Chainsaw boots V Steel toe cap boots and gloves

[wyk]

According to OSHA in the USA, you are far more likely to injure your hand than your foot.

 

[Gary Prentice]

According to OSHA in the USA, you are far more likely to injure your hand than your foot.

 

 

Just the thing that I was looking for to post.

 

To explain the information a little further, the high numbers for the head and shoulders are 'kick-back' injuries. Violent upward movement of the saw when the tip comes into contact with an object. These aren't uncommon when trying to saw logs from a pile of timber, if you're using a saw horse it reduces the risk of occurence to practically zero.

 

The foot and lower leg injuries commonly occur when de-limbing felled trees, walking beside the trunk cutting limbs off and following through- cutting through the limb and down towards the feet. Or the bar is dragged downwards with the limb after being separated from the trunk. Another risk, in firewood production, is steadying a small diameter piece of timber with your foot whilst cutting it, the chain grabs and the wood can move suddenly and violently leading to contact with the feet or lower leg.

 

I can't explain all the hand injuries, it's a long time since I read the information.

 

You seem to be taking plenty of advice and planning your task sensibly, good for you, be aware that just cutting logs is still a risky occupation. A casual user cut his throat due to kickback years ago, sawing into a pile of wood.

 

As someone else suggested, the wellington boot type protection aren't the most comfortable footware but they will do the job. I'd get a pair and a pair of gloves, they're only a few quid and will help reduce the HAV problems of saw use.

 

For safety, despite what the H&S would like you to believe, the best thing you can do is to learn to sharpen and recognise when to do so. As a crafts/tradesman you'll already know the problems of dull cutting tools, the extra force and effort involved in using them and the associated risks. A sharp, well maintained saw, a sensible approach to the task and work practice and knowledge of the dynamics and causes of kickback and you'll reduce the risks to a very low level.

[CJM]

The hand injuries is easy to identify.......top handles

[GardenKit]

A friend of mine was using steel toecap work boots, but they did not save his foot. The chain skidded around the toecap until it got a good bite into the soft boot (and foot) behind the cap, then cut across the foot rather than down between the toes. He was off work for several months

 

Chainsaw boots with kevlar would have prevented this.

[TGB]

The hand injuries is easy to identify.......top handles

 

Also perhaps, reaching over logs with left arm-hand during snedding, to clear arisings and not applying the chain-brake. While leaning forward and over the bar, all the operator needs to do is accidentally blip the throttle. And voila, a bad day on the woods.

 

I'm not saying you need to apply the brake when moving along the log. Providing the bar is on the other side of the log to that of your body. But if you're going to reach across it, you need the brake on.

Edited February 12, 2015 by TGB

[keptenjim]

When I first started using a chainsaw - in 2000 - I used to cut up fallen trees wearing T-shirt, shorts and flip-flops. I never did cut myself nevertheless, I shudder at the thought.

[wyk]

 

The foot and lower leg injuries commonly occur when de-limbing felled trees, walking beside the trunk cutting limbs off and following through- cutting through the limb and down towards the feet. Or the bar is dragged downwards with the limb after being separated from the trunk. Another risk, in firewood production, is steadying a small diameter piece of timber with your foot whilst cutting it, the chain grabs and the wood can move suddenly and violently leading to contact with the feet or lower leg.

 

Another thing to consider with that data is that North American logging is much different from the UK. You wear caulk boots and limb a tree usually by walking upon it. I've done my fair share this way when I was in Oregon and Washington state.

 

[ame]

[/ame]

 

I would say as many logging injuries from chainsaw occur during bucking and limbing, as felling, if not more. I always rushed on limbing vs felling as it was such monotonous work. It's easy to get some serious kickback during the process in a tangle of firs.

[Gary Prentice]

I think the accident data I had in mind was based on the UK but it was very similar. with lots of injuries to the lower leg and feet. I've not done a lot of softwoods, but did spend a couple of months on wind-thrown beech in Newmarket after the Great Storm. Big trees piled one on top of another. Nasty work where another cutter fifty yards away would cut something and everything shifted. Probably some of the most mentally tiring work I've ever done, with machines trying to extract butts from a huge pile of 'pick up sticks', kick-backs were so common that you reacted without realizing and then couldn't understand why the chainbrake was on.