Stunning safety awareness photos.

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M.D. Vaden

M.D. Vaden

vadenphotography.com
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Location
Beaverton, Oregon
I was employed by the Portland, Oregon, Park Bureau as a greenskeeper in the 1980's.

At that time, there were several safety accidents. One man was hit with a loader bucket in the midsection. Another man jumped a tractor while standing on the ground - tractor in gear - and got his head run over (he lived!).

Following, the Park Bureau had John Deere bring in some slides showing real photos to drive the point that we can't be careful.

I have never forgot that class, and it has helped me be on guard.

One photo was of a man that jumped into a grain silo. The point here was never jump into what you don't know the contents of. Don't assume. The man was unaware of a section of pipe, buried in a standing position.

The photo was of the man's bleeding groin after the pipe did a giant cookie cutter on his genital parts.

( Everyone had their own paper bag on the table in this class ).

Another photo was of a woman who was standing near a tractor powering an implement with a PTO shaft. Her belt, or tie, of her sweater blew with the breeze into the PTO and initiated her body rotating at 60 RPMs. She lived.

Another photo was of a man's hand after feeling for a leak around a deisel engine with fuel injection.

Although this class Method was a bit FEAR / SHOCK oriented, I think it was one of the most effectual classes I have ever seen.

Maybe its not for you. But some of you may want to see if John Deere still has this available.

Personally, I think its a great additional aid in addition to safety manuals and operator manuals.

That class showed in rapid succession, that serious injuries can arise from apparently small issues and decisions

Mario Vaden
Landscape Designer / Arborist
M.D. Vaden Trees & Landscapes
Beaverton, Oregon
 
safety

Seen enough of that in real life. I was taking down a large oak and once it was on the ground I was done for the day and would be back tomorrow to cut it up and haul it away. As I'm putting things away one of the lawn guys picks up my saw and decides he will drop the maple I told the homeowner I'd come back for next week. Before I can grab the guy he's already cut the maple and it lands on his foot breaking his foot. His insurance paid for that one. You will find people looking to win Darwin awards everywhere, hopefully you can stop them before they win the grand prize.
 
i worked at a place out of high school that had RR access.

Due to miscoordination a fella got caught between 2 cars linking up, i'm talking about those 2 big 'C' clasps that link the cars. It didn't kill him outright, he was still quite alive the poor baztard. They got rescue to him; all they could do was give hime some pain meds, and call to have his wife brought out to say good-bye, quite easily done in our small town. For they knew as soon as they unlinked the cars he was pinched between he would massively hemmorhage to death, for actually at this point they were keeping all that 'pinched' off; they were keeping him alive!

He was a nice guy, nice family. Communication is important. All ways and always be care-full.
 
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As long as we are talking about safety awareness photos i must mention the photo of the poplar removal on your website. No PPE that I can see, I would have used a tag line for the top. Just an observation.
 
For Coydog:

Actually, we don't utilize that climber you saw in the Poplar removal photo you saw anymore.

We leave that photo in for now, because it is used for the public for advertising, and not for tree climbers for safety.

I don't do my own climbing as I have a fear of dangling in the air. Ladders were bad enough.

Fortunately, we have lined up couple of climbers that far exceed the man in the photo - for education, and technique.

The one in the photo was the first we had contracted with.

That particular removal sent up a lot of "flags" you might say, and got us thinking hard about a replacement.

One of the great aids for locating the following climbing source was going through a series of other arborists for a referral.

Mario Vaden
Landscape Designer / Arborist
M.D. Vaden Trees & Landscapes
Beaverton, Oregon:blob2:
 
Fear is always a great motivator. I've been known to take a chainsaw to a pumpkin to show new groundies what it'd be like to have it go through their legs. Needless to say, I've never had to rag anyone about wearing chaps. Helps drive the point home. And I get punkin' pie as a bonus! :D
 
should be used more

Do you remember "blood on the asphalt", it was the movie they used to show every year to high school drivers ed classes. They don't use that anymore because of complaints from poli/cor parents. Ask the instructors, and they thought it was one of the best pieces of media they had no matter how dated it was. I have seen a couple links on occasion to pictures of saw accidents. Maybe they need to be stored in one area to show new emplloyees or joe homeowner who is out buying his new saw. I bet the dealers could sell 400% more PPE with every saw! Hey I just came up with a new marketing concept. JB
 
facts08.htm_txt_Injuryman2.gif


Couldn't find any gorey pic's but this is a good one.
 
35% of injuries to the left hand? I find that surprising. It seems a bit hard to injure your left hand with a rear handled saw. Now if that figure was due to one handed top handled saw use, I can see why there is a move to ban them (over here anyway)
 
Originally posted by Acer Now if that figure was due to one handed top handled saw use, I can see why there is a move to ban them (over here anyway) [/B]
Click to expand...


Please don't take this as arguementative! In the UK what do most people thing of the government mandating rules? Do most people like the idea or isn't an evil that has evolved slowly and is now to far gone to stop? Personally, if I want to injure myself I think I should be allowed to. Conversely, if I want to perform a dangerous task with as much safety as I can muster than I should be allowed to do so. I like when the government makes safety information available. That way I have all of information to make a decision on if I want to take the risk or not. I don't like it however when the government tells me that I am not capable of thinking on my own.
Once again this is my opinion and I'm am just curious on what the mindset is on the other side of the pond.
 
Originally posted by xander9727
Please don't take this as arguementative! In the UK what do most people thing of the government mandating rules? Do most people like the idea or isn't an evil that has evolved slowly and is now to far gone to stop? Personally, if I want to injure myself I think I should be allowed to. Conversely, if I want to perform a dangerous task with as much safety as I can muster than I should be allowed to do so. I like when the government makes safety information available. That way I have all of information to make a decision on if I want to take the risk or not. I don't like it however when the government tells me that I am not capable of thinking on my own.
Once again this is my opinion and I'm am just curious on what the mindset is on the other side of the pond.
Click to expand...

Different people have different attitudes, depending on their situations. It's a lot easier to stomach regulations if you are a salaried employee and it's not your money! As a small guy, a lot of this stuff is a burden, and I often think common sense would be a better defence against accidents. However, with an attitude like that, I'll never get a sniff of the bigger more lucrative contracts. If I'm working for any firm or organisation, they want to see risk assessments, H&S policies, certificates of competence, etc, to cover their a$$ (and that's what it's all about, really).

What I object to is legislation drafted by people who don't know the industry well enough, or legislation designed for other industries. As arboriculture here is a small industry with a relatively high accident rate (doesn't help us when we're lumped together with forestry and agriculture), we come in for some stick. There have been a number of pronouncements from HSE which have been based on individuals with little knowledge of the industry basing guidance on poor practice. My particular gripe at the minute is the Lifting/lowering regulations, which sets out numerous duties including the need to inspect climbing /rigging gear every 6/12 months. This legislation is designed for industry in general (eg slings, cranes, hoists etc), but we've been caught up in it anyway. The inspector must be "competent" to inspect such gear. I could become competent by going on a course and learning about how to spot defects in ropes, etc, but any inspection I do on my gear would not count for the purposes of the legislation because the inspector must be independant, or have no financial interest in whether the gear is scrapped or not. As I buy my own gear, I am not independant, so my inspections would not count. At present, my gear is uninspected, because I cannot find anyone near me who is competent to inspect it from an arb background. I cannot afford to pay the one guy who quoted me for doing it, because he lives so far away from me. I would love to go on that course, but I cannot justify the expense, because it gets me no nearer to complying with the law.

As far as attitudes go, it varies from person to person. Some people, like me, want to do the right thing, but find it incredibly frustrating and sometimes costly. Many just don't bother. Just as many are completely unaware of what they are supposed to be doing. As a nation, I think we're pretty much resigned to having to deal with rules & regulations. Odd individuals may make a stand (eg the shopkeeper who wants to sell veg. in lbs and oz. rather than kilograms..he got prosecuted, fined and threatened with closure), but it's a hard path to tread. They hammer you down eventually. Of course we resent it, but most of us (including me) eventually comply; to do otherwise would be making a rod for our own backs.

As far as personal freedom goes, we're pretty free to do what we want, so long as it's not important. Protest about foxhunting, we're exercising our democratic right (if we're pro hunting - anti hunters are on thinner ice). Protest about nukes, we're subversive, and can expect to be monitored by MI5. As far as freedom to injure ourselves, that's not regarded as a right, because it costs the state money to wheel us into hospital to be treated.

Sorry about this rant, hope we're not too far off topic here!
 
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Speaking of stories about where people got hurt bad but lived...


There is a guy up in Mahopac (won't name names) who owns his own tree service (all nice equipment, but it barely ever goes out of the yard) the guy got run over a couple years ago by a dozer on a land clearing job. From what I hear, it was a good size dozer. The only reason that the guy lived was because there was so much mud on the tracks of the dozer. Apparently the operator was drinking on the job, and the guy was standing right behind or to the side of the machine. Of course the guy sued the excavation company and got a good chunk of money.
 
Talked to a guy this weekend who had to be life flighted to the hospital after severely cutting the inside of his thigh with an 026 on a land clearing job. I watched these guys (from Guanajuato) work and it all seemed so clear. Cutting at times one handed with a rear handled saw and they were using bolt cutters to remove the rakers from the chain.

I think some crews are responsible for more of the accidents. Something like the 20%-80% rule. 20% percent of the workers are responsible for 80% of the injuries.

75 and sunny here today - I am off to work.

Nate
 
Or the injury pyramid. Out of 1000 minor close calls, there a 100 injuries. Out of 100 injuries, 10 people permanently lose functioning. Out of 10 debilitating injuries, someone dies.

If you look at the numbers, watch the people who make the close calls, because they are a step closer to an injury and, ultimately, death. We have someone here at school who has had many, many close calls and some actual injuries. This raises our concern about working with him because he is getting very close to something serious, perhaps deadly. No one wants to work with him!

Nickrosis
 
Your right Acer, we do work for large organisations, but we refuse to wear safety trousers in trees, and if they insist, which they often do we just pack up and go, everyone knows they restrict movement....so why are they deemed safe and an essential part of a climbers kit, I also personally dont wear safety boots, they are too clumsy, so am i safe or unsafe? I think i'm very safe, and as far as i'm concerned thats all that matters, I fill out risk assessments and work policies as a matter of course, i also hand out fastco guides, and am happy as long as they are read, but wont push anyone to abide by something that he doesnt think is safe, my opinion is that if some HSE guy decides things are working smoothly he'll try his hardest to make things difficult and he is succeeding right now, not just in our industry but many industries. Rope inspections are ok, and i agree all kit must be inspected thoroughly, but its your life dangling on the end of that line, so inspect it yourself regularly like you would do with your rock climbing kit, etc, etc, self preservation is the greatest motive of all to make sure you work safely and keep good gear, and I know some people will say ; I'd rather keep my legs and feet intact but its woody limbs we go up to prune and cut , not our own, and i think its time the HSE gave us a little slack. I also apologise for the rant but it can get frustrating....Jock
 

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