treepanda
ArboristSite Lurker
A mate of mine was cutting up large macrocarpa logs for loading on a truck. 1.5-1.9m in diameter. he was cutting through them and rolling them over with a digger to finish the cut.
On the last cut (friday afternoon, cold and wet) he accidentally cut through the log, it dropped onto his left hand , trapping it between the top handle of the 088 that was resting on the ground and the log.The crush injury would not have been too bad but the kill switch on the saw malfunctioned and his lefthandle knuckles were pushed down onto the plastic cover that sits over the muffler. He was trapped for 5-10 minutes before the truck driver heard his yelling, came and got the digger and moved the log. He had burnt through his skin and flesh, exposing bone and basically cooking the joints, damaging the tendon etc. He has been in hospital 10 days now and has another two- three weeks to go.Micro surgery on the knuckles and skin grafts etc.3- 6 months off work, two wee kids, just signed up for a new house... pretty grim.
As I said, it wasn't the crush that caused the problem, it was the burning. The 088 top cover is about 3mm thick and sits right over the muffler, it looks like the chain brake was melted off too. the saw stopped as soon as the log was lifted off it, so there is something to be looked at there.. In New Zealand there is some discussion about the use of leather mitts over the top handle. It's a throw back to the old forestry days before chain brakes and I have always advocated that they are a pain in the arse and that proper use and training is more effective. There are two schools of thought, some guys have mitts on their ground saws and take them off when climbing, some like me, don't use them at all. I am changing my position in light of this accident. the mitt may not have saved his hand but it would have made some difference I am sure.We have put mitts on all our ground saws now.
It seems like there is some design flaw, maybe there needs to be some kind of gaurd between the muffler and the top cover and also there needs to be some research onto why the kill switch did not work when the saw was under the weight of the log. the saw was well maintained and the kill switch was working up until the incident. I have not tried it since.. I might try and load some photos later on..
On the last cut (friday afternoon, cold and wet) he accidentally cut through the log, it dropped onto his left hand , trapping it between the top handle of the 088 that was resting on the ground and the log.The crush injury would not have been too bad but the kill switch on the saw malfunctioned and his lefthandle knuckles were pushed down onto the plastic cover that sits over the muffler. He was trapped for 5-10 minutes before the truck driver heard his yelling, came and got the digger and moved the log. He had burnt through his skin and flesh, exposing bone and basically cooking the joints, damaging the tendon etc. He has been in hospital 10 days now and has another two- three weeks to go.Micro surgery on the knuckles and skin grafts etc.3- 6 months off work, two wee kids, just signed up for a new house... pretty grim.
As I said, it wasn't the crush that caused the problem, it was the burning. The 088 top cover is about 3mm thick and sits right over the muffler, it looks like the chain brake was melted off too. the saw stopped as soon as the log was lifted off it, so there is something to be looked at there.. In New Zealand there is some discussion about the use of leather mitts over the top handle. It's a throw back to the old forestry days before chain brakes and I have always advocated that they are a pain in the arse and that proper use and training is more effective. There are two schools of thought, some guys have mitts on their ground saws and take them off when climbing, some like me, don't use them at all. I am changing my position in light of this accident. the mitt may not have saved his hand but it would have made some difference I am sure.We have put mitts on all our ground saws now.
It seems like there is some design flaw, maybe there needs to be some kind of gaurd between the muffler and the top cover and also there needs to be some research onto why the kill switch did not work when the saw was under the weight of the log. the saw was well maintained and the kill switch was working up until the incident. I have not tried it since.. I might try and load some photos later on..
