Diesel JD said:
I know their function....but isn't it more the upper body and face that are likely to get cut in a kickback than the legs? People here seem to represent chaps as essential PPE....maybe I'm an idiot, but I wonder how many injuries they prevent or mitigate.
Statistically it seems that people hurt themselves in particular ways. These ways of hurting yourself might seem dumb, but they become more common when people are working quickly.
Left leg injuries above the knee can happen when you finish a cut, lift the saw away, and then step into the path of the saw (or loose your balance, same difference) before the chain stops. Dumb thing to do. Most accidents are dumb things.
You aren't meant to put your foot on or under anything you are cutting, but it is an easy (lazy?) thing to do. It stops the wood from rolling, or stops the chain from grounding out. Cuts to the foot and calf are easy when you do this.
You aren't meant to cut one handed with a saw. The protection in the back of the left hand of a chainsaw glove is there so that if you are dumb enough to hold a branch you are cutting and the saw skips down the branch there is some sort of protection.
I've heard of two chainsaw fatalities. A (distant) relative cut his leg and bled out in his back yard. A schoolfriend was working in a forrest in europe when the guy he was working with had a saw kick back (into his neck, I believe.) I haven't seen the schoolfriend use a saw, but a mutual friend said he now wears every bit of protection he can get his hands on. He's also now more in the tree planting end of the business.
So... I'd wear all the right protective gear, I'd understand the risks and issues (kickback, etc) and I'd cut slowly and carefully, never feeling too immortal. :^)
