EdenT
ArboristSite Operative
Hiya all,
haven't been on here for a few years, but thought I might share my recent kickback experience as a possible learning experience for others.
Prior to this I have experienced minor kickbacks. The sort you can control simply by armstrength. The sort that lull you into beleiving you have been gifted with the strength and reaction speed to control any kickback. Boy was I wrong.
I was in an EWP at about 5 metres, removing some cypresses (12) lining a driveway. We only had 8 hours to do the job so I was going as fast as I could to maintain a tree per 40mins pace. Each tree should really have been done in an hour. In the basket I was using a 200t to remove branches and then a 460 to block down to about 2m (6') so the ground crew could fell and deal with the trunks.
I was on to my 5th tree when the accident happened and was fairly hot and breathless by this time. Plan was to finish this tree and then have smoko. I had one branch to go and it had two smaller branches coming off it quite close together, so it formed a letter 'K' shape. At that point my 200 ran out of petrol so rather than going down and filling it up I decided to use the 460 to knock of these last branches. I start it, move towards the lower leg of the 'K', when I suddenly hear this ripping sound, accompanied by a sickening pain in my right forearm. I look at my forearm which is wide open with all the muscles and tendons exposed. Somewhat dazed and wondering where my chainsaw has got to I look up to see it cartwheeling away about a metre in front and above me. I watch it plummet to the ground then grab my arm and start heading down myself. My crew wraps me up and off we go to hospital for a heap of drugs and sewing.
What actually happened was as the chainsaw touched the lower branch, it pulled forward bringing the kickback quadrant into contact with the upper leg of the 'K'. This accelerated it upwards where the kickback quadrant contacted the primary branch accelerating it still more. It is important to understand that the chainsaw rotates, not about your elbow as a minor kickback might lead you to think, but about it's own drive sprocket. Also a 460 at full revs with a double kickback rotates insanely fast. Far too quick for you to see, let alone react to. The force of the handle being yanked out of my hand caused muscle injuries in my kneck and shoulder that still give me trouble months later. The main problem is that the bar and chain is suddenly and violently where the handle used to be.
Fortunately, despite the multitude of bad decisions and errors I made, I did at least have a good offline cutting stance and that probably saved me from a potentially fatal injury. The other thing I had in my favour was a well maintained saw with an operative brake. The inertia brake kicked in so by the time the saw hit my arm it was more like an axe blow and so I got to keep my arm.
Anyhow I actually went back to work 3 days later so in the scheme of things I got off pretty lightly. It knocked my confidence a whole heap and things are still fairly sore as a result of the accident. I certainly learned a few lessons from the experience, hope you can too.
Stay Safe
haven't been on here for a few years, but thought I might share my recent kickback experience as a possible learning experience for others.
Prior to this I have experienced minor kickbacks. The sort you can control simply by armstrength. The sort that lull you into beleiving you have been gifted with the strength and reaction speed to control any kickback. Boy was I wrong.
I was in an EWP at about 5 metres, removing some cypresses (12) lining a driveway. We only had 8 hours to do the job so I was going as fast as I could to maintain a tree per 40mins pace. Each tree should really have been done in an hour. In the basket I was using a 200t to remove branches and then a 460 to block down to about 2m (6') so the ground crew could fell and deal with the trunks.
I was on to my 5th tree when the accident happened and was fairly hot and breathless by this time. Plan was to finish this tree and then have smoko. I had one branch to go and it had two smaller branches coming off it quite close together, so it formed a letter 'K' shape. At that point my 200 ran out of petrol so rather than going down and filling it up I decided to use the 460 to knock of these last branches. I start it, move towards the lower leg of the 'K', when I suddenly hear this ripping sound, accompanied by a sickening pain in my right forearm. I look at my forearm which is wide open with all the muscles and tendons exposed. Somewhat dazed and wondering where my chainsaw has got to I look up to see it cartwheeling away about a metre in front and above me. I watch it plummet to the ground then grab my arm and start heading down myself. My crew wraps me up and off we go to hospital for a heap of drugs and sewing.
What actually happened was as the chainsaw touched the lower branch, it pulled forward bringing the kickback quadrant into contact with the upper leg of the 'K'. This accelerated it upwards where the kickback quadrant contacted the primary branch accelerating it still more. It is important to understand that the chainsaw rotates, not about your elbow as a minor kickback might lead you to think, but about it's own drive sprocket. Also a 460 at full revs with a double kickback rotates insanely fast. Far too quick for you to see, let alone react to. The force of the handle being yanked out of my hand caused muscle injuries in my kneck and shoulder that still give me trouble months later. The main problem is that the bar and chain is suddenly and violently where the handle used to be.
Fortunately, despite the multitude of bad decisions and errors I made, I did at least have a good offline cutting stance and that probably saved me from a potentially fatal injury. The other thing I had in my favour was a well maintained saw with an operative brake. The inertia brake kicked in so by the time the saw hit my arm it was more like an axe blow and so I got to keep my arm.
Anyhow I actually went back to work 3 days later so in the scheme of things I got off pretty lightly. It knocked my confidence a whole heap and things are still fairly sore as a result of the accident. I certainly learned a few lessons from the experience, hope you can too.
Stay Safe
good the hear your ok and nice to see you back about edent the place is much the same apart from site look changes due to web hackers
