Chainsaw Accident

My O.H. and i had a small holding in Eire, we used ,and still have them, in the back of the garden shed, 2 chainsaws .A Stihl and a Hunsevera (something like that) and i was terrified of them. s00k
At the back was a large bar which was the brake, and i think if it was dropped it operated the brake.but even so the teeth were sharp on the chain

 

Chainsaws have an inertia chain brake built in that stops the chain from turning if the saw bangs something hard, or is activated by the user. There are stories of some of the old boys kicking these chain brakes off so as to avoid the chain stopping and to continue cutting, upping productivity.

 

That is just normal. I worked steel in three different companies,and each time I had to go to the back of the company buildings and rummage in heap of unused stuff to scavenge the protections that safeguard the turner from the moving parts of the turning lathe... call me a whimp, but I value my hands that much.

It's easy enough to get hurt with a perfectly "safe" machine, I find it is crazy to go and make it even worse.

In July a friend of mine in Italy had a finger broken (luckily no more than that) in a printing machine, why? The protections were off.

It is not just the fault of the owners wanting more productivity, but also of the workers. I have seen lots of people making small or big acts of sabotage over their machinery just because the safeguards were awkward, or "in the way".

Please you all take care around tools of all kind!

 

I think its as some of the others are saying, its the ease that you can hire a chainsaw.

I use some pretty nasty machinery most of the time, but its fixed stuff mostly and not available to hire.

As to Health and safety, its way over the top in the UK, and usually decieded by someone who has never used a particular machine in their life.

Things are safer now than they used to be, I suppose due to regulations, but the "know all" health and safety "jobs worth" is still a complete pain in the backside.

 

You lot are absolutely right. It's all about awareness of the situation, experience and not losing concentration.

Not a tree stroy, but similar. My parents have a telegraph pole in their front garden and a couple of years ago it hasd to be replaced because it was rotten at the base. The engineers came out and one of them promptly climbed right up it. The pole then keeled over under the added weight and pole plus man hit the pavement hard. Suffice to say he needed a big ambulance.

A bit of preliminary forethought and using his eyes would have told him immediately that the pole was dangerous. Shame.

 

Yes, the old nautical saying still applies. "one hand for yourself and one for the ship"

 

Saw a bloke useing a chainsaw today he had no ppe and was sort of narrowing his eyes to keep the sawdust out :roll:

 

I'd never use a chainsaw myself unless there was no way that the chain could touch me at all - it wouldn't cut trees or wood then either though. A hand saw yes, I cut my willow down using a hand saw with a blade for cutting wood that was still alive attached onto it. It was hard work and took a lot lot longer than if I'd gone down to the local hire shop and hired a chainsaw myself, but I've still got all my fingers and thumbs. I've known people who've lost fingers and thumbs using a hand saw. I tend to leave things like that to the professionals who know what they're doing with those tools and understand the risks involved.

 

Chainsaws have to meet two stop time requirements.
1 second on the rundown brake (trigger) and 0.15 sec for the kickback brake.

Kickback is when the tip of the saw contacts something and the action of the moving chain causes the the blade to kick upwards and backwards.
Some domestic type chainsaws have a tip guard, this prevents this happening and consequently a kickback brake is not requireed.
This tip guard limits the use and cutting capacirty of the chain saw, so these type are normally used for cutting up logs (up to 300mm / 12")

Protective equipment costs many times more than the chainsaw itself (if you buy the complete package)