Chain Saw training....

[Ridge Runner]

Sitting at the local fast food munching the deep fried transfats with me "Boss", the subject of chain saws came up. Made me recall two incidents. A number of years back, at a local summer camp during an OA work weekend, several scouters arrived on site up with their shinny new saws. No previous experience, nor the required safety gear. At least the Ranger was on the ball, and convinced them to keep em locked away, and unused.
The second, at another camp, a new Ranger with no experience and working alone erred greatly in tree cutting dying from his injuries.

so, thinking out loud...should Councils provide Scouters (adults over 21) with no experience with em a bit of training on this tool?

[riverwalk]

Hmmm, maybe they could/should. That's a thing I could run by the H&S Committee soon?

In the meantime, thank goodness the Rangers had the cooler heads. Sounds like some hunting camps I've heard of, where folks thought it was OK to have whatever their money could buy. Of course that covers most drivers too, haha.

[FrankJ]

I would say no. The council is not in the business of chainsaw safety training. Doing so would open up liability issues. Providing training to an inexperienced ranger is different since using a chainsaw is in his scope of work. It is up to the ranger (or qualified adult supervision) to insure chainsaw operators are qualified. (Just like the first ranger did.)

This is not to say I am against a ranger or qualified person giving individualized training for a specific job.

[Mrw]

If the tool is appropriate for the job the volunteer has come to help with, and the ranger or person in charge can teach the person how to use the tool safely, then training should be done.

Really, any one coming to do work with power tools should be asked about their experience before they are allowed to use them. (Yes, I work in a place where we take our OSHA regs pretty seriously.)

[Ridge Runner]

I would say no. The council is not in the business of chainsaw safety training. Doing so would open up liability issues. Providing training to an inexperienced ranger is different since using a chainsaw is in his scope of work. It is up to the ranger (or qualified adult supervision) to insure chainsaw operators are qualified. (Just like the first ranger did.)

This is not to say I am against a ranger or qualified person giving individualized training for a specific job.

On the liability issue, if a Council promotes a work weekend asking volunteers (via flyers and the Round Tables) who own chainsaws to bring em, then is their a obligation for the the Council to provide training?

[wagionvigil]

During our APril OA weekend we had 9 Chainsaw crews out about camp cleaning up winters damage and cutting trees marked by a forester. ALl the crews were headed by SCouters that use chainsaws in there work or are quite skilled(carvers) with a chainsaw. During those sessions everyone involved learned proper safety precautions and safety.

[Swim4lyfe]

In my troop adult leaders are only allowed to use power tools if they have prior experience and training with the tool. It doesn't matter how experienced or how old a leader is- if they don't have the experience, they aren't allowed near the tool, period.

[FrankJ]

On the liability issue, if a Council promotes a work weekend asking volunteers (via flyers and the Round Tables) who own chainsaws to bring em, then is their a obligation for the the Council to provide training?

I think that the council obligated insure the operators are qualified to use whatever tools they bring or given. (Qualified Adult Supervision) In the case of chainsaws, The ranger or crew leader can provide instructions for clearing debris or other relatively safe operation. For limbing or cutting down trees is beyond what your average volunteer should be doing with limited training.