PPE in your opinion

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Capitalist

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When is enough... enough?
What do you think is too much?

I see people constantly complaining when they see a climber without a helmet. Yet lots of guys sawing in bluejeans when they could be weairng protective chaps.

I will give my opinion a little bit later on. It may not be popular but I do it every day.

So... Are you out there in a kevlar strip onesie with goggles and a helmet, earplgs, special gloves, a respirator, and facemask, steel toed boots and safety chain with both hands on the saw at all times?

Are you out there in tennis shoes and a speedo, one handing a 395xp at 70', on your tippy toes?

What PPE do you use?

And... What would you choose, if you are forced to wear something you wouldn't but for regulations?
 
I'm not a professional sawyer and don't have a great deal of experience past cutting my own wood. However, I use to be a safety trainer for a major corporation in the mining industry. There is a point when too much safety can cause more problems than it helps. Anything that will distract you, hinder your ability to see or move when the need arrives, or causes so much discomfort that your mind is on it and not the task, isn't a good thing.
For sawing, I would think these items would be a minimum necessity: gloves, eye/ear protection, hard hat, and chaps.
Edit: add to this a good safety boot.
 
Another non-pro farmer here, and I am typically wearing blue jeans and my everyday shoes. I try to wear safety glasses and gloves, but I usually forget them until I am cutting and the chips are flying in my face. I have never worn muffs or chaps, I don't even own any chaps. And I don't wear a helmet, but again, I usually cut one or two trees and then I'm off to something else. I do however spend a lot of time before I begin planning out exactly what I want it to do, and the actual cutting is the part I think about the least, I worry more about falling limbs and the direction I am trying to drop the tree or branch. With that said, my approach isn't right, and could possibly lead to me getting hurt, but I learned from my dad, who learned from his dad, and so forth. I would get laughed off a job site if I showed up with chaps, muffs, helmet, gloves, facemask, and steel toe shoes just to drop one tree that is in the middle of a field. If I did it for a living, that would be a different story.

And I am not against safety equipment, but up until a few years ago, I worked in a manufacturing / machine shop, and the amount of safety equipment and safety shields they put machines makes them almost impossible to run. If everybody did what OSHA expects to the letter, nothing would ever get done.
 
When you say, "What are the chances anything bad will happen"
and then Fate says, "100 F-ing percent today"
That's when you wish you'd had your "Big Boy" pants on.

All that said, If you are truly "Qualified" you understand the risks and take appropriate safeguards.
Be ever vigilant aka, keep your head on a swivel...
Getting out of bed in the morning has a level of risk attached to it yet here we are.
 
I'll be honest, I don't wear the amount of PPE I should when sawing.

I haven't bought chaps yet, although I do want to. I just haven't made it a priority....been running saws so long without them that I don't find it 'necessary', but they are IMO.

Ear plugs
Safety glasses
Gloves
Heavy work jeans
Steel toed boots

If I'm climbing or falling I do wear a helmet. I don't wear it if I'm just working on the ground bucking/limbing/etc.
 
When falling timber I’m wear either internal chaps that go into blue jeans or external chaps, suspenders with a bar pad, safety glasses, and a tin full brim always felt it’ll take a hit vs a plastic helmet/hard hat.


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I guess i didn't read the title well enough. I thought it was asking what should be worn, not what do we wear.
In that case, when I'm cutting wood, the only safety equipment I have on is steel toed boots. I'm generally drinking beer, too. Yeah I'm probably an accident waiting to happen.
 
I will not wear hearing protection.
Twice saved me from widow makers I didn't see that would have killed me.

I dont wear glasses.
Sweat screws them up and I risk not seeing things due to glare.
I do not wear chaps. Never have and never will.
Anythi g loose on me will get me in trouble.

Most timesI do not wear gloves.
More snag issues.
Steel toes cause amputations. Would much rather have crused toes.

I often climb in tennis shoes. Saves energy.

Helmet is ok in winter.

Truth is if its gonna kill me no amount of ppe will stop it unless I am wearing tony starks suit.
In which case... I got better stuff to do than saw or climb.
 
I have never worn muffs . . .

I will not wear hearing protection.
Twice saved me from widow makers I didn't see that would have killed me.

Hearing loss is cumulative and irreversible. Loud music, gunfire, military / industrial exposures all add up. At some point, you will not hear the widow makers either.

Steel toes cause amputations. Would much rather have crused toes.

Horsehsit. Pure horseshit. File that with 'the Earth is flat' and 'the Moon is made of green cheese'.

Philbert
 
Hearing loss is cumulative and irreversible. Loud music, gunfire, military / industrial exposures all add up. At some point, you will not hear the widow makers either.



Horsehsit. Pure horseshit. File that with 'the Earth is flat' and 'the Moon is made of green cheese'.

Philbert
You sound passionate about that.
I will be dead before I lose my hearing.

Yes.... Steel toes have cut toes off. I had employer that saw it happen and wouldn't let us wear them.

Things arent documented the way you think.

Don't come in herre getting your panties in a wad.
 
I will not wear hearing protection.
Twice saved me from widow makers I didn't see that would have killed me.

I dont wear glasses.
Sweat screws them up and I risk not seeing things due to glare.
I do not wear chaps. Never have and never will.
Anythi g loose on me will get me in trouble.

Most timesI do not wear gloves.
More snag issues.
Steel toes cause amputations. Would much rather have crused toes.

I often climb in tennis shoes. Saves energy.

Helmet is ok in winter.

Truth is if its gonna kill me no amount of ppe will stop it unless I am wearing tony starks suit.
In which case... I got better stuff to do than saw or climb.

I’ve had one of the skull buckets save my melon before from a good sized widow marker that came flying out of a fir a 100 feet up.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Steel toes cause amputations. Would much rather have crused toes.

Source - Foot surgeon in my family.

1. If something is heavy enough to crush the steel toe to the point of amputating your toes, your toes are going to be amputated anyway.
2. They can save you from smaller injuries that could put you out of work or in great deals of daily pain

He says the myth that it's better to have crushed toes vs amputated toes from a steel toe boot is 100% false. First, he sees very few actual crushed steel toe footwear. Maybe a couple a year at most. He has never, ever, seen an injury from crushed steel toe that he felt the toes could have been otherwise saved had the user not worn steel toes. He does, however, see a TON of injuries that COULD have been 100% prevented by steel toe footwear. This man sees thousands of foot injuries a year...mostly industrial injuries.

Absolutely zero reason to not wear steel toed footwear. None.
 
Source - Foot surgeon in my family.

1. If something is heavy enough to crush the steel toe to the point of amputating your toes, your toes are going to be amputated anyway.
2. They can save you from smaller injuries that could put you out of work or in great deals of daily pain

He says the myth that it's better to have crushed toes vs amputated toes from a steel toe boot is 100% false. First, he sees very few actual crushed steel toe footwear. Maybe a couple a year at most. He has never, ever, seen an injury from crushed steel toe that he felt the toes could have been otherwise saved had the user not worn steel toes. He does, however, see a TON of injuries that COULD have been 100% prevented by steel toe footwear. This man sees thousands of foot injuries a year...mostly industrial injuries.

Absolutely zero reason to not wear steel toed footwear. None.

Why not composite toed?


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When I climb, fell trees, chip brush, etc. I always have:
Hardhat, glasses, earmuffs, gloves, chainsaw pants, steel toe boots.

Ive just worn it all from day one, so I feel naked without it.

Better quality PPE can make a big difference. Stuff that fits comfortable.

Are you interested in trying to start wearing some PPE, or are you just looking for others to reinforce your justifications for not using any?
 
Legit reasons to avoid 'steel' toes;

- there is no crush hazard (e.g. every day footwear);

- electrical conductivity (use composite protective toes instead);

- thermal conductivity (see above).

Chainsaw protective boots incorporate fibers similar to those used in chaps in the instep and along the sides. But many also have steel toes (I will post a link to the video).

Don't come in herre getting your panties in a wad.

Are those protective panties? Or do you refuse to wear a cup when playing sports too?

Philbert
 
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