What safety equipment do you have when running chainsaw?

[John_Mc]

Are yall just putting on a show or do you really 'gear up' every time you use a saw? I mean, good for you, your probably doing the smart thing, but I don't think anyone I know personally over thinks it that much. Be careful, but safety 3rd.

Not putting on a show. In fact, I'm surprised at the number of people who don't regularly wear appropriate PPE when operating a chainsaw. I'm all for situational awareness (I'm a pilot and was a flight instructor for years: that phrase is something that was drummed in to me, and which I took great pains to drum in to my students.) But that is only one part of the story.

I'll admit to not wearing chaps or chainsaw pants on rare occasions when I am just making a cut or two - limbing a branch on a tree down in my yard. Is it smart and do I recommend it? No.

When I'm out for an extended session of felling trees or bucking firewood, the chaps, eye and hearing protection are ALWAYS on. If there is anything overhead, the helmet is on as well. When I first got in to doing my own work in the forest, I decided I wanted to be around to see my kids grow up and see their kids as well. I wanted to have full use of all of my limbs and not have scars so ugly it would scare the kids when they looked at them. I've stuck by that.

No one PLANS to have an accident, but s&#t happens. I have a friend who is a first responder/EMT who has some pretty gruesome stories. Many of them from people saying things like "I just don't understand it. I've been doing this for 30 years without a problem..." There is a reason that working as a logger doing hand felling has one of the highest Workers Comp insurance rates of any profession. You need the training, the "situational awareness", AND the safety gear.

People are free to make their own decisions when working on their own property. However, not wearing appropriate PPE is one of the quickest ways to get thrown off a job around here. I let some friends and neighbors harvest firewood on my property (usually, I take the trees down, and let them take it from there, but there are a couple of them who I will let do the felling as well.) I tell all of them that they'll wear appropriate PPE, or they will not operate a chainsaw on my property. I also tell them that if I find them not wearing appropriate PPE while working on my land, they will not run a chainsaw again on my property.

Years ago, we decided to have a pond dug. I hired an excavator to do the digging. I was too busy to do the clearing myself, so he hired a contractor friend of his to do it. I came home for lunch and saw the contractor at work wearing jeans & sneakers. His sole safety gear was his prescription eyeglasses. The felling cuts he was doing left absolutely no directional control. He "did not believe in notches and hinges" and did not think they were necessary. I sent him home, told him not to come back, and finished the job myself.

A good majority of loggers and landowner chainsaw operators I've seen in this area wear chaps and a helmet with hearing and eye protection and sturdy boots (no idea what sort of protection is in their boots.) I have zero patience with the few guys around here who seem to think that not using PPE is somehow macho and that they clearly must have superior skills to those who do use it.

 

[Jstpssng]

^^^^
The R/W company I worked for years ago didnt require safety boots because they said they'd never had anyone cut their foot, and "you're walkng all day, your feet need to be comfortable."
A guy I worked with there told me "I'm a professional." I said "It's a professional saw, it can bite you."

 

[shooterdon]

One of tge best chainsaw operators here nearly died. It took over 200 stitches to sew him back up.

A buddy works for a power company doing tree work. Two years ago he cut himself with a little electric saw. He will be going on disability this year. He cannot work due to the injury.

I am clueless compared to these two guys when it comes to felling and using a saw. I act accordingly.

 

[Rockbadchild]

At the end of the day PPE is the last line of defense it's better to have one then not but if it gets there, multiple things went wrong. Then the question is what is the likelihood of that, longer and the more often you do it, the higher is the likelihood of it. Too much PPE can definitely be impeding but not enough put you at higher risk of severe injuries ... Personally I haven't heard anything here other then perhaps the face shield that would be impeding. But you can get used to most things in life, the face shield is definitely one of them. Personally the hard hat and the face shield is the two that I have the hardest time to wear (espicially the face shield). Not saying I shouldn't but I don't do this for a living, I am definitely glad to see most people wearing it and for the folks that don't I certainly understand because I don't wear it all myself but discussion like this influence people (me included) to add a few precaution to their task.

 

[Jstpssng]

At the end of the day PPE is the last line of defense

Best answer yet.

 

[LHF2019]

Not trying to be a wise guy, really want to know. How does one cut pants? What are the situations? Limbing/bucking, blade always headed away from my legs.
I wear glasses, sometimes, ear protection, sometimes, steel toe shoes, sometimes. yes, flirting with injury, but very situationally aware of dangers and surroundings.

I don't remember the exact conditions. I do remember what we were doing and that was cleaning fence line. I cut very little firewood and the bulk of my cutting is clearing brush. I'm hard on a saw. Always catching wire, rocks, and dirt. I was probably kneeling on the ground and brought the saw across when done cutting and got to close. Soon as wife saw red thought it was blood. There are times I'm laying on the ground under brush cutting it. It's really not all that fun but when the work is done it looks nice. I don't fell trees. No experience. I practice on little ones I can push in any direction but that ia as far as I take it.


Couple recent example. 100% chainsaw and manual labor. No tractor.

 

[Sprinkler Fitter]

You guys with the stihi hard hat with face shield and ear protection does it stay on when you bend over to pick up something off the ground?

I wore a hard hat for about 30 years working but didn’t have a face shield and ear protection and the helmet on the fire department the helmet had a strap.

 

[Rockbadchild]

You guys with the stihi hard hat with face shield and ear protection does it stay on when you bend over to pick up something off the ground?

I wore a hard hat for about 30 years working but didn’t have a face shield and ear protection and the helmet on the fire department the helmet had a strap.

I have never wore the face shield on a hard hat but I do wear a mining hard hat with earmuffs, the light in front is pretty heavy I would assume comparable to a face shield, the earmuffs hold everything in place when down on your ear... it is less stable when they are up usually my issue is keeping it on when looking up more then when I bend down but it dose happen, a chin lift usually dose the trick ... you can also get the chin straps for any hard hats so if that a problem for you there is that option.

 

[jjeff]

One thing Im probably over cautious of these days is getting hit in the head from broken off limbs of trees particularly not associated with the one I'm dropping. It definitely motivates me want to dig out one of my old plastic hardhats or buy a new one, and wear it At least when I'm occasionally felling large trees particularly in wooded areas. Even the old-timers like my grandfather and uncles wore them when working in the woods, long before OSHA and safer mechanical harvesting machinery was prevalent. I'll take a bad cut requiring stitches or gawd forbid amputation over being turned into a vegetable needing 24-7 care, caused by my diy carelessness and stupidity. And by me publicly posting it definitely motivates me to actually wear one when I'm occasionally felling larger trees. So thanks for a good motivational thread that I reflected on to address my lack luster use of PPE.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

Not putting on a show. In fact, I'm surprised at the number of people who don't regularly wear appropriate PPE when operating a chainsaw. I'm all for situational awareness (I'm a pilot and was a flight instructor for years: that phrase is something that was drummed in to me, and which I took great pains to drum in to my students.) But that is only one part of the story.

I'll admit to not wearing chaps or chainsaw pants on rare occasions when I am just making a cut or two - limbing a branch on a tree down in my yard. Is it smart and do I recommend it? No.

When I'm out for an extended session of felling trees or bucking firewood, the chaps, eye and hearing protection are ALWAYS on. If there is anything overhead, the helmet is on as well. When I first got in to doing my own work in the forest, I decided I wanted to be around to see my kids grow up and see their kids as well. I wanted to have full use of all of my limbs and not have scars so ugly it would scare the kids when they looked at them. I've stuck by that.

No one PLANS to have an accident, but s&#t happens. I have a friend who is a first responder/EMT who has some pretty gruesome stories. Many of them from people saying things like "I just don't understand it. I've been doing this for 30 years without a problem..." There is a reason that working as a logger doing hand felling has one of the highest Workers Comp insurance rates of any profession. You need the training, the "situational awareness", AND the safety gear.

People are free to make their own decisions when working on their own property. However, not wearing appropriate PPE is one of the quickest ways to get thrown off a job around here. I let some friends and neighbors harvest firewood on my property (usually, I take the trees down, and let them take it from there, but there are a couple of them who I will let do the felling as well.) I tell all of them that they'll wear appropriate PPE, or they will not operate a chainsaw on my property. I also tell them that if I find them not wearing appropriate PPE while working on my land, they will not run a chainsaw again on my property.

Years ago, we decided to have a pond dug. I hired an excavator to do the digging. I was too busy to do the clearing myself, so he hired a contractor friend of his to do it. I came home for lunch and saw the contractor at work wearing jeans & sneakers. His sole safety gear was his prescription eyeglasses. The felling cuts he was doing left absolutely no directional control. He "did not believe in notches and hinges" and did not think they were necessary. I sent him home, told him not to come back, and finished the job myself.

A good majority of chainsaw operators I've seen in this area wear chaps and a helmet and sturdy boots (no idea what sort of protection is in their boots. I have zero patience with the few guys around here who seem to think that not using PPE is somehow macho and that they clearly must have superior skills to those who do use it.

I'm a pilot and Line Check Airman too... Small world. There is plenty to if risk in what we do, but we manage risk. Called TEM. Threat and error management. Also TPC, threats plans and considerations. In all cases there are threats you need to identify, and manage them. You have to have plans and considerations, to mitigate them or their negative consequences.
Yesterday it was gusting to 42 knots in DC. Requiring circling approaches and we had two windshear escapes we had to fly... All went smoothly, but it would not have without applying those models and communicating the roles and responsibilities of the parties involved.

A hard hat when working with a crew is really important. I've been struck on the head numerous times when clearing tornado damage. Those disaster situations are less controlled, tornados twist and stress trees in unnatural ways... So when you are clearing, things let loose that you had no clue, would let loose.