All the time. Keep your phone on you and I keep a 2 way radio too. If you get crushed by a tree you're done anyway. also did 22 stitches when I tapped the blade into my shin about 20 years ago so I wear chaps now. I have a ton or tools and dangerous hobbies, welding, routers, on and off road motorcycles. boom things, and a tractor of course. I sold big industrial tools for 20 years and worked in and around industrial plants my entire adult life.
The chainsaw is the most dangerous., because the environment is unpredictable and full of things that want to whack you, crush you, fall on your head, roll you over while you are holding a 3.5hp knife of death. I imagine a big cost of every saw is liability defense for those who don't know or care and then get injured. Arborist work is inherently dangerous, more than eating food or driving a car which also has inherent risk. Sometimes this work has to be done alone.
- Don't work when you are tired.
- Don't work when you are distracted by people, other animals, or heavy thoughts.
- Never take your eyes of the bar.
- Keep both hands on the saw or shut it off.
- Keep your saw sharp, and working great or repair/replace it.
- Use the manufacture's chain, bar, bar lube, 2 stroke oil. These are designed as a system.
- Wear helmet, gloves, steel toes, chaps, eye and ear protection.
- Older guys need to slow down and work within their physical limits.
- Younger guys need to slow down and work within their EXPERIENCE limits.
- Watch those YT videos from your manufacturer, they represent decades of expertise.
- Be the guy that really KNOWS what he is doing because he is educated, and learns from others mistakes.
- Look up into the tree and see what could fall on you when you cut.
- Check the tree to see if it will collapse as you cut on it.
I've cut big trees, climbed up and topped trees in my 50s. Plunge cut, and cut through tornado damaged acres of oaks. I still have two eyes, ten fingers, ten toes and most of my teeth and I can still hear what matters. I earn with my brain and my health, but I live with my physical being, so I protect myself.
