CS31: Hints and tips...

Throughout 2012 I'll being going through the whole range of 'stuff' that is included in the CS31 assessment, and we've already made a start by looking at the legal constraints surrounding felling; but before I sign off for 2011, I thought I'd finish off by providing you with some hints and tips to help you through an assessment. There's nothing earth shattering here, and it's what I tell all those participating in my courses, so I hope you'll find it useful.

Find out more after the jump...

When people fail the CS31 assessment, invariably it is not on the questions (although many people do find it hard to remember everything), it's usually because they made a fundamental safety mistake, or messed up on the felling cut.

So here's the first piece of advice... take your time. The assessor will not expect you to be working at commercial forestry speeds, and every assessor that I know would rather you took your time to think through what it is you are about to do, before you do it. Of all the advice given, this is the main one! Don't rush it.

The second piece of advice... think about your danger zones and be aware that when you are dealing with a hung-up tree, the danger zones may change as the tree moves and rolls. All too often, during training, I see operators walk right past the back of the tree and right next to it. One 'trick' is to lay the felling bar down at the rear of the tree and in-line with it... then make sure you walk around the end of the bar. This will force you to leave a short distance between the rear of the tree if you have to walk around it.

The third piece of advice... think about your body position. It's very common, especially during training to mess up your hinge by cutting through it at some point, or to have a wedge-shaped hinge, but there's no need for this to happen if you just pay attention to your body / foot position. Getting your feet in the right place will normally solve most issues to do with the hinge.

Fourth bit of advice? Sink cuts can be difficult to get spot-on, so hold the saw correctly. The top cut of the sink is at 45 degrees, so hold the saw on the corner of the handle - the saw will automatically be held at the correct angle. The bottom cut of the sink needs to be level, and you can achieve this by moving your right hand around the handle so that you operate the throttle with your thumb rather than your finger - this may need a picture, so we'll talk more about holding the saw next year.

And finally, whilst there is loads more hints and tips (which we will go through later) the last piece of advice is to... relax! The assessors need to feel comfortable that you can safely fell a tree and then process it.

Good luck if you're undertaking your CS31 (or CS32) and let me know how it goes through the comments.

Bad Habits: Part Four:

This next bad habit is not one that I see too often, but every now and then it finds its way back into the students mode of working. It is, of course, the knees down approach to cutting timber. So what's wrong with this? After all, it looks to be a nice stable and comfortable position to be cutting in, and the operator is down next to the wood, rather than bending over it (another favourite). Whilst these things may indeed be true, it's not really the safest thing to do, so how should you be cutting timber that's on the floor, just like in the picture?

Find out more after the jump...

Well, the problem with putting both knees down on the floor to cut the wood is one of unsafe working practices, and it simply boils down to the fact that the operator cannot move out of the way quickly enough should anything happen.

Instead of putting both knees down, the best thing to do is to adopt a sort of crouching position, although if you need to put one knee down for stability or comfort, then that is acceptable.

If you're a bit sceptical about this, try it for yourself! Kneel down with both knees on the floor, then try to stand up, or move sideways... now just crouch down so that neither knee is on the floor. Now stand up; you should find it a lot easier to get yourself out of the way. [Probably best not to do this if you have poor knees!]

Of course, for logging timber then it's better to use a saw-horse or similar, to allow you to stand up and cut, but that's not option if you're dealing with a tree that you've just felled and you're cross-cutting the stem.

In the next of the 'Bad Habits' series, we'll have a look at cutting using the top of the bar...

Bad Habits: Part Three:

Continuing on with this short series of common mistakes made by operators is the classic "head in line with the bar" syndrome. This is such a common error and it's easy to see why; especially when you're concentrating on getting your cuts right and trying to line them up.

Of course, the real problem with this is that should you suffer any kickback then you can guess where the bar is heading..? If you look at the picture on the left, you can see that this student has his head right in line with the bar (I realise that it's unlikely that he's going to get any kickback here, but it's just to show a poor head position). Find out more after the jump...

With you head in line with the bar, should you get some kickback then that chain, which is doing something approaching 50mph, is heading straight for your face. That's not good, and definitely would constitute a 'bad day at the office'. I tend to find that students want to get their cuts as accurate as possible, and hence they can line up the cuts if their head is over the bar, so how are you supposed to line everything up if you can't put your head in line with the bar?

Easy! Line it all up, then move your head before you start cutting! Now, I'm not suggesting that you try and hold the saw way out to your right hand side, just that you move your head slightly to left to take it out of the line of kickback. That's really only just a few inches.

This point is very important and can be a potential failure point on your assessment; it's written in the assessment schedule under part 2 (CS30.2) where it expects safe usage of the saw, and specifically states that your head must be out of line of the chainsaw. So remember, line everything up, move your head slightly to the left, chain brake off and cut. Stay safe...

Bad Habits: Part One.

It always amazes me just how quickly new students pick up bad habits. I've lost count of the times that students returning to me for more chainsaw tuition have got into bad ways! I kind of expect 'old-hands' at using saws to have already fallen into bad habits, but not people who have just passed their CS30 and are coming back after a couple of months to do their CS31! So what are these common pitfalls? Find out more after the jump...

There are several, common poor practices that I see again and again, and in the first of a short series I'll be picking up on these and try to explain why they're such a heinious crime not a good idea.

In this first one, we'll take a look at the Wandering Thumb Syndrome. You can probably make out in the picture above that this student has moved their thumb on to the top of the front handle. Not a good move, and a potential failure point on your assessment.

So why is this so bad? After all, it's often quite comfortable working this way, but the problem starts should you suffer from kickback. What's going to happen to the handle when the tip of the bar contacts some timber and throws the saw back? The saw handle will come out of your left hand as there's nothing to stop it.

Compare that with keeping your thumb around the handle... try it out, just hold a saw with your thumb on top of the handle, and then wrapped around it. You'll see that if you were to get any kickback, the handle just pushes back into that squashy part of your hand between thumb and forefinger.

So, for your own safety (and to get you through the assessment!) always keep your hand securely on the front handle, and that means keeping your thumb round it.

CS30 Risk Assessment

I've noticed that lately, students seem to having difficulty recalling the information regarding risk assessments - so I've created a podcast to try and help out. Find out more after the jump...

And here it is! Click on the podcast player to listen to the podcast; I hope it helps you remember the relevant information for your CS30 assessment.

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Starting From Cold

Following the new video about starting your chainsaw, I mentioned that we'd have a look at a couple of things brought up in the video. So, to begin, here's a few pointers to watch out for when starting the saw. Find out more after the jump...

The sequence used for cold starting should include those safety checks:

1. Chain Oiling: make sure the chain is being lubricated.


2. Chain Brake: the chain brake must work properly before you use the saw.


3. Chain Creep: the chain should remain stationary whilst the chain brake is off and the engine is idling.


4. On / Off Switch: ensure that the off switch really does kill the engine

But, we're getting a bit ahead of ourselves here, as I want to take a quick look at positioning and how to hold the chainsaw.

To my knowledge, there are no left-handed chainsaws which means that whether you're left-handed, or right-handed, the hold on the saw is the same - left hand on the front handle, right hand on the rear (or top) handle. This mean that when you start the saw, it's probably easier to keep hold of the front handle and use your right hand to pull the starter cord. Get your right heel on the rear hand guard and either adopt the 'crouching' or the 'kneeling' position. Try to put a little bit of weight on the saw just to stabilise it whilst you pull the starter cord.

Naturally, you could start the saw in the standing position, which you might want to do if the ground conditions prevent you from getting down on the floor. In this case, make sure that you've got a firm grip on the rear handle by using your legs to hold it in place.

For many occasions however, starting on the floor will be the easiest and most comfortable option. Make sure that you don't start the saw right next to your stash of fuel - keep that well away from the saw unless you're refuelling. Try to choose level ground, clear of any debris that the chain could flick up whilst you do the safety checks; and ideally maintain a safe working distance of 5 metres during the startup procedure.

Once the saw has been started, you'll hear that it is essentially idling very high, but as the chain brake should will be on, it'll also sound a bit strained too. You need to give a quick squeeze on the throttle in order to get the idling down to normal levels. However, if you're still in the 'correct' position, then you'll find that you can't your hand to the throttle as your foot is in the way; use this as a prompt to take up position behind the saw. You can crouch down, or kneel down, but if you elect to kneel only do it with one knee; having both knees on the ground will restrict your movement in the event that you need to get out of the way.

So, where are we in the proceedings? Well, the saw is ticking over nicely and you've adopted a comfortable position behind the saw; try to keep your head out of the line of the bar. You're ready to do the safety checks, so in the next post we'll take a closer look at the chain lubrication.

Here's The New Video...

So here it is - the new video. Shot on a cold, but sunny morning at Sparsholt College, Hampshire (UK). This six and a half minute video covers the basics of how to start your chainsaw safely and is really aimed at those about to take their CS30 assessment. Find out more after the jump...

In the past I've found that breaking the starting procedure down in to steps, to make it easier, actually makes it more confusing! This video is really aimed to be used as a quick bit of revision if you are about to undertake your CS30 (chainsaw maintenance and crosscutting) assessment.

It covers cold and warm starting, ground starts and standing starts as well as the safety checks and the action to take if these checks reveal something is wrong.

I hope you find it useful and over the next few posts we'll be taking a look at some of the points raised in the video.

PS: No instructors were hurt in the making of this video! When you see the kickback bit, you'll know what I mean.

PPS: If you're an instructor and would like a better quality copy of this, then drop me a line via the comments and I'll send you out a copy on CD (it'll be in AVI format, MOV also available but I'm having trouble with the sound right at the start of the video in this format). You can also drop me a private message via the ArbTalk forum - see right hand side of the page.

Starting The Chainsaw.

With the knowledge that the final touches are being put on the new instructional video, I figured we should have a quick look at a couple of pointers to consider when starting your chainsaw. Find out more after the jump...

Whether you're looking to carry out a cold, or warm, start of your chainsaw, it's a good idea to check around you first. In particular...

• Check the chain brake is ON. You really don't want to be starting the saw with the brake off and the chain potentially flying around. Keep in all under control and keep it safe - put the brake on.


• Think about those around you... yep, it's not all about you, you know! Try to maintain a safe working distance of 5 metres when starting the saw, so that no-one is within this 'danger' zone.


• Don't start the saw next to your fuel - particularly easy to fall in to this trap when you've just filled up the saw. Move away from the saw bearing in mind that 5 metre safe working zone.


• If you are starting the saw on the ground, try to use level ground that's not covered in mud, brash and so on. Bear in mind that if you are carrying out a cold start you'll be doing some safety checks on the ground too - and that means the chain will be spinning; make sure it's not going to catch anything.

So, whether you're doing a cold start, a warm start, standing start or kneeling on the ground, just be bit careful and check out the site and those who might be around you.

In the next post, I'm hoping to bring you the new video and then we'll probably pick up on a few things from it.

DV

Safety Manual...

Your safety is paramount here at DriveLink HQ, and if you've bought a chainsaw (or borrowed one from a mate), read on...

So, you've just borrowed a mate's 25 year old chainsaw, you've got your shorts and T-shirt on and you're about to drop start the saw - but hold on just one moment.

Your friend did give you the safety manual with that saw didn't they? No? Well, you're in luck because Stihl make available their chainsaw safety manual and it's worth a flick through.

Most people that work in the industry know someone that's been got by a chainsaw and, as a trainer, I'm really aware that inexperienced users are at a greater risk... or are they>

The problem with being an experienced chainsaw operator is that you get complacent, work too fast, start to cut corners.

So whether you are a newbie to a chainsaw, or worked with saws over a number of years, take a few moments to go back over some of the safety aspects of using that wand of doom.

Safety Manual [PDF].

Chainsaw Safety Features...

All modern saws come with a series of features designed to make it safer and more comfortable to use. We'll take a look at them now - there are ten common features and several optional extras that make the saw more user-friendly.

Read more about these safety features after the jump.

These ten features are listed below, some are perhaps more important than others, and some are a legal requirement...

1. Chain brake (manual / inertia) / left hand guard. This is really important - make sure that it works before you start to use your saw. The chain brake operates manually, but also reacts to the saw if it should kick back.


2. Chain catcher. This small piece of plastic or soft metal sits close to the guide bar and chain under the side plate; if the chain should snap, or derail, the chain catcher takes the energy out of the chain, thus making it safer for you.


3. On / off switch. Note which way the switch works to turn the saw off - they're not all the same - even the same manufacturer may use a different switch on different models. Stihl are pretty consistent about theirs - you need to move it upwards to switch off (which seems the wrong way round for me), but Husqvarna have changed from moving it the right to moving it downwards (which makes more sense).


4. Safety throttle. Also known as a "Dead Man's Handle", but in these politically correct days that would be being 'dead-ist', so it's now a 'safety throttle'. Anyway, you need to press the lever in to operate the throttle.


5. Rear hand guard. Used to protect your right hand, but also useful for stabilising the saw when you start it on the ground.


6. Anti-vibration (AV) mounts. Fitted to saws to reduce the amount of vibration, which in turn reduces the chance of getting 'whitefinger' (Hand-Arm Vibration Syndrome).


7. Exhaust. Directs fumes away from the operator (unless the wind is blowing in your face).


8. Scabbard (chain guard / 'condom'). This protects the chain, you and anything near the sharp end from getting damaged.


9. Safety stickers. All saws must have safety stickers - it's a legal requirement here in the UK and they should warn you about the chance of kickback as well as pointing out that you really should have read the manual and be wearing proper protective equipment - they don't yet make chainsaw protective flip-flops and shorts.


10. Chain type - bit odd this one, as it's the sharp pointy end, but the type of chain used can make it safer. More, lots more, on this one later.

There are a number of 'optional' features too - decompression switches allow the user to turn the engine over easier when starting (but not as simple as the Stihl EasyStart system - that's so easy that a child of six could start the chainsaw. Hang on a moment, why would you want...). Manual oilers can supply the chain with more oil when cutting hard timber and heated handles will keep the blood flowing in your hands on the coldest of days (and if the blood is flowing that also will tend to reduce the chance of whitefinger).

I'm still waiting for the following optional extras: CD/radio, sunroof and air conditioning on my chainsaw.

Next post... what components make up a chain?

Emergency Action Plans...

Would you know what to do if something bad happened to a colleague? What if something bad happened to you? Would you trust that others around you would know what to do?

If you're not sure about that, then a little emergency action planning can go a long way to alleviating problems that might arise. The idea is to write down a few important things so that in the event of a serious injury everyone will know the key information to assist in dealing with the emergency.

The most obvious is to jot down your location, and there are several methods available to you for doing so. If you are stuck out in the woods, in the middle of a field or somewhere where there may not be an obvious address, you could use a grid reference or latitude / longitude. If you're working at a known address, then make sure all know what it is (and include the post code if possible).

Taking the scenario above of working in the middle of field, there's a chance that a normal ambulance may not be able to reach you, in which case you've potentially got a couple of choices...

• Request an air ambulance (coverage across the UK is pretty good, and the coastguard might be used if you are at a coastal location).


• Request a 4x4 ambulance.

But what if you happen to pick the day when the air ambulance is busy on another emergency and the 4x4 ambulance is having it's MOT? In that case, cry make plans to evacuate the casualty - you've a couple of options here as well...

• Load the casualty in to the back of the van and take them to hospital yourself - you do know where your nearest hospital is don't you? If not, use the search facility on the NHS website (for those of you in the UK).


• Ask the emergency services to meet you at a pre-arranged point where a suitable response can be handled. Write down the grid reference / address of this meeting point.

Think about how you would contact the emergency services - these days it's quite likely that you'll be opting to call using your mobile phone, but there are two disadvantage of this 1) the state of the battery, and 2) the strength of the phone signal. Other than keeping your phone charged, there's not much you can do about battery condition, but if you find that there's no signal where you're working then take a few minutes out to stroll around the site - more often than not you'll find a spot where a signal can be gleaned.

What number are you going to dial from your mobile phone in the event of an emergency? 999? There's a better number, and you should remember it!..

112

This number is operator independant - which means that if you are with Vodafone, for example, but only O2 have the area covered, your call will be picked up. Not only that, but it will also pinpoint your location - how cool is that?

Speaking of "cool" - have you come across 'ICE' entries for mobile phones? It always amazes me that most people have not come across this! In this context 'ICE' stands for In Case of Emergency and all you need to do is amend your next of kin's name in your phone to have ICE before it. Let's say your NOK is Fiona - in the phone, instead of just being listed as "Fiona", you would list it as "ICE Fiona"; now the emergency services can scroll through the names in your phone and immediately recognise who your NOK is.

Finally, it's probably a good idea to keep a note of anyone who carries a medi-alert tag, is diabetic / epileptic / suffers from certain allergies (e.g. bee or wasp stings).

Next post... chainsaw safety features.

Calculating The Risk...

In the last post we looked at risk assessments and mentioned about calculating the risk - but not how to do it. It's a doddle and as long as you can multiply up to 3 you can do it.

After identifying your hazards, you can set about calculating just how much of a risk they are to you. To do this you just need to assign two values and then multiply.

So how does it work?

You need to look at how severe an injury would be if that hazard were to wreak havoc on you, and look at just how likely that really is; assigning a value to both of these will lead you to a risk rating.

Risk rating = severity x likelihood

That's it - to make things quick and easy use the following values for severity:

1. Minor injury


2. Major injury


3. Serious injury / fatal

For likelihood you would follow a similar process:

1. Unlikely or improbable.


2. Sometimes happens.


3. Likely to happen or always happens.

Therefore, if you are always suffering fatalities that would get the highest risk rating of 9, but if you always shy away when there's work to be done operate in a safe manner, then your risk rating will be 1 or 2.

I made mention of the traffic light system in the last post and this ties in nicely with the risk rating using the above method.

• Risk ratings of 1-3 merit a 'green light'.


• Risk ratings of 4-6 merit an 'amber light'.


• Risk ratings of 7-9 merit a 'red light' to show a high to very high level of risk.

Next post... emergency action planning.

Chainsaw Safety...

There's no escaping the fact that wands of doom chainsaws are potentially lethal, but sometimes it's not the chainsaw per se that's your biggest danger. So how do you know what hazards there are, and just how risky are they?

Risk assessments are often thought to be a complete chore, but once you know how to set about doing a risk assessment - whether you write everything down, or just go through the points in your mind, it's pretty quick and a few minutes thought will make everything much safer for you.

The first step in completing a risk assessment is to try and work out what the dangers (or hazards) are. You can then calculate how dangerous they are by working out a risk rating and then attempting to reduce this rating by implementing control measures - essentially doing something that will reduce the risk to you and those around you.

So, we have 3 steps to a risk assessment:

1. Identify the hazards.
   


2. Calculate the risk.
   


3. Implement control measures.

Identifying hazards can be quite tricky - ask a group of people about the hazards they face and you're likely to come up with the obvious 3 or 4 hazards... and then it goes quiet; to help you with this, try to work out what hazards there are that relate to the...

• Site: where you will be working. This could include the terrain, ground conditions, trip hazards, weather, utility lines and so on.


• Task: what is that you are doing? Could you cut yourself whilst maintaining the saw, get grease and dirt in your eyes from improper use of the airline? What about lifting heavy timbers?


• Machine: what equipment will you be using? There are hazards with the saw, airlines, winches or any other tools that you're likely to use.
  

There's no need to list all the really obvious stuff - we all know you shouldn't drink petrol (although I have drunk some Hungarian stuff that would boost the octane rating of any fuel).

Generally, you need to be thinking about hazards that pose a threat to not just yourself, but to others around you.

You can calculate the risk, and many firms operate a 'traffic light' system where a red indicator would depict a high risk, amber a medium risk and green a low risk. We'll take a look at calculating risk in a later post.

Once you know the hazards, you can work out how to minimise them - putting out signs, or setting up an exclusion zone is a classic instance of protecting third-parties from you doing something daft with your chainsaw (or to stop those members of the public who just have to stand next to you to see what you're doing.

If there's a team of you going out with a saw then complete the risk assessment together and make sure that everyone in the team knows what the risks are and how to avoid them.

Welcome to DriveLink

Hi, and welcome to Drive Link - the new home of chainsaw maintenance and usage. Over the next few months we'll take a look at how to go about safely maintaining and using your chainsaw. More after the jump...

This blog is all about doing it properly and keeping safe whilst you look after your chainsaw - they are a potentially dangerous piece of kit and it's not just about not holding the pointy end filling it up with fuel and mullering a few pieces of wood.

We'll start by taking a look at assessing the risks while maintaining and using your chainsaw, before we take a fairly in-depth look at how to actually go about maintaining it. After that... well, once you've all got clean, sharp saws maybe we'll take a gander at actually using it.

Finally, as we go along, if you've got any thoughts, questions or comments just use the comments section.

Cheers,

DV.