But before anyone touches a saw, I require a 15-minute tailgate talk, PPE check, saw inspection, and a quick chain-brake drill at the landing, and we enforce two-tree-length spacing with radio check-ins on the hour. If you’re bringing on new folks this month, what do you require before that first cut?
I add a 60-second ‘point to your two outs’ drill where the new hand walks both escape routes and we kick out trip hazards; feller calls ‘clear’ on the radio before the bar touches wood. Small caveat on hourly check-ins — I want a quick call anytime the plan or wind shifts; nobody wins a race to the stump. You tried that with new folks their first week?
Right after your 15-minute tailgate and ‘chain-brake’ drill, I make new hands cut three quick cookies at the landing and check for straight kerf, clean chips, and an oil line on the bar — if it wanders or runs dry, that saw stays put… Small caveat on hourly radio: in noisy windfalls we go 30-minute check-ins until the area’s opened up. Do you require them to pocket two wedges before that first cut?
I make the new hand set a wedge on their first two trees — needed or not — so the motion becomes automatic; no wedges in the pouch, no saw, this gets ignored. After your 15-minute tailgate and brake drill, we do a 2-minute bar-pinch recovery at the landing so they can free a stuck bar without wrestling it. @fiona_woods83 do you have them say “wedge set” before starting under that “two-tree-length spacing” rule?
We run a 30-second ‘mayday/LUNAR’ drill before the first cut: operator gives name, exact Avenza coords, injuries, needs, and points out the trauma kit and evac route; awkward at first, but it sticks — and if radios are junk that day, we stage an air horn as backup. You standardize your script?