| Falling object protective structure (FOPS) | A structure meeting an ISO standard, fitted to mobile equipment to lower the chance of harm to a seated operator if a falling object strikes it, in WorkSafe New Zealand's glossary. | WorkSafe NZ forestry glossary, appendix 1 |
Reading these sources
The Alberta definitions apply to the province's Occupational Health and Safety Code as a whole, so the equipment entries are general workplace definitions, not tree work rules. The OSHA entries come from the logging standard, which is where the US agency defines words such as ballistic nylon and designated person. The New South Wales and New Zealand entries come from their tree work and forestry publications.
A definition says what a word means in that document. It does not say which equipment a worker has to wear. What each country's rules and standards say about helmets, eye and hearing protection, hi-vis clothing and chainsaw clothing is on the PPE standards matrix, helmets by standard and chainsaw protection by country.
Words about climbing gear are in tree work words: climbing.
Contains material from the SafeWork NSW Tree work code of practice, which SafeWork NSW publishes under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. Contains material from WorkSafe New Zealand publications. The wording above is ours.
Sources
- WorkSafe New Zealand, Safe practice for forestry and harvesting operations, appendix 1 glossary, read October 8, 2026
- Government of Alberta, Occupational Health and Safety Code Part 1 definitions, read October 8, 2026
- OSHA, 29 CFR 1910.266 Logging operations, definitions and felling rules, read October 8, 2026
- SafeWork NSW, Tree work code of practice, appendix A glossary, read October 8, 2026