Pinoak Limb on foot - Stupied Me

[Can-Do-It]

Had a easy trim on a large Pinoak Friday, just need to remove four lm. The first lm was about 8" diameter and 25' long and about 20' off the ground. Peeled the limb down till the tip was on the ground, slow and easy. Reached down to cut the remaining fiber lose, slow and easy.

Butt came free, slow and easy. The lm was supposed to go away from the trunk but it hit the trunk and came back towards me bounced off the trunk bounced off my right foot(toes) and down.

Guys I had limbs bounce off me before but this lm hit me squire on the top of the foot. I thought the toes were broken. I did'nt say anything. Xell I had A job to complete and men working.

Completed the job and then took a look at the foot. Still did'nt say anything to my crew till one of the guys came over and noticed me looking at my foot. They thought it was broken ... Toe next to the big toe was twice its size and very blue and purple. A couple of others were slightly roughed up. Small abrasions.

By the time I got home I was walking very slowly. Iced the toe's for 15 min. on, 15 min off, for about 5 times and kept my foot leveled up. Then iced just before going to bed with two Advil. Next morning toes where still sore but I could walk. Ice is the key.

I did not have steel toe boots , but I will have a pair by the end of next week .

You'al have a Blessed Day,

 

[P_woozel]

Can-do-it, maybe try using different cuts, maybe a jump cut would have been better from that height, 25' limb 20' off the ground sounds like something that could come back at the cutter. Hope your foot gets better. Make sure you take it easy for a couple of says if possible. :umpkin:

 

[TimberMcPherson]

you work in a crew without saftey boots? Hope you have helmets. Good gear is cheap insurance.

 

[geofore]

toes

You'll be looking into useing a different cut next time or walk out the limb and drop it in pieces? I'll tell you it is a mistake not to get the foot looked at. If it did break it'll start to reset itself before the end of the day and then it has to be rebroken at the hospital to be reset properly. I had a guy fall off a truck and break his wrist but wouldn't go to get it looked at till the end of the day(He-man type). One of the guys took him to the hospital at the end of the day and they had to rebreak the wrist to reset it (He said it hurt worse than breaking it in the first place). He was off work 6 weeks healing and rehab. If you find you're walking funny to avoid the pain is it going to be less painful to have it rebroken to set it proper? Just a thought. An Xray would be the quick answer or you can use a cane, walk with a gimp and be the He-man type.

 

[Can-Do-It]

Jump cut would have been the key. But I wanted to see how the wood fiber would hold. I had a 45' lm that needed to swing away from the house.

I have a small Tree Company and we do have and use safety equipment but thanks for the thought.

The toes are not broken, just badly bruised.

The up side to this is I'm going to order a new pair of steel toe climbing boots and get a day of badly needed rest.


You'al have a Blessed Day, :angel:

 

[bottlefed89]

My ins. actually gives a little break for steel toe boots, though I thought everyone wore them anyways. Guess you know now...

 

[tinman44]

i work for a power company that are real sticklers for safety. i also run side tree company. i've got good safety habits. i wear steal toes almost anytime i'm working outside. wearing the right gear for the right job should just be habit.

 

[Jumper]

Glad it was only a bruise and not a break....I speak from personal experience that broken toes are not fun, but that was from playing soccer a long time ago. Make sure your new steel toes fit, alot of people don't wear them because they were not fitted properly to begin with, and end up in the closet. Laws in the States amaze me , you would not get on a job site of any kind here without the required PPE, and if you have an injury while not wearing it, forget about comp. Ignore the Sqwirls comments, 'tudes like that have no place on a Injuries Forum.

 

[Can-Do-It]

Next time you can bounce the limb off your steel toed boots instead of learning how to make a proper cut or rope off a limb. Brilliant. Any wonder why there aren't any decent climbers hanging out here any more? I'm embarrassed to be a member here.

RockyJ .... Don't be embarrassed. This does not reflect on you or any one else on this sight.

I've been climbing for years now(I'm 57) and havn't been hurt. I've known for awhile now that I needed the steel toe boots. But I've been buying other equipment that I thought we could use more. So be it.



Now it's time for me to by the boots.

Hang in there guy's, this sight is to discuss day to day problems and reflect on what we do and don't do correctly.

Reflection is a great tool .... a way of learning ....

 

[Can-Do-It]

Mitch ... what makes steel toe climbing boots fit differantly and what shouold I look out for.

 

[Jumper]

Size of the steel toe "box"-there are different makers out there and some tend to squeeze some people's toes. And if they squeeze they likely are too small. As well a large percentage of people buying footwear in general buy them too small- you are 57 and quite probably your feet are not the same size as at 20. But folks keep on buying them same size because that is what they always wore. My advice is to try on several makes and see what feels best and not buy the first pair you try on. Buying from a reputable shoe/boot store that regularily fits people for boots might also be a good idea, vice the Wally World concept.

 

[Ekka]

Hi, our sizing in Australia is different to US but I take a EEE width boot and size 11 which would be US size 12 or 13 ... anyway, width matters and the only ones that I could get that wide and steel capped were Dr Martens @ $230 aus

Make sure you are wearing your normal socks when trying and I even took my climbers in to make sure that all was OK.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

I don't think steel toe is needed in the tree, and it will give faulce security. It will not protect agains metatarsel impact...

As Brian so rudly points out, body awareness and proper planing is more important then any one peice of PPE when working with big wood.

My first question when I read it was not why you did now have them on, bu why you did not evaluate the situation prior to the cut and rule out positioning where injury could occure if something went wrong.

As the saying goes, your mind is the most important PPE you bring to the job.

PPE is the last line of defence.

 

[turnkey4099]

Can-do-it, maybe try using different cuts, maybe a jump cut would have been better from that height, 25' limb 20' off the ground sounds like something that could come back at the cutter. Hope your foot gets better. Make sure you take it easy for a couple of says if possible. :umpkin:

Yep, that is exactly what happened to me. On a ladder, cut limb, tip hit ground, butt caught me in the chest and pushed me right off the ladder. Fortunately I was only about 8 ft up the ladder so came down with no injuries. Learned a lot from that one experience.

Harry K

 

[OutOnaLimb]

I still dont see how a branch fallin like that could do that much damage, you were in spikes were ya?

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

I still dont see how a branch fallin like that

Sounds like he was working unswcured on a ladder, did a salami cut and the limb tip hit the ground before it sperated completly, or glose to it.

So the angle at wich the lib is at at speration cases the but to come farther back then it originated, or like a loaded spring into the "climbers" chest, or the ladder.

I've heard of several serious injury/fatality incidents because of this poorly thought out technique.

 

[Can-Do-It]

I don't think steel toe is needed in the tree, and it will give faulce security. It will not protect agains metatarsel impact...

As Brian so rudly points out, body awareness and proper planing is more important then any one peice of PPE when working with big wood.

My first question when I read it was not why you did now have them on, bu why you did not evaluate the situation prior to the cut and rule out positioning where injury could occure if something went wrong.

As the saying goes, your mind is the most important PPE you bring to the job.

PPE is the last line of defence.

JPS .... Your right about planing. Working in the trees without a plan is like driving a car without doors ......Trouble will find you

I'm trying to think of the term/word, and I think it's 'Complicity'/'Complacity'.

I had just completed a 60-65' sycamore removal the day before, in a backyard that was about the size of a large garage, with high power lines, fences and tool shed under the tree.

Neighbor came over after we completed the sycamore saying he thought no one would have been able to take that tree down because of everything we had to contend with. You'all have heard the same story before .......

Anyway neighbor wants me to look at his 35" diameter pin-oak and see if we could remove some lower limbs that were running over his neighbors driveway and into his front yard. Not a problem ....

Not a problem till 'Complicity'(sp) got in bed with me.

I had a plan and I executed the plan. But I think some where in my subconscious, I did not take the risk factor, 20' above the ground as serious as I normally do when I'm working high.

Thus the 'Complicity'(sp) .... It will kill you as quick as cutting yourself out from 80' up!!!!


You'all have a Blessed evening,

 

[bottlefed89]

I don't think my toes would like me without steel-toes. And these are only 6 months old....

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

maybe this?

complacent
adj : contented to a fault; "he had become complacent after years
of success";

One of my little sayings that's not allways right is
"there's a fine line between compitance and over confidance"

We need to slow down and evaluate our habits on a regular basis, because too often we operate with very little margine for error. Brian likes to say that we need to make more then one mistake for a bad accident. An axample for me was when I'd been climbing on rope fro several years, i'd got out of the habit of regularly checking my connections. One time I leaned back into a lanyard that was not there that got me into the practice of

1. never doing anything till I've secured and checked it
2. never moving to work stance w/o a quick check of secure.

Or looking at my rope when blocking a big piece out to make sure I've moved my climbing line,

Automatic habits are good, we just have to be aware of them so we know they are good ones.

 

[Can-Do-It]

"there's a fine line between compitance and over confidance"

"Brian likes to say that we need to make more then one mistake for a bad accident."

Well said John and ..... thanks.