Woods And Chainsaw Safety

[chainsawworld]

please bare with me on this one.
today i looked into an incident that took place in the woods that will have impact on everyone that the cutter has ever meet.
training is ultimately important in what any one of us are doing. be it logging,clear cutting,high angle,firewood,lawn maintinance, joking around in the back yard or what ever. do not be embarressed to take any type of woods or chainsaw safety classses that you can. sometimes they may seem to expensive or below you.but, maybe they can save your life!
i always say protect yourselves. maybe i should say get educated too. a simple little thing can be missed or overlooked and have great impact on the final outcome.
it is not only us on this forum. lots of other people look to us for advice even if they do not place a post.
i hate to sound like someone that instructs others but, how do WE get the word out?
protect yourselves and get educated; marty

 

[sedanman]

What's bothering you Marty? Sounds quite serious!

 

[Methoss084]

Someone you know get hurt? I hope not.
Marty, you are so right. Knowledge is power. I can't even remember how many guys I've seen that are missing a chunk of leg and say "man, I wish I knew then what I know now about saws and safety". Marty, is there a website that shows where training classes are available?

 

[davefr]

Go to the OSHA website. They have an excellent section on chainsaws and safe cutting techniques. I'm not a fan of OSHA but was pleasently surprised with their content.

Originally posted by Methoss084
Someone you know get hurt? I hope not.
Marty, you are so right. Knowledge is power. I can't even remember how many guys I've seen that are missing a chunk of leg and say "man, I wish I knew then what I know now about saws and safety". Marty, is there a website that shows where training classes are available?

 

[WRW]

I've always been big on safety for the homeowner or novice, even to the point of recommending safety (triple hump) chains. That is especially true if the consumer is buying a saw and has had no experience and wants no one to show them the proper way to handle a saw.
People posting on this forum are more experienced and are more aware of the existence of safety equipment. I've seen quite a few posts to that effect. For that reason, I've not posted anything on safety.
As far as professional sawyers go, the injuries I've seen come from momentary lapses of safe technique. They get tired, distracted, or rushed and make one bad move. Maybe more training would help them, but I wonder. Even with all the training they got and with the possibility of losing their jobs, some miners would still "light up" in a coal mine.

 

[toolmaker]

Marty, I agree with you. Also, it seems to me that something is bothering you. I am 40 years old, from central Pa. Last Friday a good friend of minek, we went all through school together since first grade, was killed. He dropped a tree on himself and couldn't get out of it. SOBERING! Feels like a piece of the past is gone.

 

[chainsawworld]

i can not realy get into specfics right now. it all comes back to training. precautions taken even before a tree is dropped can save lives. an easy looking routine tree can turn into catastrophe.
protect yourselves and get educated; marty

 

[woodho]

Marty,
Well said. Safety above all else. Everyone should do their part to help, mostly by setting an example. Alot of young wood cutters
are watching you guys. I know I learned from someone who is very aware of safety and passed it on to me. It has saved my life. Take care

P.S. Marty, when and if you are ready to talk, we will listen.

Woodho

 

[sedanman]

Not chainsaw related but has to do with safety. I like to "cruise" hang out and "bench-race" with my 67 Dodge Coronet hence the name sedanman. A large group of people haunt the same spots. You get to know people through casual conversation without getting into details like names. Anyway I bought a house a few years ago and was busy saving money, moving in ,sprucing up etc. so cruising was put on hold. This past summer at a car show I saw one of the old gang standing next to his car but not walking around looking at other cars. I took a good look at him to see that he couldn't look back! He had burns on his face that were still healing and he's blind, his left eye is gone completely. A lot of this crew is auto mechanics like myself, he was too. I didn't ask him directly but suspect he was too close to a battery that blew up. For those who don't know, lead acid batteries give off hydrogen gas when they are charging or dis-charging and hydrogen will burn very rapidly. I now have dozens of pairs of safety glasses at work, the guy would still have burns on his face but he might still be sighted if he was wearing them at the time.

 

[sedanman]

Sorry to dampen the mood. Here's a pic of my car if anyone is inerested.

 

[Greg Carberry]

Very sorry to hear about the accident Marty You don't have to talk about it if you don't want too. I know it is very hard so we should not pressure him. But we are all here for you to listen.

I would reccomend to anybody before you get a saw come here and see what the experts have to say. When I first started out I was show a little by my dad. When I got the internet I found sites like this and took in every word the pros had to say. I can now say I've learned chain saw safety well.


My grandpa had a sawmill for 30 yrs and cut the timber too. They never had any serious accident which is a credit to good safety and alot of luck. They must have had alot of luck, I have pictures of a Mack B30 rubber side up with a load of logs that my uncle rolled. But luck is no alternative to proper safety training so take it very seriously.

Sedanman,
Very good point many do not think of this happening but it does but very rarely. Always use safety googles when working with batteries.

Also very nice car you have!! I too have a sedan a '69 Buick Skylark 4 door which is currently being restored.

 

[confused]

Hey Marty,

I will say this time heals all wounds. Here has been my experience and I share this so everyone here can learn, think twice, and be as safe as possible.

I had worked for my Uncle's construction (excavating) company since I was 16. Running loaders, dozers, Mexican backhoe/dozer (shovel/rake) and driving dump trucks. The summer I graduated I was working with a good friend who was a year younger than me, it was his first summer and I had 2 summers of experience. To make a long story short. Two weeks before he went back to High School and I went to my freshman year of college we were finishing up a street job. I was backing a tri axle dump truck down the road (idling) to the crane and he was working around the manholes cleaning the extra road gravel away so as to prepare for black top. I didn’t see him till I backed over his body with the back axle and heard him scream. He was DOA a short time after.

The investigation (OSHA) attributed the accident to the condition that happens to everyone that works around equipment. After enough time you don’t hear the back up alarms, you hear them so often that you become accustom to it and never even look around. Even to this day I wonder how the whole thing happened when I was going so slow. I just thought he was out of my way. I was constantly looking in the mirrors but I ASSUMED he would just move.

Moral of the lesson, BE SAFE and pay attention to everything that is going on around you.

So Marty it will get better it just takes time, talking to people that understand and have been there helps a lot too.

 

[sedanman]

Confused, Words fail me, what a tragedy. You must have strong soul, I don't think I'd ever be able to function.

 

[confused]

Hardened you might say,

The reason I shared is tragedies happen every day in the work place, and I believe once someone has gone through a tragic event it is there duty to be available to others to provide a shoulder to lean on, an ear to listen, and more importantly a friend. So everyone be safe take the extra second to double check everything you can think of and keep your head on your business at hand.

Play hard and have fun however play safe too.

 

[chainsawworld]

in what i do, i get to meet people every day. around here, the people in the tree business knows or knows of everyone else in the trade. you may meet them doing an estimate,buying equipment at the same place,taking a day class,stopping at a lumberjack show to talk to the guys in the compitetion,stopping by someone elses job to shoot the bull and get to know each other and so on. sometimes you exchange business cards and not really think too much about it. other times you may give a call once in a while. then the times you get to tip a few back and talk about the past weeks jobs. sometimes you see these guys everyday.
i do find myself giving advise to some guys on their job site if i see something wrong. even though i am an instructor i do not want to sound like a know it all. there are times i tried to give free advice and made an enemy out of a friend.
to look at an accident after it occured and get that feeling you may have been able to avoid it and taken care of a friend or even just someone you knew can really make you feel like s^/t.
again i do not want sound like a know it all or ramble on but, the woods are dangerous as well as the saws and other equipment. please be careful!! marty