# chainsaw kickback



## Mike Barcaskey (Aug 25, 2008)

about 5 miles from me

http://www.timesonline.com/articles/2008/08/25/news/doc48b22c8bbcdcc941168603.txt


Logging accident kills worker
ADVERTISEMENT
By Michael Pound, Times Staff
Published: Sunday, August 24, 2008 11:53 PM EDT
INDEPENDENCE TWP. — A Titusville man was killed in a logging accident Friday morning in Independence Township.

Rodney D. Swanson, 45, was working with a logging crew in the township around 11:30 a.m. Friday morning when he was fatally injured by his chainsaw, said Wayne Tatalovich Jr., Beaver County deputy coroner.

Tatalovich said Swanson was driven to Commonwealth Medical Center in Aliquippa, where he was pronounced dead around 1:25 p.m. Friday. Tatalovich said Swanson was killed by a blow to the head.

“I was told the chainsaw he was working with got stuck and kicked back,” Tatalovich said. “It struck him in the face.”

Tatalovich, who was called to the hospital, said he didn’t know where or for whom the crew was working. Township police could not be reached for comment.

According to information from his obituary, Swanson owned Swanson Tree Service in Titusville and had worked for other services in the past. He was married and had three daughters.

Michael Pound can be reached online at [email protected].


----------



## wasajco (Aug 25, 2008)

Married with three daughters, sad. Life is so short. Prayers sent up and out. Used to live in PA myself.


----------



## jwarren2165 (Aug 25, 2008)

SAd yes Friend of mine got caught in the jugaler. Got Life flighted and lived. Said he would never touch a chainsaw again. I wear all my ppe even if I am making one cut. I have 3 children that I am trying to stay alive for. Not saying ppe could save him but i always wear helmet w/mask steel toed and chaps along with safety glasses. Hey I like to hunt as well I want to keep my right eye. But it can happen to anyone no matter how safe you are I think when I start teaching my children to use a saw I when they are older I will also get one of those nose guards. Accidents are TRAGIC. Be carefull out their.


----------



## TimberMcPherson (Aug 26, 2008)

Chainsaw mitts are legally required here if your a pro user, they have saved alot of lives.

http://www.jaedon.co.nz/afawcs0117903/SUBID=8/ID=115/SID=927025504/productdetails.html

takes a few days to get used to them but they are good


----------



## Groundman One (Aug 26, 2008)

TimberMcPherson said:


> Chainsaw mitts are legally required here if your a pro user, they have saved alot of lives.
> 
> http://www.jaedon.co.nz/afawcs0117903/SUBID=8/ID=115/SID=927025504/productdetails.html
> 
> takes a few days to get used to them but they are good



I have never seen or heard of those things before. You say they are legally required? Interesting.

I have never heard, thank God, of someone`s hand slipping off and making it past the chain brake handle an onto the bar (and I hope I never do). 

There are times when I wonder why I do this job. Then it comes back to me - the money is good and I don`t really know how to do anything else anyway.


----------



## jwarren2165 (Aug 26, 2008)

do you like the mits? HEy for 15 bucks it could be worth it. When someone gets cocky and thinks they know it all is when the accidents happen. Ive seen it time and time again on the farm.


----------



## jwarren2165 (Aug 26, 2008)

I also am not a climber all What Ive done is some logging on the side and cut firewood my whole life but i do know about 10 yr ago my pastor fell out of a tree and died HE was only in his 40's. Sometimes it helps us to review accidents makes a reality check. HE was an exp climber.


----------



## TimberMcPherson (Aug 26, 2008)

Groundman One said:


> I have never seen or heard of those things before. You say they are legally required? Interesting.
> 
> I have never heard, thank God, of someone`s hand slipping off and making it past the chain brake handle an onto the bar (and I hope I never do).
> 
> There are times when I wonder why I do this job. Then it comes back to me - the money is good and I don`t really know how to do anything else anyway.



The mitt is to help avoid kickback injury. Your hand slips in and out of the mitt easily but during kickback it stops you from taking your hand off the front handle of the saw to shield your face.
The mitt keeps the hand in the area of the front handle and means you still operate the brake, so even if the saw hits you the chains stopped.

Years back they found alot of guys were having left hand, head and shoulder injuries because of our lightening fast ability to shield our faces with our left hand during kickback, which meant no brake operation, the mitts have significantly reduced these injuries. They do take a little getting used to but after a couple days you barely notice your using them.


----------



## B-Edwards (Aug 26, 2008)

I saw a fellow cut his left arm almost off with a face shield kick back. Same guy wedging a tree over without safety glasses ,metal in eye ,surgery to remove. One year later hes our general foreman I still wish there were more pictures posted of the injuries we get , I'm talking bone through skin kinda pictures. That might make it real enough to scare someone into being careful. Last time I mentioned this it got a negative response.


----------



## jwarren2165 (Aug 26, 2008)

he probably been cutting so long he felt invicible didnt think it would happen to him


----------



## treemandan (Aug 26, 2008)

TimberMcPherson said:


> Chainsaw mitts are legally required here if your a pro user, they have saved alot of lives.
> 
> http://www.jaedon.co.nz/afawcs0117903/SUBID=8/ID=115/SID=927025504/productdetails.html
> 
> takes a few days to get used to them but they are good



Fantanstic! That's great. I work very hard to keep my hand and wrist in the right place, not perfect all the time, but that is what is going to save you right there, that thing , right there, the leather thing.


----------



## Groundman One (Aug 26, 2008)

TimberMcPherson said:


> The mitt is to help avoid kickback injury. Your hand slips in and out of the mitt easily but during kickback it stops you from taking your hand off the front handle of the saw to shield your face.#The mitt keeps the hand in the area of the front handle and means you still operate the brake, so even if the saw hits you the chains stopped.



Ahhh, ok. So it really is to make you keep your hand on the bar so you don`t take it off by reflex, not it slipping off by accident.#


TimberMcPherson said:


> Years back they found alot of guys were having left hand, head and shoulder injuries because of our lightening fast ability to shield our faces with our left hand during kickback, which meant no brake operation, the mitts have significantly reduced these injuries. They do take a little getting used to but after a couple days you barely notice your using them.


Honestly, I don`t like it, but that`s because I`m set in my ways. But I`m sure I could get used to it. Weird, though.

If I may tell a short story - my worst kickback was when the saw was off. I was standing beside a rock wall about three or four feet high. My 038 was on the higher ground held up by the wall, butt towards me, blade away. I reached out and grabbed the forward handle and pulled the saw back, fairly hard I guess. The butt of the rear handle jammed on a branch or something, and the saw pivoted as I pulled and the blade rocketed right up into my face and went "*Crack!*" right into my big oversized safety glasses. I got knocked back a bit, but came away with a scratch half an inch long. And that`s why I keep my ********* glasses on all-the-time!

God protects fools, little children, and groundmen. _(I`m sure there`s a redundancy in there somewhere.)_


----------



## TimberMcPherson (Aug 27, 2008)

Groundman One said:


> Ahhh, ok. So it really is to make you keep your hand on the bar so you don`t take it off by reflex, not it slipping off by accident.#]



Exactly. they are a bit of a pita but you get used to them like we have with helmets, glasses, chaps, steel caps etc.


----------



## Bermie (Sep 4, 2008)

B-Edwards said:


> I I still wish there were more pictures posted of the injuries we get , I'm talking bone through skin kinda pictures. That might make it real enough to scare someone into being careful. Last time I mentioned this it got a negative response.



My sympathies to the family...

Those kind of pictures worked for me, they showed us a bunch the first week of my training course, mashed heads, feet, NASTY cuts all over, faces, arms, legs, feet, some were survivors, some were fatalities, yeah, pictures of dead people. It was awful, I couldn't look half the time, but I now know just what a log to the head or a chainsaw to the face will do...

Our tutor's favourite phrase after describing how not to do something when we were cutting or climbing was "...and then you die." 
We made it into a t shirt along with some other choice phrases.


----------

