A Sad Reminder of the Importance of PPE

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ChrisN

ChrisN

Feeling the Heat
Hearth Supporter
Nov 19, 2005
272
Southeastern, Ct
From the New London Day, in Connecticut:

Salem — A Norwich man was killed while cutting down a tree at a local residence Saturday.
James Pedro, 47, was hit in the head by a branch, 8 inches in diameter, while working at a home on Corrina Lane about 4:30 p.m., according to State Police.

Pedro suffered severe head injuries and was later pronounced dead at The William W. Backus Hospital, police said


I have to admit to not always using a hard hat when dropping trees. Sadly, this incident has brought the message home to me.
 
After all these years I bought the hat rig a couple of months ago. I am not so sure that it is going to do any good if an eight inch limb falls forty or fifty feet on my head though. In fact the hearing protection muffs will probably just keep me from hearing it cracking off.
 
Use every advantage you have at your disposal, BB. Your ears adjust to the muffle after awhile and you can hear just about as well as you would be able to without any ear muffs. One big reason to wear hearing protection, aside from avoiding hearing damage, is that you don't fatigue nearly as quickly when you're wearing hearing protection. And fatigue is one of the main causes of chain saw accidents and other woods mishaps.

On the issue of a hardhat--it probably wouldn't save you if you sustained a direct hit from an eight-inch diameter branch, but if it glanced off your hard hat, you'd get a headache. If it glanced off your bare scalp, you'd be in for more stitches than a sweatshop in Bangladesh.

Seatbelts kill some people who would have survived if they weren't wearing them, but they save far, far more people than they kill.
 
Yes , Sad but true.
When felling a tree one should take there time and walk around the base of the tree looking up and look at every possible issue that could happen , look around at the base of the tree and other trees that the tree being felled could come in contact with.
Trees grow together and intertwine so when a tree drops it can and will pull branches from its own tops as well as others it could be conected to.

All PPE is for is extra safty and not full protection. Your best tool out in the woods is your head and to use it wisely.
There have been many trees i have walked away from to the point of being an unsafe fell and high danger , snags , widowmakers , hollow trunks , leaners into other trees ect....
Come back to them next year and look them over again.

In a yard or in an urban environment the unsafe tree can not be over looked or just walk away from, if its a tree you looked over and question the safty of the tree its still a danger so it should be taken out by a pro with the right knowledge and equipment.

Cutting trees is NOT a race and every one should take there time to look over what there doing , come up with a game plain and also focus on what there doing and think ahead before doing it.
 
BB that was about the size of the limb that hit me. The only reason I am typing this today is because of the helmet I was wearing the day I got hit. The Dr said If I wasen't wearing helmet I would be DEAD!
Always,always WEAR you'r gear no matter what!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

JOHN
 
Every time I think of hard hats I think of our neighbor in the sixties. They built one of the famous ICBM silos just outside our town. The neighbor was working on the project. He fell 122 feet from the above ground top of the thing and landed on his head. No more neighbor.

The government inspector wrote up on the report that he wasn't wearing his hardhat. Well, if he had been most of him would have been packed into it.
 
The government inspector wrote up on the report that he wasn’t wearing his hardhat. Well, if he had been most of him would have been packed into it.
Click to expand...
Damn, what a visual! Damn
 
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