When do you use chaps? Do you use chaps?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Robert P
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stig said:
In 1989 I was going through a x-mas tree plantation, removing those trees that were not up to standard and had no chance of ever getting there.
Basically involved 4 cuts per tree.
Sweep the saw down on side, removing a third of the branches, backsweep up another, removing yet a third , down the last side and cut the tree at the base, then stand up and push it over.

On one tree, as I was pushing it over, I slipped and fell on top of the tree, one branch stub pinched my finger on the saw trigger so the saw was running all out as I landed on top of it.
All the ukemi in the world is not going to save the day, when you are tangled into a dead christmas tree and a chainsaw when you fall.

So I landed on top of a totally revved up saw, catching the chain across my left thigh.
It would have taken the world's best surgeon on his best day to save that leg if I hadn't been wearing saw pants.

Didn't even get a scratch.

Now, killing bad x-mas trees is not what one would by any means consider a hazard zone, but that would have maimed me worse than I've ever been in the real hazard zone where I normally work.

You just never can tell when that accident happens.

It shocked me so badly that when my partner happened to walk by a minute later, he thought I'd cut myself and was bleeding out.
He said I was white as a sheet.
Click to expand...

Great story, Stig. Nice to know that chainsaw protective pants work so amazingly well. I never would have guessed that they would be able to stop a chainsaw at full throttle that you landed on directly without causing any injury. I'm assuming the part about no injury; maybe you came away with some kind of bruising, just from blunt force trauma? If no injury whatever, that is truly amazing.

A less impressive but similar story about PPE was told to me by a guy I was working with on a construction site. We were standing in the middle of a big, open slab, with no structure yet built up around it, nobody else there but us. Safety on the site was a little relaxed; as long as you had safety glasses hanging around your neck with a keeper, they'd let you decide when you needed to have them on your face. So he was standing there with his safety glasses on over his eyes, in the middle of the most benign area of the whole job. So I asked him, "Why are you wearing your safety glasses out here in the middle of nowhere?" He said "To keep shit out of my eyes." I laughed a little, and said "Well, yeah, of course. But there has to something more to it than that." He pursed his lips, and a little sheepishly told me a story about being on an inside office space kind of a job, which was nearly complete, ceiling tiles in and everything. So the guys were not being required to wear hardhats or safety glasses any more. My friend says he needed to set up a ladder and pop out a ceiling tile to get a look at something. He moved the tile, stuck his head up in there above the ceiling, and turned his head to try to see what he was looking for. As soon as he turned his head, a quarter turn and stopped it, there was the razor sharp tip of a piece of hanger wire sitting right in front of his left eye. He said he realized right then and there that you can never predict when something will happen that could cause an injury. Hence, he was wearing his safety glasses in the middle of an open deck the size of a football field.

Whew! Too long-winded. Thanks for putting up with me.

Tim
 
Oh, and my own deal with chaps and chainsaw pants is that I own both. Most of what I do as an amature so far can be done with a hand saw. It is only when I get into having to remove deadwood in excess of about five or six inches that it starts to feel worth my while to go to all of the trouble of dragging out the chainsaw, which is not very often. When it does happen, I wear the chainsaw pants in the tree, and the chaps on the ground. The fact that I'm such an infrequent chainsaw user means I don't need more than just the one set of each. The Silky saws are just amazing tools, and save a lot of time with their sharpness, by eliminating the need for the chainsaw.

Tim
 
Thanks for the story Stig, I haven't posted here because even though i require my crew to always wear chainsaw protection on the ground without question, i occasionally grab a saw and make a cut on the job without. I rarely use it at home. I know it is dumb and your story puts that front and center.
 
stig said:
I realize that this will most likely offend some members, but anybody running a saw without full protection is a fool in my opinion.
Click to expand...

Hey, Stig! One thing I forgot to ask. When you say "full protection", does that include some kind of cut proof jacket to try to protect the chest and maybe the neck? It is something I've never even considered buying, but maybe I should. Just curious as to whether or not the jacket is mandatory for you and your crew members, or not. Also wondering about the wearing of chainsaw protective boots. Seems like they might be a bit big, bulky and clumsy for tree climbing, as well as expensive. I think I remember seeing a video once of one well equiped climber doing windfirming work, who seemed to be wearing what looked like an expensive looking pair of chainsaw protective boots.

Thanks in advance for any answers you choose to provide.

Tim
 
Nope, helmet with visor and cut proof pants, boots with saw protection or at least steel or composite toes.

That is what is mandatory here, and IMO sufficient, even though the Swedes think differently.

So to me, that is " Full protection" I could have explained that better, sorry.
 
Stig.....I ordered some Pfanner gladiator ventilations....they're back ordered for 2-3 weeks....but Thanks.

Tim. I'm no liar.

Though...serious eye story.....standing on a tree job...oug of the blue I was struck in the eyeball by a monterey cypress ball. ...just about floored me....anyhoo....I wear a lot of eye protection these days....
 
SeanKroll said:
Remember, Personal Protective Equipment is the Last line of defense.

Clear footing, alternate ways of diffusing a bad cutting situation, proper ergonomics, proper saw holding and handling, situational awareness, etc, all come first.
Click to expand...

I like this post also. I think disciplined chain brake application is an important hazard reduction mechanism- its easy to wear chainsaw pants every day in a cool climate.
 
Bodean said:
Though...serious eye story.....standing on a tree job...oug of the blue I was struck in the eyeball by a monterey cypress ball. ...just about floored me....anyhoo....I wear a lot of eye protection these days....
Click to expand...
I can add the thin twig with acute buds like the hornbeam, pointing straight in front of you. You see it only at the last moment, or not, and get a poke in the eye. Damn, that hurts.
 
I bent over to pick up a branch to chip and failed to see that same stick poke me in my eyeball....I literally felt my head bounce my eyeball off the tip of the stick....I grabbed my eye and said Jesus don't take my eyeball.....and it worked......but frig. I wear a lot more eye protection than I used to.

Good one Marc.
 
Oh shit, Deva, some of your posts really get me laughing.

Eye protection is my most followed safety, I can only see out of one as it is!
 
No idea, snow blind is my best guess. Doc called it a stigmatism or something like that.
 
Astigmatism...a rugby ball shaped eyeball, ie a little squashed shape...or eye problems as a result of reading too many posts by Stig.
 
If that's what a stigmatism is I don't have that, doc said my eye was shaped just fine but my brain does not use it. Musta knocked some wires loose at one point. He said there was nothing he could do for it, maybe things have changed, that was more than 10 years ago.
 
Got me good there, Fi.

I was actually going" What the heck is wrong with my posts:X" before the coin dropped.
 
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