Basic Chainsaw Safety Workshop

Are you uncomfortable using a chainsaw?  Do you feel you could use some basic instruction in operating and maintaining a chainsaw for use on your property?

Chainsaws are one of the most useful tools for maintaining farms or woodlands, but used improperly, they can cause serious and even life-threatening injuries.  Every year nearly 20,000 people end up in hospital emergency rooms after being injured using a chainsaw.

The Massachusetts Forest Alliance will hold a Basic Chainsaw Safety Workshop at the New England Small Farms Institute in Belchertown on Wednesday, June 12^th, from 8 am to 3 pm.

This workshop is aimed at homeowners, woodland owners, trail maintainers, firewood cutters and others who want to know how to maintain, sharpen and use a chainsaw. It is intended both for new users and those with limited experience who would like to learn more.

This course is not suitable for professional chainsaw users such as loggers or arborists.

The instructor is an experienced logger with extensive experience in teaching chain saw courses to a variety of audiences. Topics covered will include: Personal protective equipment, anatomy of a chainsaw, how it works, basic maintenance tasks, sharpening, how to work safely, and practice in bucking, limbing and felling (as time allows).

The cost of this workshop is $75 per person.  Workshop enrollment is limited to 8 people.

To sign up for this workshop, email Greg Cox at gcox@crocker.com and he will send you the paperwork to register.

The workshop will be held rain or shine.  Participants should dress for the weather and take precautions against ticks.  Participants should bring their own lunch.

Participants should bring their own saw with fuel mix and oil.

Participants should bring personal safety gear including:

Work boots, preferably with steel toes

Hard hat with eye and hearing protection

Work gloves

Logging chaps

If you don’t have chaps or a helmet, some will be available to use.