Site Safety Zones

[AHPP]

7 minutes ago, Ledburyjosh said:

I'm pretty sure battery saws will still cut.. unless the policy is to only use flat batteries and manually pull the saw back and forth..

You can’t do that with battery saws. The brakes don’t go on hard enough. I’ve tried.  

[GarethM]

8 minutes ago, Ledburyjosh said:

I'm pretty sure battery saws will still cut.. unless the policy is to only use flat batteries and manually pull the saw back and forth..

It's quieter and isn't idling between cuts was my rationale. 

[Mark Bolam]

You don’t need new saws.

You need new staff.

[GarethM]

4 minutes ago, Mark Bolam said:

You don’t need new saws.

You need new staff.

This isn't Ofsted, the HSE tend to do a little more than one word reviews.

 

Cause of incident = f wits

Outcomes of incidents= 1 cut and two firings.

[manco]

im wary of everyone jumping to conclusions here.

theres very little detail given on how the saw came into contact with the finger.

sounds like it is one or both at fault, but not enough detail to assume who.

could be that one reached into the cutting zone, could be the saw jumped, could be the saw was swung carelessly. usual practice is stay away from the big noisy sharp cutty thing.

5m distance is standard guidelines from what i know, but i think is a little tricky in a domestic setting

a physical barrier between workers seems excessive, anyone on site should know the safety principles or shouldnt be on site.

sadly it does usually come down to operator behaviour at fault. but some wise-ass will always turn it onto management and it becomes their fault for not enforcing procedure.

[woody paul]

On 27/02/2025 at 10:08, valderama said:

Are the safety devices out there than can help with this,

Yes common sense. 

I have worked alongside others in the trade and will not keep distance when I am working chainsaw, and hedge cutter, court someone finger with hedge cutter once while sideing up hedge didn't realise they were right behind me. Cutter was not going but teeth were fully open and as I let go with one hand and put it to my side with blade pointing backwards court he a treat. 

[Muddy42]

On 27/02/2025 at 10:08, valderama said:

Hi Everyone, 

 

Recently one of our grounds maintenance teams managed to cut another operatives finger with 261 whilst snedding and stacking some small hedging material. Ultimately the operatives were working outside of agreed SSOW by being so close to one another. There's investigation ongoing with any resulting actions likely to effect our arbs teams also. Our SSOW align to industry best practice, in that operatives are briefed to maintain a minimum of 5m (I accept in the real world this can be challenging) and we generally note this on our point of work risk assessment. We also create a physical barrier between the working area and members of the public (highways contract). A question will be asked by our director as to why we don't place a physical barrier in between the operative cutting material on the ground and the operative dragging brash to the chipper. My question is, does anyone else have a requirement to do this in their industry? I personally can't see how this can work on a low speed highway site with limited space, I can only see the barriers getting in the way and the ops removing them once the supervisor leaves site. Are the safety devices out there than can help with this, I'm aware there are sensors on rail and high speed highways designed to detect plant or vehicle incursion but I'm not aware of anything that prevents human incursion into a safety zone.

 

I feel that our SSOW are robust and fairly standard across the industry and that in case its operative behaviour at fault for not following procedure  but for the purpose of the investigation I need to look for alternatives. Any help or suggestions would be most welcome.

 

Thanks 

 

Best practice is that people stay >5m from anyone using a chainsaw. I'm not aware of any requirement to have a physical barrier, nor should you need one if you are always 5m away. Furthermore the 5m is constantly changing as the chainsaw person moves and I see this as extending in three dimensions (like a bubble) so a physical barrier is completely unrealistic.  I suggest you stop this line on enquiry fast - SSOW was fine, people just didn't follow it.

[AHPP]

3 hours ago, woody paul said:

Yes common sense. 

I have worked alongside others in the trade and will not keep distance when I am working chainsaw, and hedge cutter, court someone finger with hedge cutter once while sideing up hedge didn't realise they were right behind me. Cutter was not going but teeth were fully open and as I let go with one hand and put it to my side with blade pointing backwards court he a treat. 

 

Were you on comms at the time?

[peds]

In kitchens, the first thing you are taught is communication.  "Behind", "corner", "hot", etc. Doesn't necessarily have to be loud. 

 

Now obviously 2stroke machines and the bigger kit are a bit noisier than a busy kitchen, but you don't need need comms (useful though I'm sure they are). You just need to not be a total spaz.

[AHPP]

1 hour ago, peds said:

In kitchens, the first thing you are taught is communication.  "Behind", "corner", "hot", etc. Doesn't necessarily have to be loud. 

 

Now obviously 2stroke machines and the bigger kit are a bit noisier than a busy kitchen, but you don't need need comms (useful though I'm sure they are). You just need to not be a total spaz.

 

Do you use comms?