Convince me that a hard hat is necessary

[Rowan]

Ok admittedly this post is trollish....... sorry.

I've been cutting for 7-5 yrs now. Mainly taught by dad, mixed with some reading. I cut for fun, mainly firewood a few saw logs here and there to mill at the father in-laws for various projects....

Here's the thing. None of the people that I've cut with own or use a hard hat / faceshield. Ok.... if everyone jumped off a cliff would I follow.... no, I wouldn't. PPE is very important, I take safety very seriously at work (papermill) and often work as a supervisor ensuring others follow the rules and wear the proper PPE.

When cutting, I where full cut-resistent pants (similar to chaps), safety glasses, gloves, steel toe boots, and ear plugs. I'm sure a hardhat would be a good idea. When talking to dear ol' dad I got the "well if a branch falls on you would you rather have a bump on the head or a broken neck" speech. Followed by "If you are careful and watch what you are doing like I taught you, you shouldn't have anything fall on you". "If it looks dangerous, find another tree to pick on".

I'm not saying they are a bad, rather I'd just like to hear a few stories of how they've saved your azz, maybe some stories I can use to convince Dad its better safe than sorry.

PS: post #100.

 

[Grace Tree]

If you're wearing all that PPE and no helmet then apocryphal stories probably won't convince you. Try this experiment. Put your head down and close your eyes and walk into the the corner of a door or kitchen cabinet at walking speed, which is 3 or 4 mph. Now try to imagine something falling at 60 or 100 mph on your same unguarded head.
Stay safe,
Phil

 

[arborworks1]

There have been several kickback accidents that have been minor with the addition of the hardhat. Without the hardhat it would have been much worse.

They are hot but they will save your life oneday for sure.

 

[ropensaddle]

There have been several kickback accidents that have been minor with the addition of the hardhat. Without the hardhat it would have been much worse.

They are hot but they will save your life oneday for sure.

Actually they are cooler than without and can prevent heat stroke.
With out one you get the full extent of the suns rays. Back to the topic
I once had my trimmer at an electric company drop his whiz saw and it
hit me in the hard hat blade end first. It put a fair cut in the hat and was
good it was not spinning but hard to say what the result would have been without my brain bucket on.

 

[OilHead]

All my saws are so loud that with just ear plugs they do not meet the minimum suggested db. level recommended by osha. I use both ear plugs & the peltor 105 muffs. When it comes to hats get one that has air venting or they can be a bit hot under there at times.

 

[grandpatractor]

In the last year I have been hit in the hardhat 3 times. One of them was due to someone else's bad judgement. It not only protects from you bad choices but others also. Brother had a chain flip off trimming branches yesterday and his chaps took a nice cut for him.:monkey:

 

[smokechase II]

Necessary

Convince me that a hard hat is necassary,

becomes

Convince me that a hard hat is necessary with the wearing of a hard hat.

 

[Metals406]

When I worked in the woods, I had the yarder pick up a turn (easy), because it was buried under a lot of pecker-poles... Imagine a bunch of big pickup-sticks. The sawyer's dropped all them little poles to make it easier on themselves to fall all the trees (butts-downhill). I was in the 'safe-zone', and the turn started up the hill... Some of these pecker-poles were still almost vertical, some at 45 degrees, some flat...

Like an evil game of dominoes, a chain reaction started and one of those poles headed my way, and before I could react, it whipped me square in the head. This thing was about 40 feet long, 6" on the butt, and 1/2" at the tip... A big, giant, green bull whip. I caught this thing where it was about 3" diam.

It drove me to my knees, dented my full-brim, slid down the side of my face (taring the back of my ear), and pile-drove me in the shoulder. The inner basket was completely ripped apart, and the hat was pretty much toast. So you don't have to use your imagination... Here are pictures of what before and after looked like.

BEFORE

AFTER

Without my turtle on... I'm sure you can guess what my head would have looked like. This wasn't the first time I was hit in the hat, and it wasn't the last time. I'm a freedom loving, American redneck... And I believe you have the God given right to have your skull cracked in half, if that's what you chose.

[/my2cents]

 

[Zodiac45]

Rowan,

For the longest time I never wore one either. I used safety goggles, ear plugs, gloves, etc.. Then one day while felling some relatively small poplar and aspen tree as a favor for my brother, who was building a cabin on an ocean lot, I dropped a 40ft poplar and as it fell, it clipped a dead branch off a fir. Either clipped, or the branch was just hung up in the fir. I remember watching the tree fall and just before it hits, I'm on my a$$, groggy and my shoulders killing me. The branch just clipped off my mellon and ear, hit my shoulder and knocked me down. Two lessons learned that day. Wear the hat! and get outta dodge when the tree begins to fall.

 

[Bigus Termitius]

Fly down or fly me up and I'll give you a slight with and without demonstration.

I had a kid that is no longer with me. He quit, smartest thing he did the whole time on the job.

He was constantly a PPE disregarding problem child. One of the last days on the job he was clearing a service drop with a hot stick saw and started getting "hot."

He dumped the hat and I just waited for him to find out the hard way. He had a near miss that would have laid him out. He didn't want the hat, but he didn't want the other either. So he's back nursing.

Good place for him....maybe.

 

[ropensaddle]

Your too far away to show ya but I could hit ya on your head without it and then you could put it on and see the differance:hmm3grin2orange:

 

[Gologit]

Just go get a hard hat and wear it. The pros do...both arborist and logger. Nuff said?

 

[Metals406]

Yeah, what gologit said.

 

[Nailsbeats]

I see what you are saying, some of the old timers won't wear them. My dad is the same way. He doesn't care if he has one on at all, he doesn't wear chaps or glasses, or any PPE.

Me and my brother always wear glasses and started wearing hardhats and chaps too. My bro took a limb to the head right after we started wearing PPE and the hardhat saved him good. He almost had a concussion anyway and the hat cracked. Without it deflecting the branch after impact things would have been worse. He shouldn't have been standing where he was watching the tree fall and not looking up, but he was.

Funny thing about my dad, he promoted and bought us all our PPE (hats, chaps, pants, shirts, glasses, ear protection, boots), but never has his own. The other day I saw an old picture of him when he was my age, and there he is coiling up his rope with his Asplund hardhat and saftey glasses on. I have never seen him like that. He is in top shape and does the most dangerous work on a regular basis, I just don't know what gives?

Hey Rowan, if you can convince your dad let me know how. I worry about mine, but he is in better shape and doing things that his peers can't, he can calculate risk, and pull off dangerous procedures with trees like nobody's business. I mean I am cosidered crazy by some and I think he is crazy sometimes. Just worries me to find him dead in the woods someday, because we all know it only takes one.

 

[Rowan]

Thats a lot of good reasons to get one.

I was never against them, it just wasn't part of Dads lesson plan if you know what I mean. Getting the heck outta dodge was his strategy for protecting his head. I think the hat makes a lot of sense though. I am going to get one.

Lots of good stories guys.

There's never a good reason to not wear the proper PPE for any job. We always cut on private land with 2 - 3 people, and take turns felling. But the best plans can go wrong.

Cheers guys.:greenchainsaw:

 

[sawinredneck]

I never believed in any of that crap!! I still hate it!! I now have two pairs of jeans with cuts across the left leg, I lost a pair of NICE leather gloves due to bing stupid, not my fingers, after my son was born I lost a thumb to a mitre saw.
Now days, I HAVE to wear a hard hat, it's a job requirment (not tree work) so it's second nature when I fall to just put it on PERIOD!!! It hasn't saved me, but I have had several close calls where it would have! I don't wear my chaps climbing, but as soon as I am on the ground, the chaps come out before I start a saw!!
I may not be that important to myself, but my boy is that important to me!! Think about that for a bit.

 

[Grace Tree]

I may not be that important to myself, but my boy is that important to me!! Think about that for a bit.

That's a good thought and well said,
Phil

 

[Cedarkerf]

If your falling trees why wouldnt you wear one? Convince me why not. Had a lot crap fall out tops that you couldnt see. If ya need to be convinced maybe theres not enough inside to protect.

 

[superfire]

did not even know i got hit till when cleanup up my gear

 

[TimberMcPherson]

Just go to a hospital that has a rehab for people who have suffered head injuries. If you like being you, youll wear one after that.

Mine has saved my skull a few times, perhaps not from a fatality, but at least once it could have been life changing.

My dad is an ex farmer who is against anything that makes him "to hot". about 2 years ago he called me and asked about getting "one of those chainsaw airmuff hat thingies"
I said I would send him one but I was immediately suspicious, and asked what had happened.
"Nothing" he said, so I asked to speak to mum
Mum said his best mate had been cutting a limb, got kickback and opened up his face, luckily he didnt loose and eye or worse.

Learning from others mistakes is the worlds most valuable yet cheap education