Don't Let Chain Saw Complacency Set In

By Don Dale

Jose Mercado compares the chain saw to a loaded handgun. You can use it as a tool for years and make a living with it – but it can still hurt you badly in a moment of carelessness. And what leads to carelessness? Mercado says that complacency and lack of training are the two major factors that cause injury.

Mercado, a certified arborist and tree worker, was a field worker himself for 22 years, both as an employee and as a business owner, and currently makes his living primarily by training company tree workers in every aspect of their jobs. The chain saw is one of his favorite topics, because he can do a lot of good there. Even with workers who have been using saws for decades.

“It’s like carrying around a loaded .45,” Mercado says of working with a chain saw. He uses the analogy because of the potential damage that can be done with either tool. He has seen some horrifying injuries in his day, and when he undertakes a seminar or company training session, that is what he is trying to avoid. Not surprisingly, almost everything about the chain saw, from its use to its care, ultimately relates to safety.
When talking to tree workers about a tool they may have used for years, Mercado has some handy tips to start with. First, he says, workers nowadays are more aware of safety than they were in the wild “good old days.” But they can still grow complacent, so he uses a couple of techniques to get their attention. One is to emphasize how important it is to their families that they use proper chain-saw techniques and get home safely every day. What really gets their attention, however, is his use of disaster props. He has some realistic fake severed limbs and fingers that he shows them, and that wakes them up.

“I don’t want to scare them, but they need to have respect for that chain saw,” he says. Mercado is especially adept at training Hispanic workers – he chairs the Spanish Committee of the Western Chapter of ISA – and says the macho attitude is changing. In effect, all workers want to be safe, and want to know that their employer values their safety.

Training sessions are one means of validation that the company cares for its workers, Mercado points out. Workers may seem to take training lightly, but he notes that their attention is really grabbed when an outside specialist provides the training. It jogs them out of the complacency they may feel when they get one more lecture from the usual company trainer. There are many good training consultants around the country, and it could pay off in workers’ compensation savings to have one come in and talk about chain saws and other matters.

Mercado’s chain-saw session often starts with the PPE, or personal protective equipment. For chain-saw use, that would include hard hat, safety glasses, hearing protection, long trousers and, when working on the ground, chaps designed for chain-saw safety. Chaps are not required when a worker is climbing, but there Mercado recommends chain-saw resistant pants. Most tree companies nowadays enforce wearing of PPE, but workers can get lax, especially off the ground where they want flexibility.

Next, Mercado would cover saw size and use. Special “climbing saws” weighing no more than 12 pounds should be used in a tree. Typically, bar length would be no more than 16 inches because of the unwieldy and unsafe nature of long bars and chains. Obviously, a “ground saw” of up to 24 inches that’s used for bucking downed trees may be required in the air during a big tree removal, and special care is needed when using it off the ground. “Removal saws” of up to 50 inches or larger may be required when bucking very large trees.

Many companies have mechanics for saw care, but workers are often called upon to do basic field care. Mercado emphasizes that use of a chain saw and safety are greatly affected by the care taken, as is the longevity of the saw. For example, he has seen many times the effects of improper fuel mixing. From failure to follow manufacturers’ fuel guidelines to inadvertent confusion about fuel and bar oil containers, workers who are tired and in a hurry can burn out a saw costing up to $2,000 very quickly.

“The bar needs proper tensioning,” Mercado says, and this is a job a worker should be doing all day. He recommends that workers carry the tools needed to do this, because a chain that is too tight is overworking the saw, and a chain that is too loose can fly free. He has heard many stories about men with ripped shirts or bellies from chains that came loose.

A chain should have enough slack to be pulled down at the bottom of the bar, with a sliver of light visible between chain and bar. Bigger saws must be checked more often than small saws as the chain heats up and stretches. A tree care company has a stake in teaching this, because a tight chain will overheat the tip of the bar and mushroom it, often requiring the purchase of a new bar.

The first thing a field worker does when he gets a new chain saw is to throw away the instructions, Mercado says – he knows, because that’s what he did in his early machismo days in the field. But the instructions contain a lot of good information, including the specifications for chain sharpening. And there are a couple of points about sharpening that workers should know.

First, there’s the misconception about “eyeballing” the sharpening instead of using a file guide. Mercado points out that some workers are able to become very accurate in getting the angle and pitch of the file right when eyeballing it. But in general, it is best to use a simple guide that helps align the file, and there are sharpening tools that make the job easier. One small portable vice, for example, has a fork that can be hammered into a log and used to stabilize the chain. This, and use of a file with a handle, improves accuracy and makes it less likely that the worker will cut himself or herself.

The other point that workers usually don’t know, Mercado has found, is that the chain rake must be filed down as the chain teeth are lowered. The rake cleans the cut behind the teeth and helps maintain proper depth of bite into the wood. If the teeth are filed lower and the rake is not, the rake won’t allow the teeth to cut deep enough. Thus, no matter how hard the worker jams the bar down, less and less cut is achieved.

“I used a chain saw for years before I found that out,” he says, and when the chain isn’t biting properly, less work is getting done. Workers can watch the size of the sawdust and pick up rake problems. Sawdust should be good-sized and have that familiar curl to it. Tiny bits of sawdust indicate a rake problem, and the tree worker will be pushing down on the saw to make a cut rather than letting the saw do the work. There is a simple guide that can be purchased to reveal how much of the rake should be filed off with a flat file.

Usually if a chain hits a rock on the ground or a nail in a tree, it will damage the chain, or section of chain, so much that it can’t be sharpened uniformly in the field. The clue that this has happened is often a “banana cut” in the tree, where the chain cuts to one side or the other instead of straight down.

The other area of chain-saw care that is often ignored is in cleanup. “Everybody wants to go home and forget about the gear,” Mercado says, but he recommends that companies give crews a little time before their shift is over to properly clean up their chain saws. This is particularly true if work has been done on trees such as palms and yuccas, which leave a fibrous, sappy debris in the saw’s clutch housing and chain guard that can actually pit the aluminum.

Disassembling the housing and cleaning with a stiff brush is a good way to properly clean the saw, but Mercado has seen a few companies using a better method. Most big trucks, such as dumps or chip trucks, have air brakes, and they have a reserve air tank that can be fitted with an air hose. That can be used to quickly blow out debris. A groove cleaner should be used to clean the groove in the bar, and the air filter is an ongoing concern.
Another chore should be to adjust the chain brake. This ring around the clutch wears out gradually and can be improperly aligned if the brake handle isn’t installed correctly after removal for cleaning. This leaves the brake’s safety feature inoperative.

“Sometimes the brake handle breaks off, and the workers won’t replace it,” he notes, and that leaves them vulnerable to severe accidents. He carries in his instructor’s kit photographs of tree workers who have been slashed across the face with a chain after the brake failed. He compares it to not keeping the safety on on that .45.

Another simple safety rule is to not throw away the bar cover, as most workers do on the first day they use a new saw, but keep it on until the saw reaches the job site. That prevents small cuts as the saw is jostled around during carrying. Also, never carry a chain saw in the cab of the truck, and never put it in the same compartment where you put your rope and saddle gear, for obvious reasons.

A big part of Mercado’s chain-saw training is in its use. He cites vulnerable moments ranging from workers not paying attention and looking away from the saw when cutting on the ground, to being off-balance when cutting in the air. They can endanger other workers when not paying attention to where the tip of their bar reaches beyond a limb. Workers can face dozens of these vulnerable moments every day.

One of the hazards of using a chain saw is the awkwardness of being up in a tree and trying to cut and balance at the same time. That, in addition to the exhaustion that can arise from this type of work, leads to another hazard – dropping the saw. “If you’re working with trees, you’re going to drop a chain saw,” Mercado says. He’s done it himself.

One of the safety features he emphasizes is the chain-saw lanyard. He has two types that he demonstrates for companies. One is a commercially available lanyard that attaches to the handle of the saw and to the worker’s belt, the lanyard being long enough to allow a running saw to fall below the worker’s feet (some are retractable). A brass latch is used that will break away if the saw falls along with a heavy limb. That prevents the worker from being dragged down with the saw. Workers can make their own lanyards out of rope that is strong enough to hold the saw but weak enough to break under too much weight. It should also have a brass latch.

A word about the “plunge” cut. Mercado likes to use this cut, which utilizes the tip of the chain to bore straight into the wood, mainly as the middle cut when felling a large tree. But he points out to workers that the bottom edge of the tip should always be inserted first. When the top of the tip is used first, the bar can kick back.

In any case, training is the wake-up call that can dislodge chain-saw complacency, Mercado says. It can also reduce risk to the new user.

Shooters must be trained to use a handgun, but a tree worker can buy a chain saw anywhere and begin using it immediately. Here are some statements that he hears workers use: “It’s not going to happen to me.” “I’ve been doing this a long time.” Those are the words of accidents waiting to happen because of complacency.

They are like those famous last words of the handgun user: “Don’t worry, it’s not loaded.”