Chainsaw safety seminars

Press, 3 October 1979, Page 22

Chainsaw safety seminars

i As chainsaws increase ini t popularity so does the acci-' i dent potential, the Accident - Compensation Commission t! believes. 'J Rising sales to home t! handymen have prompted sjthe commission to organise '.[a series of half-day seminars i,[around Christchurch. To be si held in local parks on Saturday mornings, they will be -(designed to demonstrate the t; right ways and wrong ways rjto use a chainsaw. s '.! Light chainsaws are 3 becoming increasingly poput lar, according to a safety n adviser with the commission r (Mr J. D. Nieman). However, s buyers were rarely told r much about them by sales- • men, who often knew little >. themselves.

I In the United States one 'of the main causes of chainsaw injury was the severing of the jugular vein in the neck, he said. This happened when inexperienced users tried to cut something with the tip of the blade, causing it to kick back. Light-weight models were particularly prone to this. While the accident rate in I New Zealand was not yet particularly high, it was likely to increase. Among the many other aspects of chainsaw safety to be covered in the seminars is that of noise. In many models the noise level is higher than that permitted in industry to safeguard the hearing of workers.