Guys, don't get complacent out there!!!
- Thread starter blsnelling
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woodeneye
Hardwood Hunter
Man, I'm wearing my hard hat from now on... Glad you're still kickin' Brad!
Mastermind
Work Saw Specialist
Does a bear mess in da woods.Are you expecting trouble.
Mastermind
Work Saw Specialist
Does a bear mess in da woods.
I'd remove the problem rather than try to change the tide........but that's just me.
It's been 50 years but I well remember what those things sound like clanging off the aluminum hat and I remember lookin up just in time to catch one on the saw and fling it to the side.
John
John
bryanr2
Addicted to ArboristSite
Oh this is gonna be good!opcorn: It's funny as I was watching a "falling" video yesterday I was thinking how quickly we can forget life experiences and the importance of PPE. This thread popped up in my head. (no pun intended) For what it's worth, I dont own any (keep blowing my money on saws), I have some on my shopping cart at Baileys though. My worst chainsaw injury was taking a saw across my foot, it was too wet to cut and I shouldnt have been using my foot to hold the log. Dam toe still hurts everytime the weather changes. My Kari had just told me to be "careful" as she walked in. I snickered and said "do you know how long I have been running a saw?" 5 min on the dot, the boot was shredded, my sock was soaked in blood, and I was hobblin thru the door yelling for my brother.
Yall should have seen the "told ya so" look on my little lady.
2 trips to the ER- one for stitches and one for when I didnt listen about no shoes and went back to work 3 days later. Got an infection that near cost me my foot. 8 weeks out of work (no money) and a staggering ER bill.
farmrboy
ArboristSite Member
All it takes is a small lapse in judgment to change your life. I haven't had any accidents with a saw yet. Been running one for over 30 yrs. But, I rolled a tractor on Memorial Day weekend of 2012. I was moving round bales off a field and turned on a hill with a bale too high in the air. A rear tire landed on my lower back. Pelvis was split in half, 3 broken vertebrae, and I tore the muscles off the front of my pelvis when I pulled myself out from under the rear tire. My phone was in the house, so I had to wait for wifey to come home and find me. The muscle damage didn't heal right and will bother me for the rest of my days, and I can tell when the weather is going to change because the hardware holding me together hurts like hell. Everybody says "It was an accident." But if I would have had my brain in gear, it never would have happened.
Matt81
Bliss: Saw full of fuel and yard full of trees!
Back before i got into tree work i was doing landscaping and construction. We won a contract to do all the landscaping and fencing for a new 1.5 million liter water supply tank that was being built to be used as a backup supply for when the mains needed to be shut off for work. Anyway, one of the last days we were there, the construction company who built the tank, was putting topsoil back down over the hillside and their most experienced truck driver who was only a month from retirement forgot what he was doing and put the tipper up to dump his load but he was facing more across the hill than facing up....... yep the tipper went up and the truck went over. The cab hit his last pile of soil and the truck twisted the chassis right behind the cab. Truck was only weeks old and was a throw away. Thankfully he was unharmed, but they did make him take an early retirement.
There are many work situations, not only tree work, that are very dangerous places to be. People who are in these environments often know the right procedures and right PPE and so on. However in this mix is the fact that we are human. We make mistakes, no matter how many times we have done something before there is always the potential to stuff it up. We forget things. Forgetting the milk and bread may be a pain but it is not life threatening (note: may be life threatening after telling your wife you forgot....
)As Brad will I'm sure testify, not wearing a helmet, forgetting to look up, and forgetting to let go of the saw and back off, is however a lot more relevant in this situation.
Don't fell trees alone. Wear the PPE.....Always. The one time you don't wear the helmet because you are complaining it is too hot or whatever, is the time that persistent bugger Murphy will come and visit. Don't take shortcuts.
Also no matter how nice a saw is ported or otherwise, if it gets pinched in the cut and the tree is falling, let go of the saw and save your ass! It is only a saw. On the plus side, if it gets damaged you can always repair it or buy another!
I have had many "incidents" over the years working with trees. Only through following good working procedures and being consistent and vigilant have i been fortunate to not have been hurt seriously. It has the potential to happen to anyone.
Mike from Maine
Read that the ms362 is awesome!!!
Could have been 40% worse.
Excellent thread Brad. I remember when you posted it. From time to time when its hot and I really don't feel like walking all the way over to my hard hat and chaps, I think about this thread. Not about all the bad things I have witnessed or read about. I think about this site and the people on here. I appreciate the professionals on here that wear their PPE. It might not be the factor that keeps one safe. But second chances come around more often to those with both the wisdom of working in this field and wearing of their PPE.
bucknfeller
Opportunistic Hooligan
Bump.
Metalmanpro
Machinist / Arborist
Glad you're ok. Life has no resets. I started out with a stihl forestry helmet, until I got thrown by some storm damage. The stihl helmet had no chin strap, so when I came to, I found it way away from me. It was scuffed and split where I got hit from behind. Now I use a Pacific Kevlar helmet and keep the strap buckled. The saw never bound. The cut didn't open or close in any way that was suspicious. At least not that I remember. The wood looked secure and locked in place, but the cut I made was like tripping the pan on a steel foothold trap. I'm more wary now, and I'm sure you'll be too.
Mike from Maine
Read that the ms362 is awesome!!!
I'm going to warn you all one more time. Wear your PPE.
RandyMac
Stiff Member
"Stupid is as stupid does"
Forrest Gump
Forrest Gump
Whenever something like this comes up and the person gets away with their life, people seem to be keen to say such things as "God was looking over you", or "You must have a guardian angel" , or "Saved by the grace of God" etc etc. As if God was in the business of promoting incompetence. If the angels were looking after you and they allowed you to take a good hiding, and Brad did get quite a smack down not unlike what we see here on AS often enough, it would seem far more likely to me that they were sending a message more than simply preventing a fatal disaster. I wonder if Brad got the message.
There's a long joke I could tell about angels, etc. I'll change it slightly and shorten it for you.
After the forester dies and gets to the pearly gates, he angerly complains to Saint Peter that God did not protect him when he needed it.
Saint Peter looks up and asks, "Who do you think made those helmets and chaps and chain brakes, etc., available for you?"
Philbert
After the forester dies and gets to the pearly gates, he angerly complains to Saint Peter that God did not protect him when he needed it.
Saint Peter looks up and asks, "Who do you think made those helmets and chaps and chain brakes, etc., available for you?"
Philbert
WheresWally
ArboristSite Operative
I bet 99% of the guys here have had a bush f-up, difference is there would probably only ever be 5% of the guys here admit to it...
Ever notice how the vast majority of people you hear of getting killed in the bush are professional bushmen that have been in the game for years, this type of thing can and does happen to anyone, novice or pro but the chances actually increase as a pro because you are obviously doing a lot more of it.
Ever notice how the vast majority of people you hear of getting killed in the bush are professional bushmen that have been in the game for years, this type of thing can and does happen to anyone, novice or pro but the chances actually increase as a pro because you are obviously doing a lot more of it.
(Safety rant)
'Exposure' is only part of the story. Our state (Minnesota) has a dedicated logging safety program, and I have attended some of their programs where they review fatalities. Often, it is someone with many years experience.
The other factor is 'risk' - which is related to probability. If someone performs a task in a risky manner, they may not get hurt (or hurt others, damage property, etc.) due to 'chance', 'luck', etc. It's common to hear someone who works in a risky manner say something like, "I've been doing this for 30 years like this and haven't gotten hurt (yet)". Or, "My father and my grandfather and everyone I know does it like this . . . .". When someone does get hurt, they say something about 'bad luck' or 'it's a risky business', or 'it was an accident - could not have been prevented', etc.
Safe work practices, including those that people like to make fun of, are based on the fact that certain things predictably happen, even if very infrequently. They are often designed to protect the worker (co-workers, property, etc.) for when those rare events do occur. Granted, it may be hard to see the benefits when those occurrences are rare. The alternative is to choose workers based on luck, or those who randomly survive enough near-misses to catch on intuitively.
Philbert
