Chainsaw Accident

I had a diseased oak tree just outside of my perimeter. I genned up on the fungus that was growing from it and apparently, the fungi was the tip of the iceberg. Had a word with my mate who worked for the forestry commission. He took one look at it and said "that tree could be virtually hollow."

I used to watch the trunk of this monster, twist in the wind when it was in full leaf...so, not being allowed to cut it down myself, I had to get intouch with the council.

Even I as a reasonably intelligent being, watched the so called pro-council workers ( if there is such an animal ) start to dismantle and remove this large tree.....I said to my partner of the time....I fear tears before this job is finished.

To cut (sorry) a long story short..two men nearly lost their lives that day, through incompetence and incorrect use of chainsaws.

 

Recently finished watching a series on TV called "AXE MEN"
After watching it I have a lot of respect for anyone who has to fell or doctor trees. I know it was the USA Oregon, but I,m sure the dangers are the same werever. If you get a chance to watch it some time I can recommend it.

 

Some of the council workers are worse than useless, I posted pics in jan of the butchery caried out on some robinia trees locally by councill staff.

Worst thing Ive seen was when i was driving in the brecons after heavy snow, driving along a valley road I came across two council vans, the councill staff were trying to clear a big holly tree that had been pushed over by the weight of the snow and was part hung up on phone lines and partly blocking the road.

The four workers were trying to pull the tree with one of the vans as they they had got thier two chainsaws stuck!!! luckily for them I hadnt unloaded my pick up and had my big saw with me and my helmet.... they hadnt the first clue about tension and compression or safe saw use. 5 mins later and it was down along with some choice words to them from me!

 

Training - Competence - PPE. That's the way it should be with any high risk undertaking, even amongst professionals. The arborist/tree surgeon/forestry community is pretty tight knit with news travelling fast, especially if it's bad news. Even qualified, competent & confident sometimes get it wrong and end up paying the ultimate result. Thankfully the worst injury I have sustained (other than a bad back) was a bramble. Required a stitch or two.

The dangers are the same, it's how you manage them that count. Here on the UK the industry is heavily regulated to include compulsory training, assessment, re-assessment and PPE.

 

Sounds about right Paul.

Hey Cap, caught the end of one of the progs last night I think....health and safety...they don't believe in it.

 

Ive seen the axemen series, they certainly do things differently ie no ppe other than a tin hat, also noticed the length of the bars they were using ie overly long ones for all work even the topping out.

Personally I like to run on short bars, only using larger ones when the job dictates, usually my 575 is on a 20". wasted power using just the end of the bar and potential for some bad kicks otherwise.

 

I think with the fallers over their mainly wear chaps, but you can get balistics that do look like jeans. As treesurfer mentioned ppe are a last line of defense, i was wearing chinsaw gloves and still managed to take the tips of two of my fingers off. Luckily they were small pieces and in a way the gloves did their job because if i hadnt been wearing them the injury would have been worse.

 

In honhesty Ive never worn the proper gloves, I find the hide gets too slipy when wet and the fingers are never long enough.

i prefer yellow grip gloves when sawing.

 

The yellow grip ones i use for climbing

 

No one ever considered the brake on a chain saw.:lollol:

 

I agree tweaks, you mean like a cut out on an electric mower. It would make sense. By the way welcome back hun, where've you been working away? 02

 

Lucky he only lost his eyebrows. Friend of mine wore a severely unfashionable hairstyle for a while with a similar accident :D

 

Yo 02, been in a womens prison for a month.:D:D:D:thmb:

 

Having worked for H.M. Forestry Commission in the 1950's I would never go up a tree with a chainsaw. If I am cutting limbs off trees I use either a Grecian Saw or Bow Saw. The Grecian Saw is a Wolf saw with a 4mtr sectional handle which I made up for the purpose. At 79 I've got more sense than to climb trees.

I only use a chainsaw for sawing up logs of more than 3ins diameter, and even then I cut them on a sawhorse using a rope vice to grip them. That way they can't jump and cause a problem.

Regarding a brake, I use a Ryobi Electric Chainsaw which has a brake that operates when the switch goes off.