a good friend crushed!!!

[Pete Mctree]

Best wish to your mate and I hope he recovers quickly. It's a heads up to us all no to become complacent or careless. This industry demands concentration and care to keep you in one piece at the end of the working day

[Quickthorn]

Very sorry to hear about this, and send our best wishes to your mate..

 

So we can all learn from this, do you know if your mate made a dog tooth cut (ie sink, bore in, release back strap), or did he make a straightforward cut from the back towards the hinge? It's a tough way to learn..you'd think a 10 degree lean wouldn't need special precautions, but crack willow (and some ash for that matter) are highly dangerous. I've seen near vertical ash start to split upwards on the way over.

 

Have the HSE made an appearance yet?

[Marc]

Thats terrible vdub, I hope he makes as full a recovery as he can.

 

And thanks for posting, it can be a tough thing to do posting about a accident like this it can leave you open to criticism.

 

But we were not there and probably will never know the full circumstances.

 

I started treework at the same age as this guy, I shudder at some of the things I have done, but its good to be able to think back and realise what I did wrong, that I was lucky to not get hurt and how next time I will do it differently.

 

Even now after 3 years on the saw I still consider myself very inexperienced, heck I'll be nearly 40 when I think i'll be able to call myself a fairly experienced treeworker.

[RC0]

A 260 without using a bore cut, its 50/50 wether or not you're going to out pace the split! Hindsight is wonderful, I know, but this sounds like it was a bad oversight from the people in charge, not the novice.

 

I hope you're boss has his Risk Assesments in order because I dont think a verbal 'Keep cutting or run at the last second' will be acceptible to the HSE, let alone the guys family.

 

Fingers and everything else crossed that his operations go ok. Keep updating if you can vduben.

[Andy Collins]

I hope he has Personal Acident insurance too , the last thing you want when your lying in a hospital bed is to be worrying about how to meet the ever increasing bills!! Good luck to your mate, hope he makes a speedy recovery.

[Andy Collins]

PS Experience is a useful tool, but even the best can get caught out too, whether thru complacency, lack of concentration cos you've done something 100 times before. This is a dangerous profession, lets not forget that.

[Mike Hill]

A 260 without using a bore cut, its 50/50 wether or not you're going to out pace the split!

 

If you think its going to split,use a "bore and release" cut.If straight felling is the only option,you can gain some safety by wrapping a rope or chain around the trunk.Ratchet tie downs work ok for smaller stuff,but you can't count on them being safe after using them in this manner.

 

Sounds a bit like the face cut was too shallow?Could you take a picture of the stump for us please?

[norma stitz]

Really hope he gets ok soon Vdub. What about putting up his first name and ward details so maybe members could send him best wishes? Might cheer him up to know theres lots thinking about him.

[Colin Bashford]

If you think its going to split,use a "bore and release" cut.If straight felling is the only option,you can gain some safety by wrapping a rope or chain around the trunk.Ratchet tie downs work ok for smaller stuff,but you can't count on them being safe after using them in this manner.

 

Sounds a bit like the face cut was too shallow?Could you take a picture of the stump for us please?

 

I really do not want to sound as an absolute bore on this interesting thread, but a very serious word of caution. Such cases and I have three running at this moment almost inevitably come to Court and therefore all these issues must be treated as sub judice at this stage if you do not want to damage the potential case of either the likely claimant or the likely defendant.

 

You will be aware that similar cases can involve mega bucks but if a Court/Judge thinks that a case or an expert witness has been pre-judged or influenced by prior discussion such as on this excellent forum then a case which may take years to come to Court can be ruined.

 

Please in the interests of all likely parties to a possible case or claim, do not therefore discuss this particular case in detail.

 

Please however may I add my concern to those that are suffering.

 

Cheers

[squisher]

Dang man, not to sound the ass myself. But accidents should be discussed openly and the information shared freely with those who may benefit from it, like the rest of us who cut trees. Suppressing discussion do to pending litigation, is imo just another one of the ways that we live in a messed up world.

 

If potential expert witnesses limit the input or discussion they receive, are they still experts?

 

Atleast update us as to how your mate is getting on, hope he's hanging in there.