Injury

[16gauge]

I seem to injure myself more when working on saws than running them. Guess I've been careful or lucky (KNOCK ON WOOD).

Yup, or when just testing after an adjustment or repair. Your head is focused on the repair work and not on the fact that it is a piece of high powered cutting equipment.

AND HONESTLY, WHO WEARS PPE WHEN WORKING ON OR TESTING SAWS?

 

[GASoline71]

Well, I have had several 3-4" birch saplings (353 and FS200 stuff) hit my head, but I still refuse to use a helmet..........

I got tagged in the head by a dead branch today while removing a Doug Fir... I was wearin' my hardhat... but my left shoulder still smarts where it hit.

Gary

 

[Timberhauler]

I've been cut three times in twenty years...Each was the result of kickback..Luckily I've never been hit by anything..I always wear a helmet

 

[klickitatsacket]

The only injury I ever had (not including sharpening my chain) but in opperating my saw was when a chain came off. I had a 36" bar and chain on a 066 and was swinging the saw to the side to move a chunk of wood. I swung the saw too fast and the bar flexed while the chain was still coming down off the RPM and it kicked the chain off. The chain hit me square on the knee cap. It did not draw blood but I could hardly walk for about 3 days. It felt as if Tonya Harding had me beat.

 

[Ianab]

Nothing from a chainsaw or falling tree, but I have had a couple of close enough misses that made me realise why I'm wearing chaps and a helmet.

Have hurt myself once though, hauling some largish cedar logs out of a scrub filled hollow. Climbed over a log with the chain, slid down the other side to the ground but landed on a slippery branch and ended up over extending my knee. I discovered there is a reflex muscle spasm that kicks in when you do this (hopefully prevents you from breaking / ripping anything more). Of course this leg spasm pitches me head first into the scrub and branches further down the hill Managed to climb out myself, nothing broken but a couple of days off work and limped for a while till it healed.

So... as well as all the other things.. WATCH YOUR STEP

Ian

 

[huskydave]

I have not been hurt but when i did tree removal for a living i have had some damn willows snap and barberchair on me a few times i hate willow trees learned to borecut and get in and out of the backcut quick on those jobs but they can be dangerous for sure ive had one snap and fly 14 feet from the stump knowing where your safety zone is and having an escape route may save your life a healthy respect for the trees and the saws is also good to have safety gear is not an option any preventable accident should not take place imo

 

[Sawin]

Been lucky with using saws. Experience kickback quite often, but never been injured by one. When I read that someone has never experienced a kickback, it just doesn't compare to my experiences. Am I just too reckless or do others also experience kickbacks on a regular basis?

Don't think I've ever drawn blood from the saw. I did, however, put a pulp hook about an inch into my leg, just beneath my knee.

I guess that when thrashing around in the woods or other work, I constantly get my share of cuts/bruses. A lot of time don't even notice them till that evening or next morning, and can't remember when I received the boo boo. Any one else experience this?

 

[Bowtie]

Dont relate to chainsaws totally but here goes. Today I was pushing downed trees into a pile with a D-6 Cat dozer to burn for right-of-way clearing on the bridge project Im on. That in itself can be tricky. This is an old cat with no ROPS (Roll Over Protection Structure). Anyway, I was backing up from the pile and knew I was getting close to the timber behind me. I hit the master clutch and stopped to rub my eyes, and felt something scratch my back. I looked around and I was right against a mulberry tree with sharp broken branches against my back. If I hadnt stopped when I did there is a good chance I would have impaled myself with that damn thing. Lot of people think "cuttin down trees" is easy. Uh huh. By the way, my 034 av was standing by to make them damn cottonwood trunks easier to push into the pile.

 

[RiverRat2]

Troll?????

Well, I have had several 3-4" birch saplings (353 and FS200 stuff) hit my head, but I still refuse to use a helmet..........

A smart dude like you????? I'm shocked,,,,,,

:jester:

 

[RiverRat2]

so thats why 20' is the rule of thumb

I have not been hurt but when i did tree removal for a living i have had some damn willows snap and barberchair on me a few times i hate willow trees learned to borecut and get in and out of the backcut quick on those jobs but they can be dangerous for sure ive had one snap and fly 14 feet from the stump knowing where your safety zone is and having an escape route may save your life a healthy respect for the trees and the saws is also good to have safety gear is not an option any preventable accident should not take place imo

for the distance of your escape route!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:monkey:

 

[fubar2]

A week or so ago I had a trunk roll after I cut one side off a large fork. Stub caught me in the chest and knocked me on my back. Happened to be in a patch of multiflora rose, hurt about as much gettin back up as it did gettin knocked down with all the thorns.

 

[tek9tim]

Wow. I'm amazed people are coming forward with stories like this. Good stuff.

I've been lucky. No major events in 10 years of running saw. I've had a couple of close calls, but injuries were avoided most of the time by my decisions to change my actions before the critical moment, with a couple that were avoided by sheer luck and sernedipitous timing and positioning. I don't wear chaps on my own time when I cut, but that makes up a pretty small portion of my trigger time, most is at work, where I don't (can't) even pull rope without chaps. I always use a brainbucket when felling, regardless.

TreeSling'r - Amazing. Glad you made it through.

 

[Tree Sling'r]

TreeSling'r - Amazing. Glad you made it through.

Yeah, I was the talk of the town for a awhile. I had just gotten home from elk hunting in Colorado the day before and got engaged that night.

May be seein' ya sometime on a fire. I am officailly a "Hazard Tree Specialist" for North Zone Fallers.
Will have to be a pretty intense fire season for me to leave my reg. job though.

 

[RiverRat2]

Wow!!!!

The only injury I ever had (not including sharpening my chain) but in opperating my saw was when a chain came off. I had a 36" bar and chain on a 066 and was swinging the saw to the side to move a chunk of wood. I swung the saw too fast and the bar flexed while the chain was still coming down off the RPM and it kicked the chain off. The chain hit me square on the knee cap. It did not draw blood but I could hardly walk for about 3 days. It felt as if Tonya Harding had me beat.

opcorn: opcorn: opcorn:

the only injury besides when sharpening chains and resultant chain cuts,

after the last Hurricane while limbing and bucking downed trees, I was helping my little brother clear some of the wind driven downed timber off of his property,,,
I was limbing away and had overlooked the high load on the spar below the top I was working in (about a 48" DBH pine) as I was cutting this large 8"" limb that was suspending more of the the weight of the tree than I realized barberchaired or split and the tree lurched forward and fell a few feet to the ground and took me with it, luckily for me as I fell with all the other smaller limbs I had failed to clear (first mistake, had i cleaared it up better perhaps I would have seen my trap before I jumped in it,,, some how I applied the chain brake not sure how,,, when it all stopped I was on my knees with the bar across the middle of my left thigh and the saw still running,,the only PPE I had on was gloves, earplugs, and safety glasses....

Got complacent, did a poor job of sizing up the target, did not keep a clear exit path,,, Bone head award of 2005 got scraped up pretty good down my right arm and side,,, and still have the pants with the holes from the flat top chisel chain baby bro was just shakin his head telling me how lucky I was,,,, I was thinkin how stupid I was :monkey: :monkey:

 

[logbutcher]

Attention Norge Police

Well, I have had several 3-4" birch saplings (353 and FS200 stuff) hit my head, but I still refuse to use a helmet..........

You have been reported to the Norge authorities. NO PPE !!!!!:newbie: :newbie:
Can you say "MACHO IN nORWEIGIAN ???

 

[John Ellison]

I've been logging since 76. WA, AK. and now AR. Except for one year of exploring Alaska. Started falling in 88 in AK. Intermittant chainsaw use before then. Chasing, milling , firewood and shake bolts. The only lost time accidents were slip and falls in AK. Speed bark. Once I came home and went to take off my corks and there was a saw cut on the sole of my boots. Whew. Except for the first few years of personal use I have always wore PPe.
Have never cut myself other than minor sharpening cuts. Kickbacks, yes they can and will happen. There was a certain period where I now realize that I was just lucky.
Have never had a tree on me, but have had quite a few close calls over the years. Logging and falling is all about production. You have to be safe above all else, but you have to figure out the line between safety and speed and thats where a lot of close calls happen.
I have learned that anytime I am around someone else in the woods that I need to be hyper-aware of what they are doing.

 

[manual]

Right now as we speak ,
My eye is healing from getting a speck of metal in it.
First I had to go to the emergency room and the doctor took a syringe needle and dug it out of my eye, yesterday I went to the Eye doctor to have it looked at better, He first took a syringe needle again to scraped at the wound then took a small dermel and ground the rust ring away. then put a contact lens on my eye so the wound can heal faster. Also dialated the pupil larger. said it will stay that way for a week. Said this helps the eye heal faster.
So for those who think wearing PPE's are for sissys,




See ya around. :Eye:

 

[jrclen]

I had a large chunk of wood hit me square in the eye, while splitting. I was wearing safety glasses, which steamed up to the point of being useless. I took them off as I only had a few logs to go. Happened so quick, it made me drop to my knees. I was afraid to open my eye, which I had covered with my hand. I thought I had lost it. When I had gained the guts to open it all I saw was red. This made me think I did lose it. I rushed off to the emergency room. It was determined I had a hematoma of the inner eyeball. What had happened was the wood chunk hit with such force, it caused the bloodvessels inside my eyeball to burst. I had to sleep upright in a chair for two weeks. This kept the blood settled down at the bottom of my eye, out of my field of vision. Where my body could absorb it. Evertime I would accidently bend down, the blood would fill my vision up again. After many steriod drops and eye checkups it appears to have healed. I will never again take off my safety glasses. If the steam up I will quit, before I risk another incident like that.

Well I have a feeling I am going to remember your post the next time my safety glasses steam up and I take them off for just a little while to finish up. Good post and a good lesson for all of us. I'm glad it healed up for you. Eyes are hard to come by.

 

[Industry]

I Refuse to cut without my PPE. I have seen too many close calls and worse. I bought my father and grandfather full wrap chaps, and 2 weeks after I gave them to my grandfather it saved him from a trip to the hospital or his grave. He was way out on the back of his 300 acres cutting with the tractor and his Stihl. He doesn't own a cell phone. He was cutting and somehow ended up with a huge cut in the left thigh of the chaps. If they weren't there who knows if he would have been able to stop the flow of blood long enough to get back to the farmhouse, then the hospital.:jawdrop:

 

[SRT-Tech]

no chainsaw injuries whatsoever, always wear my PPE. I have taken a bent limb (under tension) on the chin, as it snapped back while walking a log & limbing. Opened up my chin pretty good.

other than that, just aches and pains everyday from heavy physical exertion, mostly reopening old injuries in my knees...

did first aid on a homeowner cutting firewood without PPE, he just had cargo pants. I used 3 10" x 12" x 2" thick stomach dressings and a tensor wrap to induce and keep pressure on the upper inner thigh. Major Arterial bleed. If we hadnt been in the city he would have died. ATLS (advanced trauma life support) EMT's were on scene in 2 minutes, and he was in the OR 3 minutes later. WEAR YOUR FRICKING SAFETY GEAR!!!!!!