Dude,

that's gross,

horrendously so.

😳😳😳

Maybe..

I aways found when working safety it was best to leave people with things they could remember.

Seems a lot of 60 to 70 year olds around here still think they are as agile as they were at 35, it's just to give them sumtin to think about.

Ha,

Jeff, I found when I was safety officer at a facility, it didn't matter what I provided for learning materials, them fuggers were gonna do what they did anyway.

Good reminder. Tree felling and chain sawing in general are extremely hazardous. Logging operations around here do very little chain saw work. Worker comp insurance is too high for chain saw work.

🫣

Damn.

Damn. That looks bad, gonna be more careful

Buff right out....

Worked in the woods in my younger years and then in drilling and then underground hardrock mining and mine development. It's true that guys reach an age where they get complacent and they injury stats go up in 50-60 age group and it's just a fact one can't react or move well in most cases.

I spent some time overseas and seen worse.

I wear full PPE when I use a chainsaw. Helmet, face shield, chaps, vest and gloves.

The speed of a chainsaw cut is faster than a human can react.

I stopped a screaming saw with my shin, looked abit like pic #1.

Well, I found when giving lunch time ocular safety recommendations to the then big Texaco wheels at the country club that i should wait until after they had eaten to show them pics and X Rays of nails and metal that had penetrated into eyes and brains of unlucky patients.

I got to take home a few extra filet minon that day after my lunch safety presentation was over after several tough oilfield hands turned green and lost their appetite.

I was topping a tree in 1972 with a chainsaw.... and then 3 operations and 9 days later I got out of intensive care....down one kidney.

Check out that guys bellybutton.

When things go bad they can bad quick.

Good thread Jeff... least we ever forget.

Tip cutting is the cause of 99% of all chainsaw cut incidents.

It's good to see the thread was received as intended.

It's never too late in life to adopt a few safety practices.

I was always big on my crews wearing safety glasses but most the guys despised them. I had to put some thought into getting them to comply without an argument.

The cheap ones suck, they can be uncomfortable, scratch easily etc.
I started buying these by the dozen and it worked, everybody wanted them.

They gotta be cool.. problem solved.



https://www.stihlusa.com/products/protective-and-work-wear/eye-protection/camogls/

Good thread as a reminder as to what can happen when things go wrong.

I use one, but have healthy respect for them.

Have you actually done the jobs that you did safety for or were you just a safety fudd?

There's a big difference between the two types.

Tag

Effective thread for influencing those willing to think a bit. Not a pro at all, and now fairly old - avoid using the tip or top of bar.

Thats nice...

I hired my own crews and did contract work for large corporations that had teams of safety fudds monitoring our every move when at their facilities.

I have been running a chainsaw quite a bit in the last couple days, and still have a ways to go. This post was a "wake up call". I fear I was getting a little sloppy, that will change.
Thank you for the reminder.

KB

RAS nailed it. Age, agility and reaction time have nothing to do with it. I’m a professional arborist and I manage tree crews every day. The average man with a chainsaw is an accident waiting to happen. Fortunately most aren’t doing high risk work like climbing trees or rigging. Proper use of the chainsaw (good training and not being lazy or taking shortcuts) along with required PPE make operating a chainsaw pretty safe. But not understanding how to properly use a chainsaw along with no PPE can get a guy in hot water, QUICK!

Chainsaws today are as safe as ever, but only if you use them correctly.

Common mistakes include
-switching hands (saws are designed for right handlers) which vastly increases the likelihood of kickback and omits the designed chain brake kickback feature that stops the chain in the event of a kickback when the saw is held as designed (left hand in handle, right hand on trigger)

-Cutting in brush-this is a recipe for kickback

-cutting with your body in the path of the cut- forward and back… When cutting with a saw, your body should be positioned to the left of the saw and the path of travel of the bar.

-One handing saws- this again omits the chain brake feature and gives you less control of the saw. We require both hands for saw use at all times, even with top handle climbing saws.

-Walking with a running saw and chain break disengaged. If the saw is running and you are moving, put the chain brake on. If the saw is off it’s not a bad idea to have the brake disengaged. In case of a fall or trip, a freely moving chain can prevent a man from being cut if he were to fall on the saw.

-Improper start up- You should always start your saw with the chain brake engaged. A big problem is when people flood the saw and then try to start it by ripping on the starter chord while holding the throttle trigger. In this instance the person will often have the bar resting on wood or in brush. Big no-no. This could be avoided if the user knew how to properly clear the flooded engine.
-fully choke engine
-remove air filter and replace air filter housing
-switch choke to run and place ignition on off position
-pull chord 10-20 times to clear fuel
-place saw on full choke (this closed throttle body to prevent debris getting into engine) and replace filter and air filter housing
-place saw on half choke, engage chain brake, set ignition to start. Saw should start easily.

Bull!

Doing it wrong, compliancy, small saws, short bars....

Best way to get cut?
Short bar, bending over to buck. If you catch the tip, the saw only has to move
a short distance to your face. Which you placed right over it.

Sure sign of a novice or knothead, bending over the saw cutting a log.

A pro has a longbar and cuts standing up like a man.
The tip is used quite a bit.
PS. Those long bars have a fat tip. That makes kickback more possible, but it also
increases the amount of tip to safely use.

When I cut myself, I was working in a timbered edge where the other faller had my trees all brushed in with his tops.
I had to go in there and start falling, I should of moved more brush/broken tops out of the way, putting in my backcut and the top of my bar at the tip caught something and sent the saw into my shin.

Chaps only work if they are completely encircling your lower and upper leg, otherwise they will just spin and cut you anyways, the pants are the best.

In BC you will immediately fail a falling certification test if you.... use the top of your bar (pushing chain) for either cutting a backcut or any part of the undercut, you are only allowed to use the bottom of your bar (pulling chain). That is the reason for a full wrap handle bar.

Then the other part about saws people forget is what you are doing with it can be equally as dangerous, stitches in my face a couple times, a flying knot hit me....and a small sappling slapped my sweet face. Always wear a shield, or at least safety glasses.

Then there were the times when trees and tops landed beside me, but still trying to forget about those times.

Super high product liability, but not illegal. Anyone, including retarts can buy one. Whether they know how to safely use one is another story. Over confidence coupled with our " I will save money and try to do that myself" married with a healthy dose of the "hold my beer" mentality = bad outcomes all day long. A good friends brother in law was killed by a chain saw kick back. No it was not a big saw, a Stihl 028 kicked back and struck him in the forehead. Found later DRT. Even when dull chainsaws cut meat very efficiently.

There are some men who shouldn't be able to operate a pair of safety scissors much less a chainsaw. Common sense goes a long way when you have a saw in your hands.

My neighbor and friend was killed last year cutting firewood for camp. Wasn't the saw that got him, it was a large branch on the tree....

A dead branch fell?

“struck by falling objects” is one of the top co sister killers in my industry. Electricity is another. I also have a the pleasure of meeting people every year who seriously hurt themselves trying to cut trees themselves rather than hiring a professional. A really stupid way to try to save money….

Widow maker

I have had my face driven into the snow by falling debris, and know of at least 3 guys who had their necks broken in the same way, luckily, they can walk.
A small branch falling from a distance (50ft) can break you up bad, sometimes branches are broken and caught up in the canopy of the trees, they come loose when you begin to separate the trees.

Fudds do nothing but make things worse as folks know their full of schit and try to find ways around them, often times making poor choices.

52 years writing coverage and taking Workers Compensation claims. A chainsaw is one bad mother, not only does it cut, it grabs shin and clothes and pulls you into it, faster than the blink of an eye. The shape of the teeth, hooks into you.

Had a buddy show up with a track hoe after Ivan to help me clear trees down on my place. Was not use to the reverse spring action of a grabbed tree, had a tree he was holding, snap my saw back into my britches leg, caught and pulled the blade into my leg. Got a trip to the surgeon to get the Levi threads and pieces out of the cut, that was a heap of fun. 3" long 1/4" wide 1/2" deep.
I own a tree farm, have trees and limbs down continually. The chain saw is something to really respect, and plan a cut, if you do not do so, it or what you are cutting will get you.

Tell me about it,

We were installing and operation power generation in remote locations in Alaska.

Some of our power plants were generating upto 14 MW, the corporate safety teams observing my guys hadn't a clue as to what our safety risks truly were.

But that never stopped them from having all kinds of irrelevant input.

I remember a lawsuit Stihl got into over their concrete saws. A fire dept bought one of them and put a Table saw blade on it. the fireman put it up to the house to cut and it kicked back and decapitated him.

Stihl got sued but won the case, never mind that the manual warns against doing such things.

There are many times when cutting at the tip is necessary or preferable. There are times when cutting with the top of the bar is preferable as well. There are times when boring with the saw is necessary. I often walk with the saw running, and probably should not. It's easy enough to shut it off and restart. GD

Damn! Forty seasons of running saws for my annual firewood supply. Maybe 3 to 4 days a year and sometimes more if neighbors need help.

Actually doing a run tomorrow and will be an hour+ away from civilization with no cell service either. Never pack a phone anyway. Those aspects always keep me safety conscious. No issues to date, but I once had a bounced axe head deal out 5 stitches on the back of one hand.

OHSA would have a fit if they monitored my practices. I use every portion of my bars to get the job done. Up, down, and plunge.

My only hard rule is: a chain is NEVER allowed to touch the ground. I detest stopping to switch chains or sharpen once the machine is running. A chisel chain is toast if it even sees the shadow of a stone.

When saws bite though, I hear they're quick about it. Safety is important and the world seems to think we are all idiots. Regardless of the implement, one has to go through 5 pages of crap before they'll reveal the location of an on/off switch. I'm amazed knives and forks can still be sold here. If OSHA had their way, we'd be limited solely to spoons.

I cut timber for a living for about 10 years on and off. I've cut big trees that you wouldn't climb over the log when felled. I've cut timber where a tornado went through. That was the most dangerous I ever worked. I've had some close scrapes but never got seriously hurt. I had the saw kick back once and cut the crotch out of my pants and only have briar size scratches on my legs. Dead trees and limbs are some of the most dangerous considerations, and anything under pressure, like one tree on top of another or cutting bent limbs.

Think about this. It has been my observation that nearly every accident happened because the victim overestimated himself.

Some people need to be handed a chainsaw on the first day at work.

Safety fudds hate me, Lol, I ask questions they don't have answers for or give irrelevant drivel as an answer.

One day we had ladder safety training, I asked our safety fudd if could use an A frame ladder leaned up against the wall if there wasn't enough room to open it. the unequivocal answer of "Under no circumstances is an A frame ladder to be used by leaning it against a wall"

I asked even if it was designed to do so? The answer of "there are no step ladders designed to lean against the wall, it's unsafe period!"

I pulled up Home depot's site and showed her that what she stated wasn't true. Later she told me she wasn't happy with me for doing that in front of everyone, I told her it was to damn bad and that she should know her job before she starts spewing it as the gospel.

She does now tends to research answers if she doesn't know but she still doesn't know a damn thing except what she reads in a book.

Plunge cutting with a saw is safe if done properly, using the right chain is one of the steps.

I wasn't there but he apparently cut a branch that was under a lot of tension and it snapped back and crushed him. They had to use a bulldozer to get the branch off of him and his best friend (retired fire chief) said there was just nothing there to even try CPR. He was immediately crushed. I am still a little touchy about it to this day. I was the one who always cut the trees and bucked them into logs for firewood. I didn't go that day because I had a falling out with his brother and didn't want to deal with his BS all day. Jimmy was no idiot with a chainsaw but I imagine he worked his butt off all day and got tired and made a bad decision. Unfortunately it cost us all one of the better human beings I have ever known.

I cut trees in my home town for a few years. Mostly in town around houses. A logger lost his cutter and asked me to fill in until he got someone new. Cutting down trees for lumber in a forest is not joke. Trees were never on flat ground, getting hung up in other trees, just hard dangerous work. I think my tree cutting in town helped me understand how trees are going to move when you start knocking limbs off of them. I never had any close calls with a saw but I dang near rolled logs over myself before I learned to read the tree and always cut from the uphill side. I will say that if you get exhausted, walk away. Most accidents I have seen came from exhausted men trying to finish up a cut or a tree. They try to cut corners or just not thinking about what they are doing.

The other hard lesson was splitting a tree on the cut came out of my pocket. Preventing the split made me stay at the base and race the cut as the tree fell. Stupid and dangerous as hell. I always groomed a running path before I notched because I would stay a little longer to prevent a split. Smarter people have come up with better and safer ways to do business these days.

Cleaning up after a tornado was by far one of the worst jobs I ever took. It is just a mess everywhere you look and nowhere for anything to fall down. That is a young mans game.

Me and the skidder driver worked together. He would get in there and try to straighten them up - release pressure when he could, and I cut off a bunch of under pressure trees about 3/4 through and he broke them off with the skidder. That was the biggest mess I ever tried to work. The boss bought another tornado tract after that, and I quit. This was back before the fancy cutter machines. You got good at reading which way anything under pressure was going and how to stay out of the way real quick or it would retire you fast. I knew of several local cutters killed during that time period.

Aggressive pro chain and the proper technique

When I was a kid I was walking with a running saw and one boot felt squishy
inside. Looked down and my jeans were ripped open over one knee. Never felt a thing Strip of skin cut off but didn't get deep enough to cut anything important. What it did do educate me on using a saw safely.

Gory, but a good reminder to respect the saw, and have your head in the game, while using a chainsaw.

Horse feathers! LOL!
At 73 and several orthopedic surgeries, didn't take me long to figure out I wasn't "29" anymore! 😳

Found out a LONG time ago, I can no longer do what I "usta do"!
So, I figure out a work around to do what I usta! Sometimes it takes a bit longer, or I have to call a friend.

I'm VERY aware I can no longer "trip the light fantastic"!
.....and yeah, it gets a bit frustrating at times!

Woody's chain saw was on his pickup tailgate.
It got away from him when it started and almost "dehorned" him!

Yes^^^^
Cutting in blowdown and wind shook timber is by far the most dangerous thing to do with a saw.
As mentioned, boring into (plunge cut) is sometimes necessary to prevent barber chairs and other nasty things. It is also a good idea to use a long bar so a guy can keep his head out of the swing radius of a swinging butt or similar swinging tree parts lol.

I had a small branch about like a wiffleball bat fall about 25 feet and hit me on top of my thigh while dropping some dead pines. Couldn't walk for almost a week with the worst Charlie horse I've ever had. My thigh still isn't right after several months and there is a divot where some of the muscle tore. Very lucky it didn't hit my head.

Cutting down dead standing trees is sporty at best. Don't think I would mess with one at this point. Might be good time for tannerite?

I've got some big dead pines that need cutting right now at my house. I haven't done it yet because they are dead and have to fall opposite to the way they naturally want to fall. I got the last oned down by attaching a good rope about 40 feet up. I shot a line over a limb with my bow fishing rig and used it to draw a heavy rope up. Tie it off and pull it with the tractor no problems. Just cut a small amount to prevent splitting on the down side and start the cut on the opposite side. You can't cut much on the downside because I have it under tension with the rope and it will sit down on the bar if you don't know what you are doing. As soon as the tree starts moving good, get the hell out of the way farther back then you think you need to cause dead limbs might be flying from the damn vines or other trees.

Chainsaws are like firearms and motorcycles, you shouldn’t be afraid of them but you’d better respect them.


I worked for awhile as a ground man clearing power line right of ways, wasn’t much future in it for a guy who doesn’t like heights but it paid decent at the time. Worst conditions I got to deal with was after an ice storm. Trees down every which way coated in 3/4’s of an inch of ice. Specifically remember clearing one about 20” in diameter that had the power lines under tension about 4’ off the ground. When the top came off the wires launched the rest of the trunk like a slingshot. Boss was watching me pretty close and giving me advice, from a slight distance lol.


I have a Stihl 026 from when I worked that job and a MS 311 I picked up a few years ago, use both for clean up work around the house and our 115 acres. First page is good reminder not to limb stuff over head high.