bharen
ArboristSite Lurker
Another incident makes a believer out of me!
I spent yesterday clearing a badly wooded residential lot. Lots of trimmer and some light chainsaw work. A few weeks ago I got tired of taking a lot of kicked-up material in the face from the trimmer, so I went out and bought one of the integrated helmet/earmuff/mesh faceguard setups. Works great, and I'm always amazed at the amount of stuff the faceguard stops. Later in the day I was using the chainsaw to cut some woody brush that had grown up along a fenceline. Before beginning to cut I put the helmet on and lowered the face shield. I don't normally do this when cutting light brush with a chainsaw, but my safety glasses were too fogged/clouded with sweat. First bush I attacked had a 3" trunk and I thought the bush had grown over the top of the chain link fence. I didn't look close enough to realize that the bush had actually grown into the fence, and the trunk was under tension because of some dead limbs that had fallen from a pine and bent the fence. Start the saw, drop the face shield, get behind the bush and start to cut. As I complete the cut the 3" trunk flies back up at me and smacks the faceguard dead center with enough force to cause me to fall backwards and knock the helmet off my head. I escaped injury only because of the faceshield. Had I not used it, or used only safety glasses, that trunk would have smacked me hard about upper lip/nose level.
My point? Every week I see homeowner types out running string trimmers, saws and other power tools with no safety gear other than safety glasses (maybe). Even the 'occasional lumberjack' (like me) needs to use proper safety gear (and yes, carefully evaluate the task you are about to attack). Its the difference between a creased face shield and a trip to the ER!
I spent yesterday clearing a badly wooded residential lot. Lots of trimmer and some light chainsaw work. A few weeks ago I got tired of taking a lot of kicked-up material in the face from the trimmer, so I went out and bought one of the integrated helmet/earmuff/mesh faceguard setups. Works great, and I'm always amazed at the amount of stuff the faceguard stops. Later in the day I was using the chainsaw to cut some woody brush that had grown up along a fenceline. Before beginning to cut I put the helmet on and lowered the face shield. I don't normally do this when cutting light brush with a chainsaw, but my safety glasses were too fogged/clouded with sweat. First bush I attacked had a 3" trunk and I thought the bush had grown over the top of the chain link fence. I didn't look close enough to realize that the bush had actually grown into the fence, and the trunk was under tension because of some dead limbs that had fallen from a pine and bent the fence. Start the saw, drop the face shield, get behind the bush and start to cut. As I complete the cut the 3" trunk flies back up at me and smacks the faceguard dead center with enough force to cause me to fall backwards and knock the helmet off my head. I escaped injury only because of the faceshield. Had I not used it, or used only safety glasses, that trunk would have smacked me hard about upper lip/nose level.
My point? Every week I see homeowner types out running string trimmers, saws and other power tools with no safety gear other than safety glasses (maybe). Even the 'occasional lumberjack' (like me) needs to use proper safety gear (and yes, carefully evaluate the task you are about to attack). Its the difference between a creased face shield and a trip to the ER!