Conservation district offers chainsaw class

By RICHARD JENKINS

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Ironwood - Charles Oslund considers the chainsaw the most dangerous hand tool known to man - capable of causing serious injury, yet it can be purchased over the counter without any qualifications or certifications.

Oslund, a chainsaw safety trainer at Bay College in Escanaba, held a workshop at Gogebic Community College Saturday to teach attendees his "safety system" when using a chainsaw.

The workshop was put on by the Gogebic Conservation District and funded through a Consultation, Education and Training Grant from the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

The class was comprised of a handful of residents, some who had been using a chainsaw for years and others who had never touched one.

Oslund said he has been working with chainsaws all of his life; first in the timber industry and then working various jobs, including as a chainsaw instructor, for the U.S. Forest Service.

"I've cut down thousands of trees and I've come close (to being killing) many times," Oslund said, explaining he began developing his safety system after a particularly close call with a falling branch.

He said being safe with a chainsaw requires mental preparation and a system to try and foresees problems and dangers before they occur.

Oslund acknowledged some people who have worked with chainsaws before are reluctant to change.

"It's almost like it's disrespect for family history, to their predecessors, if they change their method to a safer method," Oslund said.

Despite the belief that change is bad, Oslund said people are either going to have a safe system to operate a chainsaw or they are going to get injured if they use it long enough.

According to information included in the presentation, each year approximately 36,000 people are treated in emergency rooms for chainsaw-related injuries.

To reduce the risk of injury, Oslund stressed mental preparation and approaching using a chainsaw with the proper frame of mind.

Once Oslund explained the importance of situational awareness and the proper mindset, he explained the five rules of his system.

The rules were:

- Always using the proper personal protection equipment - meaning a hardhat, kevlar chaps, heavy duty boots as well as ear and eye protection.

- Using the proper starting procedure for the chainsaw to ensure a proper grip is maintained on the saw. Oslund said he primarily uses the "knee-brace method" to start his saw, although placing the saw on the ground and starting it is also safe. He said "drop starting" a saw was dangerous and should be avoided.

- Practice operational safety; meaning always keeping two hands on a running saw or engaging the chain break, keeping the thumb behind the handle rather than on top of it and maintaining multiple points of contact while operating a chainsaw.

- Pre-planning how to fell a tree; including identifying potential hazards both in the tree and the surrounding area, calculating the lean of the tree, developing an escape route for when the tree begins to fall, planning the hinge that will be left in the tree to ensure it falls as planned and developing a cutting plan for how to cut into the tree. He said he generally used an open-face cut of about 70 to 90 degrees and a "strap," or piece of uncut wood on the other side of the tree from the cut to ensure the tree doesn't fall until he is ready for it.

- His final rule was that "stumps don't lie." He said this meant that objectively evaluating how the tree fell and why it did or didn't go as planned was important.

"You don't know how you're doing unless you objectively evaluate what you've done," Oslund said.

Following the several hours of seminar, the group went outside where Oslund demonstrates his procedure by simulating the cutting of several trees on the GCC campus.