Earth and Space News: Chain-Saw Gear and Tree Work Related Personal Protective Equipment

Summary: Alex Julius of the International Society of Arboriculture covers tree work related personal protective equipment: ear, eye, foot, head and chain-saw gear.

Arboreal safety standards address chain-saw protective clothing (CSPC); pruning white pine (Pinus strobus) with chain saw while in bucket: Joseph O'Brien/USDA Forest Service/Bugwood.org, CC BY 3.0 United States, via Forestry Images

Chain-saw gear and ear-, eye-, foot- and head-wear act as tree work related personal protective equipment (PPE), according to Protect Your Assets (Part 1) in the October 2013 issue of Arborist News.

Alex Julius of the International Society of Arboriculture bases her information on arboreal safety standards in Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. She collates the American National Standards Institute, the United Kingdom's Health and Safety Executive and The Best Practice Guidelines: Safety Requirements for New Zealand Arboricultural Operations. She describes proper choice, inspection, maintenance and retirement of accessories to protect ears, eyes, feet and heads and of attire to don prefatory to chain-saw operations.

Engineering controls such as power-saw chain-brakes, on-the-job equipment training and PPE express triple lines of defense against "loud noises, flying or falling objects, and tripping hazards."

Work-related hearing loss finishes first among occupational illnesses in the United States, with annual exposures at 22 million workers and yearly worker compensation at $242 million.

Foam-budded ear plugs, silicone-budded ear plugs and helmet-mounted earmuffs give Noise Reduction Ratings of 24 to 27, of 33 and of 21 to 26 decibels (dB). The British Standards Institute and the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health have hazardous noise ceilings at 87 dB with protection and 85 without. Ear-wear is coordinated with such mandatory eye-wear as plastic-lensed, shatter-proof prescription or safety glasses that admit no direct light or projectiles and resist cracks and scratches.

Manufacturer's care instructions jog the memories of wearers of tree work related personal protective equipment about avoiding such solvents as gasoline and oils and cleaning properly.

Proper footwear keeps low profiles in discussions of tree work related personal protective equipment and high ratings as "one of the most properly used" of PPE.

Climbing, climbing on gaffers and spurs and ground-working respectively lead to wearing low-healed rubber-soled boots, high-heeled, stiff-soled lineman or logger boots and ankle-protected, strong-soled, toe-capped boots. Cracks and creaks mean that ear-, eye-, foot- and head-wear must be destroyed, and "replaced with new gear," so they "cannot be used by another person." Tree work related personal protective equipment needs to protect against helmet slippage, neck strain, things that go "Bump!" on the head and 2,200- to 22,000-volt conductors.

Chin straps, four- to six-point attachments and sweatbands and webbing respectively offer head gear wearers dislodging-, sliding- and slipping-proof protection, rear- or side-ratcheting mechanisms and suspension.

Chain-saw operations put chain-saw protective clothing (CSPC) in such forms as chaps, gloves, jackets and pants on the list of tree work related personal protective equipment.

Chain saws quit working upon contact with clothing made of jamming materials since Kevlar and Nomex clog the chain and the sprocket and jam the chain. Safety to life and limb requires that all buckles be buckled on cut-resistant chaps and that ankles be covered and wrapped by cut-resistant chaps and pants. CSPC should be destroyed when contaminants, dirt and oils resist removal, fibers show deterioration or matting and improper care uses fiber-degrading acids, bases and chlorine bleaches.

Engineering controls, training sessions and worker uniforms tap into concerns over worker and workplace safety since "PPE won't save your life if you don't wear it."

Chain saw arboreal safety standards identify required personal protective equipment for ear, eye, foot and head safety; Friday, Aug. 31, 2007, 08:33: Rvannatta, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to:
talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet;
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for superior on-campus and on-line resources.

Image credits:

Gilman, Ed. 2011. An Illustrated Guide to Pruning. Third Edition. Boston MA: Cengage.

Hayes, Ed. 2001. Evaluating Tree Defects. Revised, Special Edition. Rochester MN: Safe Trees.

Julius, Alex. October 2013. "Protect Your Assets (Part 1)." Arborist News 22(5): 24-30.
Available @ http://viewer.epaperflip.com/Viewer.aspx?docid=de1c0fc1-9f51-447a-858a-a2ae0094c6c5#?page=24

Marriner, Derdriu. 12 October 2013. “Storm Damaged Tree Clearances: Matched Teamwork of People to Equipment.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/10/storm-damaged-tree-clearances-matched.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 17 August 2013. “Storm Induced Tree Damage Assessments: Pre-Storm Planned Preparedness.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/08/storm-induced-tree-damage-assessments.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 15 June 2013. “Storm Induced Tree Failures From Heavy Tree Weights and Weather Loads.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/06/storm-induced-tree-failures-from-heavy.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 13 April 2013. “Urban Tree Root Management Concerns: Defects, Digs, Dirt, Disturbance.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/04/urban-tree-root-management-concerns.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 16 February 2013. “Tree Friendly Beneficial Soil Microbes: Inoculations and Occurrences.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2013/02/tree-friendly-beneficial-soil-microbes.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 15 December 2012. “Healthy Urban Tree Root Crown Balances: Soil Properties, Soil Volumes.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/12/healthy-urban-tree-root-crown-balances.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 13 October 2012. “Tree Adaptive Growth: Tree Risk Assessment of Tree Failure, Tree Strength.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/10/tree-adaptive-growth-tree-risk.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 11 August 2012. “Tree Risk Assessment Mitigation Reports: Tree Removal, Tree Retention?” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/08/tree-risk-assessment-mitigation-reports.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 16 June 2012. “Internally Stressed, Response Growing, Wind Loaded Tree Strength.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/06/internally-stressed-response-growing.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 14 April 2012. “Three Tree Risk Assessment Levels: Limited Visual, Basic and Advanced.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/04/three-tree-risk-assessment-levels.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 19 February 2012. “Qualitative Tree Risk Assessment: Risk Ratings for Targets and Trees.” Earth and Space News. Sunday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/02/qualitative-tree-risk-assessment-risk.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 18 February 2012. “Qualitative Tree Risk Assessment: Falling Trees Impacting Targets.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2012/02/qualitative-tree-risk-assessment.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 10 December 2011. “Tree Risk Assessment: Tree Failures From Defects and From Wind Loads.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/12/tree-risk-assessment-tree-failures-from.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 15 October 2011. “Five Tree Felling Plan Steps for Successful Removals and Worker Safety.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/10/five-tree-felling-plan-steps-for.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 13 August 2011. “Natives and Non-Natives as Successfully Urbanized Plant Species.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/08/natives-and-non-natives-as-successfully.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 11 June 2011. “Tree Ring Patterns for Ecosystem Ages, Dates, Health and Stress.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/06/tree-ring-patterns-for-ecosystem-ages.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 9 April 2011. “Benignly Ugly Tree Disorders: Oak Galls, Powdery Mildew, Sooty Mold, Tar Spot.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/04/benignly-ugly-tree-disorders-oak-galls.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 12 February 2011. “Tree Load Can Turn Tree Health Into Tree Failure or Tree Fatigue.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/02/tree-load-can-turn-tree-health-into.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 11 December 2010. “Tree Electrical Safety Knowledge, Precautions, Risks and Standards.” Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2010/12/tree-electrical-safety-knowledge.html

Earth and Space News

Sunday, October 13, 2013

Chain-Saw Gear and Tree Work Related Personal Protective Equipment

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