Guy almost chainsaws his face - GIF

Guy almost chainsaws his face. Like many accidents, there's a lot here to parse. Ironically, fixing any one of these could've avoided this almost-face sawing: swinging log, one-handed operation, terrible footing, uneven ground that doesn't allow for recovery if you slip, zero PPE (sorry, Carhartt jacket doesn't count). I like the oblivious reporter!

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Previously:

https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...528#post132241
https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...832#post129267
https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...944#post124947
https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...466#post122599

Man do I understand this. Today I was unloading some steel out of my pickup and I'd backed into a tree and bush congested area to get the carrying distance as short as possible. I grabbed a length of I-beam and as I turned to take it away my foot caught in the remains of a rotted picnic table and I went down under the weight of the I-beam. I looked around once down and on one side of my face were three 16p nails sticking up through a board and another behind my head with two nails sticking up. That was close.

I've almost done the impale-my-skull-on-a-nail bit when cleaning out under the rafters in my garage. Still not sure why roofing nails penetrate the roof boards so much.

It's a reminder that safety rules largely exist solely for eventualities and unknowns. I imagine that the need for chainsaw protective clothing and helmets is extremely low when chainsawing on level ground, through a log firmly held in a buck, with the proper size bar, sharp chain, correct stance, etc. My chainsaw has an additional hand brake on it (TrioBrake) that I imagine is cumbersome to a professional, and I've been tempted to remove it many times, but I'm surprised how often I trigger it by overextending the saw or holding it at a weird angle.

It's pretty easy (for me at least) to get wrapped up in the job at hand to the exclusion of details like personal safety. I grew up on a farm and have been in close proximity to dangerous things most of my life so I have to remind myself to think about safety.

I'm not sure why they thought it was a good idea to have the grapple on the trunk while he was sawing... it likely was the cause of the initial binding that catapulted the saw operator when the root wad flopped down. It doesn't appear he made his undercut first, THEN finished by cutting down from the top.