Safety, accidents and reportage

[urbandekay]

The world's awash with the danger of chainsaws and tree work but I wonder how dangerous it really is. I know there are dangers in felling a tree and indeed from hanging off a rope but how much of such dangers are from folly and how much is really genuine danger. Similarly kick-back and broken chains present a danger but I have experience kick-back occasionally and though this may be heresy, it never seemed really dangerous.

 

I have often said that I am in the business of doing dangerous things safely and some other folks do safe things in a dangerous manner. How much of the perceived danger is due not to the nature of the job/equipment but rather to the manner or attitude of the operator?

[Gary Prentice]

You know what they say . You can't teach stupid. Operator error is , I would imagine, usually the major contributory factor

[s.varty]

You know what they say . You can't teach stupid. Operator error is , I would imagine, usually the major contributory factor

 

[urbandekay]

Ok, so if we are agreed that most accidents are operator malfunction then my question is; what is the benefit of training for careful risk adverse persons, and I presume most professional tree workers are? Wouldn't we do better with a log that gives an account of how accidents have happened?

[Shane]

I believe the HSE have list of accidents (one for each industry) which details each fatality, though not mentioning specific sites/names.

 

If you can find one (I think its on their web-site somewhere) you'll see a lot of the 'accidents' are a chain of unbelievable circumstances.

 

It may seem macabre to look through, but it is an eye opener. If you can be sure that your method of working would avoid ALL the instances on their list, that would be something.

 

We just need to keep working to avoid ANY POSSIBLE problem which could start off a chain of events leading to a nasty mis-hap.

 

Just gotta keep thinking like a Darwinian.

[urbandekay]

I believe the HSE have list of accidents (one for each industry) which details each fatality, though not mentioning specific sites/names.

 

If you can find one (I think its on their web-site somewhere) you'll see a lot of the 'accidents' are a chain of unbelievable circumstances.

 

It may seem macabre to look through, but it is an eye opener. If you can be sure that your method of working would avoid ALL the instances on their list, that would be something.

 

We just need to keep working to avoid ANY POSSIBLE problem which could start off a chain of events leading to a nasty mis-hap.

 

Just gotta keep thinking like a Darwinian.

 

That's what I mean; think like a Darwinian and training is redundant

[morten]

That's what I mean; think like a Darwinian and training is redundant

 

But some times, without training, you wouldn't know what to look out for.

 

Knowing in which circumstances a felling may turn into a "barbers chair" is not something that is immediately obvious. And the fact that some species (esp. Ash) is more likely to create a barbers chair is not either. And which techniques should you apply to prevent the barber's chair to occur?

 

You'd need to spend a lot of time with someone experienced, or formal training to learn many things that are not intuitively obvious.

 

When it comes to climbing with a chainsaw, preventing accidents becomes even more critical and difficult. Hence an even further need for formal training or on-the-job training, with someone experienced and knowledgable.

Edited March 2, 2014 by morten

[Rich2484]

But some times, without training, you wouldn't know what to look out for.

 

Knowing in which circumstances a felling may turn into a "barbers chair" is not something that is immediately obvious. And the fact that some species (esp. Ash) is more likely to create a barbers chair is not either. And which techniques should you apply to prevent the barber's chair to occur?

 

You'd need to spend a lot of time with someone experienced, or formal training to learn many things that are not intuitively obvious.

 

When it comes to climbing with a chainsaw, preventing accidents becomes even more critical and difficult. Hence an even further need for formal training or on-the-job training, with someone experienced and knowledgable.

 

What he said.

 

Training will give you more of a perspective of what may go wrong more than ensuring your doing it properly.

 

Did anyone know the dangers of compression and tension before they got training? Or kickback zones of a bar? And I don't mean formal training either. You may have had a worker explain these before you went on a course?

[wyk]

https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/etools/logging/manual/logger/chain_saw/saw_injuries.html

 

[Rich2484]

Now is the hand ones to do with a genuine accident or sprain/carpal tunnel syndrome and the like?

 

Repetitive strain injury, etc etc etc.