No protection = numpty!

[Cracker]

My first day at work after leaving schools 23 years ago, we were fencing a field. My boss had me push my leg up against a straining post while he cut a wedge for the brace! The chain was six inches from my thigh. Not long after that I was handed the saw and told to "chop up that lot" while he disappeared back to the farm yard and left me in the woods.

[travis]

i can sympathize, i walk my dogs along a canal very close to home.

every boat owner seems to own a little stihl. they cut small logs ontop of a box held secure with their non-ppe boot!

one day i was working along side my uncle, my saw was playing up and wouldn't start.

his old-school solution was to put the toe of his boot in the handle to start the saw (chain brake off) with some revs. there was no way on earth i could have explaned to him the error. his done it his way since chainsaws were invented probably.

[Tommy_B]

Hey rovers 90, there is no helping some, and no hope for them either. There are a gazillion know-it-alls out there who 'have been using a saw for 30 years without an accident' etc etc....they'll never change, and will always be on the defensive when criticised. Its just not worth getting bothered by them.

 

Well said mate. Just make sure you're always wearing your safety gear and you'll be fine. No point worrying about something that won't change....

[skyhuck]

Was out on Friday night having a meal with some guys I shoot clays with. One of them commented how he had given his chainsaw to the lad who works for him so he could do some work in his garden and when he got it back it was not running right. I said that I hoped he had also given the lad his ppe (knowing full well he does not have any). I could not believe the reply I got - "What do you need all that safety gear for? I wear a pair of goggles and have never had an accident in 30 years of using a saw. You're just like those namby pamby health and safety types."

 

Whilst I am no pro, have only had CS30 and 31 for just under a year, I would have thought commen sense would tell you to use full safety equipment when using one of the most dangerous tools in the world. When I told him it was more good luck that he had not had an accident and that goggles would provide next to no protection, he shouted me down and then proceeded to state he was flabbergasted when he took the saw in to the local chainsaw specialists, they refused to sell him a new saw as he had no proof of competence, ie CS30/31.

 

And I used to think he was intelligent!

 

What a ridiculous and insulting statement

[Hodge]

your best letting people get on with it mate, nowadays i keep my nose out and let em get on with it. some people will not take advice no matter how hard you try.

[Pete Hart]

I do wonder about some people...had a customer tell me that 'all that safety gear looks a bit over the top' the other day - unbelievable!!

[blazer]

I help out gamekeepers on a large estate and I'm the only one to wear any PPE.

 

NO such thing as a quick job? some days putting on saw-trousers is a bit of a pain for a few cuts, so I cut the back of the legs and bum out of an old pair of A-saw - pants and sewed in x3 buckles per leg and reversed the belt - work a treat, with the other PPE.

 

I'm amazed by these guys with their safety attitude, the shoot captain a mulit millionaire uses a larger saw no kit not a clue on felling etc - thinks he is up on 'Man-points' over me with the PPE.

 

To explain 'Man points' - if you have the biggest motor bike in a group, with 'not for road use' on the exhaust - you get the 'man -points but go to minus-points,if the other guys find you had a hot waterbottle under your leathers.

[bumble B]

Each to their own, when they're not working with me.

Chainsaw trousers will help protect you from your saw. But when climbing over branches and kneeling on uneven rough surfaces they offer more comfort than a pair of jeans!

Funny how people wear goggles and not trousers though, why don't they just close their eye's or look the other way when cutting????

[b101uk]

Just remember chainsaw trousers and PPE don’t make a safe chainsaw operator neither contra to popular belief dose training aimed at the lowest common denominator in passing! however you only have to look at the complacency during chainsaw operation of some full PPE clad persons to realise they need PPE a lot more than some other operators and in fact really when your operating a chainsaw clad in PPE you should still be operating it as if you have NO PPE on what so ever thus avoiding the PPE clad complacency aspect in the first place that a lot of operators suffer from.

[Justme]

its true, a top handled saw is the only1 they need to see your tickets for, a chainsaw is the most dangerous tool your dont have to have a licence for.

 

 

You see this statement all the time but I still cant find a single link to any regulations or laws that back it up.

 

The shop owner might choose to do this but is it actually a legal requirement.