Low Standards in the Japanese Logging Industry

John Vander

A team of workers were clearing some trees in front of the school where I teach, so I went to investigate. What I saw were some of the worst safety violations and chainsaw abuse. One guy cuts a branch located near a railguard on the side of the road. Too lazy to do a propper job, he cuts and puts the bar into the railguard! A tree stump is lowered by a crane, and the moment it hit the ground a team of 5 guys tackle it at the same time, cainsaws blazing. The same guy who did the railguard job moves over to a stump suspended by a small crane car. Not calculating well he just cuts away and gets the saw jammed solid (He got that saw jammed a couple of times al right!). Another worker shows up to help him and starts cuting 2 inches from where the saw got jammed. While this is happening the guy tries to free his saw with some incredible yanking actions, freeing the saw and almost putting it into the face of the worker opposite him. Another dude's saw chain was hanging so loose, that there was an inch space between the bar and chain. Never even bothered to tension it properly. These are "paid professionals".

__________________
"What kills a skunk is the publicity it gives itself." Abraham Lincoln

Drouin Tree Service

Some pictures would be good!

__________________

Drouin Tree Services | Excavator Hire - Drouin and SE Gippsland | Landclearing Melbourne

John Vander

My cell phone ran out of power and I couldn't take some pics at the site. I have a couple of digi cam vids of some work done by some "pro's" from around this district. I tried to upload it but seem to be struggling a bit. I'll see what I can do to come up with some visuals.

__________________
"What kills a skunk is the publicity it gives itself." Abraham Lincoln

John Vander

I noticed some guys on the site who looked like they knew what they were doing and I asked around. They were three foresters who were called in to help operations go smoothly. ( I noticed the difference between them and the other guys due to the propper PPE they were wearing). The guys who were screwing up are from some local small company. I will later post some forensics on work done by some locals.

__________________
"What kills a skunk is the publicity it gives itself." Abraham Lincoln

John Vander

I entered this site and asked the guy of he is a pro. He answered yes. later I went back to check some of the stumps.
One third of hinge cut off.
Hinge partly cut off.
Dutchman, back cut made tapering down towards scarf, almost no step for hinge.
Found this at another site:

This tree was felled on a cable supporting an electric pole. It has been there for over a week!
Cut by the forestry association from our town. Scarf and back cut don't match up.
Similar case, same association
I don't think anyone ever checks up on these guys, and proper safety procedures are ignored.

__________________
"What kills a skunk is the publicity it gives itself." Abraham Lincoln

Eric Frei

Hey, maybe the Japs think like many Aussies, "she'll be right mate".

__________________

John Vander

__________________
"What kills a skunk is the publicity it gives itself." Abraham Lincoln