Pole Saw Safety

A

Alves

Location
Madison, Wi
Today at work a man on one of the other crews, at my office was badly injured when a pole saw fell out of a tree and landed on his arm. Ironically enough I was hammering my crew, on the need to secure polesaws, in the tree using webbing slings and simple carabiners.

I dont know fully what happened, as i only dealt with it at the hospital, however the damage to this young mans arm ,26, was extensive, and unecessary. The saw cut a 7" long gash to the bone the length of his forearm, which required surgery.

Polesaws are probably the most underestimated hazard, in our tool boxes.

I just wanted to share that with you guys

Adam
 
I agree. They are silent but deadly, and you'd better pay attention to what IT'S doing.
 
I know what you all are saying, I watched a trainee not hookup his polesaw and watched it fall outtta the tree not hitting anybody but cutting a 1 inch branch out on the way down. I do have a lil scar from a brush across one getting something outta the back of the truck 4 stitches later back to yellin at someone for not using the scabbard.
 
Bummer Adam. We wish the climber a very speedy recovery. Any word on how the pole became dislodged?
We had a climber dislodge a pole while he was straddling a crotch. The blade cut a 7"-8" gash in is jeans right across the crotch. No damage, except to the underwear. They were messy.
 
During my first year climbing, I was done with a tree, brush piled around the base, and noticed a hanger up on a limb. It was just barely hanging on. I couldn't quite reach it from the ground with the pole saw, so laughing, I started throwing the pole saw up, hoping for it to catch onto the limb. After about the third throw, it did, the hook caught the hanger and the bottom of the pole swung away from me as the branch slid out. Which meant that when it dropped, the bottom of the pole hit the ground and the blade was falling right toward me. I jumped back as it fell, but all the brush kept me from getting back enough and it came down toward my right side. I swung my arm back to get it away, but the tip of the blade caught the inside bend of my elbow and *pop* laid it open. I looked down at the new laughing bloody mouth and thought, "what an idiot I am". Which was (and pretty much is) true.
Someone I worked with around then knocked a pole saw loose that was hanging above him, it caught him over the eye and gashed his brow, luckily missing the eye. Pretty ugly. These were the old Snap-Cut No. 7s, I guess the razor saws would cut deeper but cleaner. I don't know which would be worse. Sorry about your co-worker, I hope he isn't too screwed from that.
 
No But It's being looked into, as i said, i just got info 2nd hand after the incident. The climber was in good spirits and didnt seem to be in too much pain. He is relatively new here, and is an H2B employee, and his english is pretty rough. I will keep you up to date.
 
This winter i was holding the ladder steady while the first climber was at the top of the ladder getting ready to place his line. Make a long story short he hung his polesaw about thirty feet up on a half inch dead branch. Just as i looked up to see how he was progressing the branch broke and i was about a half and inch away from being cut right down the middle of the face. needless to say it scared the daylights out of me. Properly securing a polesaw should be a must for new climbers and old climbers alike.
 
After a similar mishap last year, my company adoped a policy of not hanging pole saws any where except by a lanyard so the blade is below your feet. secondly all polesaws aloft must be sheathed when not in use. I know it sounds like a pain but within 2 weeks I was so used to sheating the saw that I feel uncomfortable if the blade was left uncovered. We simply open the strap on the sheath to the last hole, let the strap lay on the side of the sawhead where the 3/4 inch hole in the polesaw head is, catch the strap and the hole with the snap on the lanyard. When you need the polesaw unclip the lanyard from the pole head but leave it clipped to the sheath strap. the sheath will dangle from the lanyard till your ready to resheath.

corey
 
Sorry to hear of the mishap!
Sounds like it could have been much worse.

Going by odds, the more you use a pole saw in the tree, the more likely you are to drop it at some point.
One of the many reasons I dont climb with one at all. If I come accross a situation where I REALLY need one, I will have one tied on and sent up, rather than drag that stupid thing around with me.
 
Around here we have found with determination and a willingness to learn the pole saw can stay on the ground. If the tree will not let you climb to were you need to go we will use a pole pruner. In my 19 years of climbing I have used a pole saw 3 times. A pole pruner hundreds. Every single climber that works here that was trained somewere else has a pole saw scar. I feel they are very dangerous.
 
I think you’re right about polesaws' potential for injury being underestimated Adam. Just a couple months ago I landed four stitches in my thumb while passing down my Hayuchi, which has no hook and cant be easily hung. But I doubt Id be willing to give up hanging normal, single length poles by the hook while climbing. Ive probably cut more wood with six foot poles than anything else, maybe even chainsaws, and I just cant see maneuvering through a canopy clipping and unclipping it to branches. And yet its unquestionably dangerous. It hangs there like a guillotine, like an open mouth…
 
Just about everyone I know that climbs has a pole saw cut. And I have seen groundmen get hit with them when they fall out of the tree. More care must be takin when handling them and hanging them in the tree. I cut my arm, got 5 stables and now I never use a pole saw in the tree. If there is the chance I need one I have it tied on use it then send it right back down to the ground. For those that use it all the time,how do you swing from one side of the tree to the other with a pole saw in your hand?
 
Its hard to swing around with a polesaw I can't tell ya how many times i have totally forgotten the polesaw in one part of the tree, cont. to work and had to back track half way across the tree just to get that frickin' polesaw! Their not only dangrous but their also a pain in the @$$!
 
The product that isn't out there but which I really want is a good, lightweight polesaw that collapses from 12 feet fully extended to 4 feet fully collapsed and has a FOLDING razor tooth blade at least 10 inches long that leaves no teeth exposed when folded. I would buy that and carry it on my saddle on half my climbs. Want it want it want it.
 
Invent one Stumper, then you could flyfish for rainbows on the South island in New Zealand.

Ayway, thanks for the reminder of whistling-down polesaws. It was on my mind yesterday and my son is back as number one employee. I wouldn't want to sever his wrist after all he's been thru the last 6 months.

I go thru too many boxes of finger bandaids supplemented with sports tape. Sharp little suckers those are, but as handy as my 200T. The pucker factor and bloodletting of my polesaw (including rope retrievals cum frayed lines) far exceed the damage ever done by my chainsaws.
 
Very true Oakwilt. Polesaws are very handy to retieve or place a line but man do the lines get pricked and frayed somethin' fierce. On another note could you imagine dropping a polesaw out the top of a tree for a groundie to catch and do it in every single tree? Almost all of the climbers that I work with do this on a day to day basis. Talk about crazy it still blows my mind!
 
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