More protection in climbing PPE..?

[old snake]

I think a water proof t-shirt would be awesome. I to was conned into a water proof stihl climbing jacket,its about as water proof as a sponge!!!!

 

Back to the original question ive only ever wore a protective top once and i'll never wear one again,way too hot and cumbersome.

[Acer Forestry]

in short, NO. The obsesion is not with safety, rather its an obsession with legislation. I would not wear protective pants unless it was a legislative requirement. The last thing I want is some all over ballistic nylon suit - if you need one, you should'nt be allowed to use a chainsaw.

OK, fair comments all round, though a few people are getting carried away. I should have edited that post to make things clearer..I have one of the Stihl Forestry Class 1 jackets which weighs a fair bit, as you know and is cumbersome. I was hoping that protection could be made to be lighter and thinner than on one of those for example? Not suggesting that you should be draped from head to foot in anything like that, while climbing-to the contrary.

[Marc]

I just don't see the need for a lighter more comfortable ppe jacket?

 

Of topic a little, my mate who used to run his own small tree service now works for network rail. He tells me that they will all soon need to where type C trousers at all times because someone cut themselves in the back of the leg. If this is true I hate this kind of knee jerk over reaction to an accident, surely the question should be asked how did he get himself in a position where he cut the back of his leg on the ground?

 

One of the things i found most shocking is they send him out on his own to do smaller climbing jobs mostly dismantling and expect him to work with crew he's never worked with before, he is not happy about this as most can't tie a knot let alone use a prta wrap effectivly, this expose's himself and those he works with to more risk of accident than ppe.

 

Safety comes from good practice and teamwork, it takes a long time to get very skilled at this job and know just how to carry out daily task without exposing yourself to the highly varible risks not just for climbers but groundcrew to!! PPE thats just there as a back up no for PROTECTION

[Frank]

the main piece of ppe I need on a regular basis is the sheath for my silky. haha. and as stated previously anything slightly more restrictive than a t-shirt would become obtrusive and annoying, It would not be possible to make anything chainsaw protective light enough. I dont think.................although I said we would never watch t.v on a mobile phone.

[bob]

I just don't see the need for a lighter more comfortable ppe jacket?

 

Of topic a little, my mate who used to run his own small tree service now works for network rail. He tells me that they will all soon need to where type C trousers at all times because someone cut themselves in the back of the leg. If this is true I hate this kind of knee jerk over reaction to an accident, surely the question should be asked how did he get himself in a position where he cut the back of his leg on the ground?

 

One of the things i found most shocking is they send him out on his own to do smaller climbing jobs mostly dismantling and expect him to work with crew he's never worked with before, he is not happy about this as most can't tie a knot let alone use a prta wrap effectivly, this expose's himself and those he works with to more risk of accident than ppe.

 

Safety comes from good practice and teamwork, it takes a long time to get very skilled at this job and know just how to carry out daily task without exposing yourself to the highly varible risks not just for climbers but groundcrew to!! PPE thats just there as a back up no for PROTECTION

i work for a LA and we have to wear Type C all the time

and i for 1 agree i,m afraid to say

a lot of large companys are the same

[arbogrunt]

A few points raised here

 

PPE jacket - no thanks, tried one on on the ground once and thought. 'up a tree?, no way'. There would be more accidents from cuts/falls etc as a result of heat induced fatigue

 

Type c trousers - always worn them, the only time I've cut them was at full revs on the back of my calf - money well spent and sweat worth sweating!

 

If we all spent a bit more time and effort on work positioning and keeping two hands on the saw, we wouldn't have to think about wearing a chainsaw jacket up a tree:001_cool:

 

The only exception I can think of personally about the above is conifer hedge work - I don't do much of it these days (mainly contract stuff), but if I did I'd invest in some of those 'tree-surgeons sleeves' that SIP knock out.

[Mesterh]

The only exception I can think of personally about the above is conifer hedge work - I don't do much of it these days (mainly contract stuff), but if I did I'd invest in some of those 'tree-surgeons sleeves' that SIP knock out.

 

Lol conifer hedges, all the HSE rules fly straight out of the window

 

I assume that no HSE person has ever been in a proper nasty leylandii hedge with someone swinging a saw about

 

They would probably try and ban EVERYTHING

[Matt McAulay]

I havent climbin many years but i know for sure a jacket for climbin is a no go youd get too hot and i bet it would be over priced as is everything to do with climbing. If iv got to protect myself abit on a job ie leyland (yuk) or a big hawthorn then i put a couple of layers on if anythin gets thro take the pain, had a goodun the other day blackthorn straight the bottom of my boot that made walkin interestin for a couple of days.

[Marc]

i work for a LA and we have to wear Type C all the time

and i for 1 agree i,m afraid to say

a lot of large companys are the same

 

I'm not saying its a bad idea to protect yourself or wear type c all the time, its the attitude of we should better protect the workers as they probably won't use the saw properly. I for one can not fathom how you'd even get in a situation where you may cut the back of your leg.

I just feel its and incredibly lazy way of reducing accidents, more time and effort should be spent on teaching good positioning and work practices this would reduce the amount of accidents, rather than just handing out better protection.

 

Don't protect from stupidty, eliminate it!

 

I'm probably going to end up doing something really stupid now i've said this:bored:

[Mick Stockbridge]

I for one can not fathom how you'd even get in a situation where you may cut the back of your leg.

 

While dismantling some Leylandii a long time ago I lowered my 020 without engaging the chainbrake, it got caught up and a twig depressed the throttle lock on the top of the handle while at the same time another depressed the throttle. It revved like mad and scared the hell out of me, no harm done but if had struck my leg and I,d been wearing A,s I,d be minus a calf. Needless to say I never forget to use the chainbrake now.