ABOUT US
Hello! I'm Erick Palacios, a certified arborist, tree climber, and seasoned arborist trainer.
As someone that had suffered firsthand the flaws in safety and training in the blue-collar industries after surviving a horrific accident on the job that left me half dead, completely broken from most of my upper body and nearly severed my arm, I decided that day! If I survived, I would never again be placed in hazardous working conditions or situations without the proper
knowledge and training.
Thanks to God! I survived! After a year of a lengthy recovery I was able to move again so I sought out opportunities for higher education and additional training. I obtained industry recognized Certifications and Qualifications to broaden my knowledge and to supplement my extensive field experience and hands on skill set in the Arboriculture trade. I soon after began to informally share this knowledge with my co-workers and later went on to professionally train employees as a corporate manager, general foreman, and safety supervisor for the top utility companies, and I helped create other training companies and train other trainers along the way.
While working in the corporate world I find that more than 65% of the workforce in the tree, landscape, and green industry are Latino, Hispanic, or Spanish speaking and another big percentage are minorities and Americans of lower socio-economic status. Due to their circumstances these employees have to accept the most hazardous jobs or tasks on our teams and are minimally and or poorly trained for their jobs due to poor translations and poor trainers.
So after working for 15 years for corporate America I founded International Arborist institute
safety training and consulting company. At first, I began by helping with translating documents and instructions for training from English to Spanish. ANSI Z133 Tree Care Industry Standards was one of those documents that we are proud to have helped with. Later it evolved
into what it is now a company that provides safety training and consulting for companies all over the continental US, Mexico, and Latin America specializing in the utility, governmental, and private sectors.
Certifications
Our Master Instructors have extensive years of hands-on Arboriculture experience. They hold our highest level of (IAI) certifications and have attained the highest industry non-profit organization certifications and accreditations such as (ISA) Certified Arborists’ Utility Specialist, Municipal Arborist, and Master Arborist Certifications.
Qualifications
Our trainers are Qualified through (IAI) but also have attained Qualifications from (TCIA) Tree Care Industry Associations and we encourage our clients to continue to advance their education by attending industry conferences and to hold these industry partners certifications and qualifications to achieve the highest level of skills, knowledge and hands on experience for the advancement of your professional team.
Accreditation
IAI is a voting member of the Accredited Standards Committee of ANSI Z133 American National Standards for Tree Care. We are proud to serve on this committee, and to share our expertise for the advancement of our wonderful Arboriculture industry. We are fortunate to be able to serve and share knowledge alongside the most prestigious Companies and esteemed colleagues in the industry.
IAI has aided in developing one of the first Apprenticeship Arborist Programs in the country. In partnership with Butte College in California we helped to develop the curriculum and we still sit on the DACUM board, serve as instructors for the apprenticeship program and teach the 5 week course at the colleges around the state.
Professional Training Results
We have provided safety and training to the LARGEST and the smallest tree and utility companies around the country. We pray you stay safe and look forward to working with your company, and to add you to the family of companies and colleagues from around the world.
We are proud to have pioneered the safety and training industry into what it is now and we look forward to continue to be at the forefront of innovation in safety and training. We will continue to serve on the most significant projects overseeing site safety for utility, fire or residential projects, and we are committed and devoted to the education of safety, and training for next generation of badasses in companies large or small we will empower you to lead your teams to go from good to great! to go from playing a finite game to and infinite game and leave a company legacy that will continue for many generations. Let us help you! And let’s do this together!