# Rope burn - could have been worse



## gwiley (Feb 29, 2012)

Ok, I know this isn't a mortal injury, but it could have been.

A buddy called to tell me that a 90' pine had pinched his saw and was threatening to come down on something he didn't want hit. I scooted over to his place and checked it out. Decided that although it did threaten the target I could get a rope on it and use a redirect to guide it down safely. I briefed my friend to let go of the line if the tree started to go anywhere put the direction I had chosen then went to work.

He is larger and stronger than me so I put him behind me on the rope and saw him trying to tie the rope around his waist. I explained that you only tie or wrap the rope around body parts that you can afford to loose.  As he wrapped the rope around his hand I reviewed it with him once more - thousands of pounds of tree will not be impressed by an adult human once that tree makes progress in a fall.

I had the rope draped over my forearms.....

All went well until the tree started to fall a few degrees off the lay and began pulling the rope away from us. I hollered for him to let go but in spite of that the rope left its mark on my forearms. 

The blood from the rope burns is messing up my dress shirts at work, coworkers cringe because I have to leave my sleeves rolled up and my wife would cause more injury if I come home with blood stains on $50 white button down shirts. sigh.

Lessons:

1. Reminder that pull rope must have free travel - uncovered flesh should not come in contact with moving rope. I knew this, just got careless in a rush.

2. More thorough briefing of inexperienced help when pulling is vital. Talk through the bad things that happen if proper precautions are not observed. Explanations DURING a 90' tree felling are difficult.


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