Breaking chain saw safety rule #1 on a daily basis - Never Work Alone With A Chain Saw. I have NO employees and I work alone 99% of the time. It's up to me to survive so I always try to think several steps ahead and follow some good safety measures if I am going to break rule number 1. I'm pretty good about wearing safety gear when using my 385XP. It's the only saw I carry and it is unforgiving.
1) That day that I tripped while carrying a running saw and went head over heels with my head hitting the saw bar - I ALWAYS set the chain brake when the cut is finished and the hard hat saved my head. Simple safety rule that I set in my ways early in saw operations - the brake is there to be used when the saw is not cutting.
2) That day the running saw slipped onto my thigh just above the knee - cut right through my jeans but drew NO blood because the saw chaps did what they were designed to do. Gear or gore - you make the choice.
3) That day I did not refuse to help a "buddy" take down a 36"+ red oak on a right of way clearing job. The night before, I tried talking him into using my "open face cut method" that I was introduced to at a timber school. The bore cut and setting the hinge operation would have clued him into the rot within the tree and we could have approached the problem tree differently. Instead, he used his usual method and we set his 200 excavator up to brace the crown of the tree while he cut and I braced with my PC200 from the other side. When the tree popped from the rot and blew the anticipated hinge, it was too top heavy and all it did was relieve my swing circuit. At that point, I could do nothing more than watch the show. He got out of the way in time but his excavator did not as the tree's crown toppled over the stick, then the butt end slid down the stick, bent the stick cylinder, then down the boom and crushed the cab down about 2 feet. Part of the top landed in the highway with traffic running uncontrolled. No one was hurt but my tongue - after hearing, "I've been cutting timber for over 20 F'in years. I don't need some new method to get trees on the ground!" the night before. We always cabled any questionable trees after that.
Not thinking clearly once my first divorce was getting underway, I did not think to relieve the pressure on a hydraulic circuit with quick disconnects. There is a button on the joystick to do exactly this and I had done it many times but my head was elsewhere. When I could not disconnect the couplers by hand pressure, I tapped the release collar with a hammer. Again, my head was in the wrong place, my hands were not on the coupler when it released and my two upper front teeth caught the quick coupler when it did release. I thought for sure that I blew the teeth out of my head but they were only fractured with visibly evident cracks across both. Surprisingly, after 7 years or so, the teeth healed and no fracture lines are evident any longer - but I STILL remember that lesson. ALWAYS relieve pressure before working on it.
Not thinking to wear gloves one winter's day just before unloading my PC200 to start a ditch clearing job. I stepped over a creek bank to inspect and plan my route for cutting out the brush. The edge of the bank was steep and slippery. When gravity sucked me down, my hands naturally tried to catch myself and reduce the impact to the ground. Unfortunately for my left hand, there was a dead annual plant that broke off the main stem from the collision and jammed the resultant stubble into my palm. I had a 1/2" hole plus numerous smaller holes in my hand oozing blood and foaming. I can be stubborn at times so I continued to unload the machine and attempted to consider working. After 30-45 minutes, it was still foaming and starting to really hurt. I gave up and called my wife to come get me. I wound up with about 4 inches of incision and lots of stitching where the surgeon had to peel open my hand to remove the debris that got imbedded within my palm - all because I did not wear a $10 pair of gloves. I was out a good 4+ weeks on that one.
And the list goes on.... Remember, safety gear makes the difference. There are two types of motorcycle riders: Pirates and Armadillos. I wear the gear, not the eye patch. Life is less painful with a measure of protection.