Gregford
ArboristSite Operative
I was seriously looking at some old chainsaws on trademe this week when, before I could say "Eager Beaver", trademe had removed the adverts. Trademe is NZ's version of ebay, and is more popular here than ebay.
This has happened before. so I sent them a stirring (in more than one sense of the word) email to get some response and reason as to why they do this.
The reply is as follows:
"Dear Harry,
Thanks for contacting us.
Your comments and opinions are appreciated, however this policy was implemented upon advice from government representatives who specifically deal with regulation and safety issues. We implemented this policy upon liasing with the ministry of consumer affairs, who is looking at making the sale of all chainsaws without chain-brakes illegal.
Chainsaws need to have a chain break and hand guard as advised by Ministry of Consumer Affairs.
Legally they only have to have this if sold as new after 1984 - but we don't know when it was first sold as new so we have a blanket ban on all chainsaws which don’t have these 2 safety features.
If you have further questions regarding this issue please reply and we will answer your email as soon as possible."
I was not impressed, as you can all imagine and sent them another email. I suppose they won't let people advertise cars with no Warrant of Fitness or air-bags in case people crash, or perhaps baseball bats in case people use them as offensive weapons.
I ask you - how far will this stupid, PC, Nanny State-gone-mad attitude continue? It really makes me angry when not only do we get a horribly PC and knee-jerk reaction-prone government making unnecessary legislation to restrict the use of anything except our kitchen knives and forks, but now we've got "Trademe - restrictor of the ignorant masses" to protect us from ourselves.
Chainsaws don't NEED a chain-brake, although they are a very good idea, and the vast majority of old chainsaws sold here without them are old, heavy, slow-revvers which, from my part-time firewood cutting experience, don't kick back anywhere near as bad as a modern, ultralight saw. I have had a really small Stihl with a mechanical chain-brake kick back badly on me (my own stupid fault) without tripping the chain-brake, and in that case, and I suspect in many others, the chain-brake would not have prevented me from receiving serious injury had it come into contact with some portion of my anatomy. Safe working practices are far more important than all the safety devices in the world.
As I often say, "you can't legislate against stupidity", and all the rules in the world will not stop fools from hurting themselves. Now, I have nothing against chain-brakes and have them on my smaller saws, but as a guy who loves finding old chainsaws and bringing them back to life, it really irks me when a website like trademe decide that they "know what's best for the general population" and then, although legislation has NOT been passed banning the sale of chainsaws without chain-brakes, decide that they'll take OSHA's stupid advice even further than OSHA do themselves, and merrily remove people's adverts.
Funny that most rules to restrict so-called "dangerous activities" are pushed through by people hell-bent on restricting other people's lives.
I spent nearly 7 years in Peru, where, thank God, OSHA is nowhere to be seen, there are no Warrants of Fitness for vehicles, nor Road Registration, and yet strangely enough, with all that, and with many balconies without guard-rails to stop idiots falling off, and no fences around swimming pools, no more people die of accidents per capita than in New Zealand. The reason seems to be that people have a greater sense of self-preservation in Peru, due to no Accident Compensation, no Unemployment benefit, no Sickness benefit, and the State-funded Health Service is, to say the least, not the best either. Or maybe all the fools have already died, leaving only the more safety-conscious people alive........
Maybe I should start a campaign to change the name of our country to Nanny Stateland. After all, this is the country where, and I kid you not, if a soldier feels that his commanding officer is shouting at him too much and hurting his feelings, he can hold up a little red card and be given 20 minutes "time-out" to recover. OSHA's regulations, I tell you the truth.
God give me strength......
This has happened before. so I sent them a stirring (in more than one sense of the word) email to get some response and reason as to why they do this.
The reply is as follows:
"Dear Harry,
Thanks for contacting us.
Your comments and opinions are appreciated, however this policy was implemented upon advice from government representatives who specifically deal with regulation and safety issues. We implemented this policy upon liasing with the ministry of consumer affairs, who is looking at making the sale of all chainsaws without chain-brakes illegal.
Chainsaws need to have a chain break and hand guard as advised by Ministry of Consumer Affairs.
Legally they only have to have this if sold as new after 1984 - but we don't know when it was first sold as new so we have a blanket ban on all chainsaws which don’t have these 2 safety features.
If you have further questions regarding this issue please reply and we will answer your email as soon as possible."
I was not impressed, as you can all imagine and sent them another email. I suppose they won't let people advertise cars with no Warrant of Fitness or air-bags in case people crash, or perhaps baseball bats in case people use them as offensive weapons.
I ask you - how far will this stupid, PC, Nanny State-gone-mad attitude continue? It really makes me angry when not only do we get a horribly PC and knee-jerk reaction-prone government making unnecessary legislation to restrict the use of anything except our kitchen knives and forks, but now we've got "Trademe - restrictor of the ignorant masses" to protect us from ourselves.
Chainsaws don't NEED a chain-brake, although they are a very good idea, and the vast majority of old chainsaws sold here without them are old, heavy, slow-revvers which, from my part-time firewood cutting experience, don't kick back anywhere near as bad as a modern, ultralight saw. I have had a really small Stihl with a mechanical chain-brake kick back badly on me (my own stupid fault) without tripping the chain-brake, and in that case, and I suspect in many others, the chain-brake would not have prevented me from receiving serious injury had it come into contact with some portion of my anatomy. Safe working practices are far more important than all the safety devices in the world.
As I often say, "you can't legislate against stupidity", and all the rules in the world will not stop fools from hurting themselves. Now, I have nothing against chain-brakes and have them on my smaller saws, but as a guy who loves finding old chainsaws and bringing them back to life, it really irks me when a website like trademe decide that they "know what's best for the general population" and then, although legislation has NOT been passed banning the sale of chainsaws without chain-brakes, decide that they'll take OSHA's stupid advice even further than OSHA do themselves, and merrily remove people's adverts.
Funny that most rules to restrict so-called "dangerous activities" are pushed through by people hell-bent on restricting other people's lives.
I spent nearly 7 years in Peru, where, thank God, OSHA is nowhere to be seen, there are no Warrants of Fitness for vehicles, nor Road Registration, and yet strangely enough, with all that, and with many balconies without guard-rails to stop idiots falling off, and no fences around swimming pools, no more people die of accidents per capita than in New Zealand. The reason seems to be that people have a greater sense of self-preservation in Peru, due to no Accident Compensation, no Unemployment benefit, no Sickness benefit, and the State-funded Health Service is, to say the least, not the best either. Or maybe all the fools have already died, leaving only the more safety-conscious people alive........
Maybe I should start a campaign to change the name of our country to Nanny Stateland. After all, this is the country where, and I kid you not, if a soldier feels that his commanding officer is shouting at him too much and hurting his feelings, he can hold up a little red card and be given 20 minutes "time-out" to recover. OSHA's regulations, I tell you the truth.
God give me strength......
