[gars]

I don't want to turn anyone off from tree-planting, because the following story is a complete freak accident.

I met a guy while at BCIT - and he got hurt while tree planting.

Basically - the motion is, walk a few steps, crouch down, plant a tree. repeat.

But this time - as he was crouching down, his friend called him, causing him to turn his head to look over to his friend, while still crouching down. A thin sharp twig was pointed as his head, and as he turned, it went right into his ear canal partially puncturing his ear drum.

He lost hearing partially in his ear, and he now has balance problems.

Interestingly enough, his recovery was covered by WCB. They gave him a settlement, and apparently, it doesn't really cover his hearing loss - because that wouldn't really affect him in his performance in tree planting - but it compensates him because he has balance problems - which actually affects his tree planting performance.

They ended up paying him to go back to school, to learn a new profession and career - which is why he went to BCIT.

sorry, everytime I hear about tree planting, I think back to my friend.