These Simple Chainsaw Safety Tips Will Help You Avoid Injuries and Accidents

• When using a chainsaw, take precautions to prevent kickback, where the chainsaw flies backward and upward, which can lead to serious injury..
• Planning your cut is important, and knowing where things will land is crucial. Injuries are often caused by debris, rather than the saw itself.
• Wearing proper safety gear, such as eye and ear protection, heavy-duty gloves, or chainsaw chaps, is also very important.

Never underestimate the ferocity of a chainsaw. Whether gas- or battery-powered, these powerful cutting tools can rapidly cut logs into firewood and fell trees, making them both highly effective and quite dangerous. Following a few easy-to-follow safety precautions will go a long way to helping you avoid injury and cut like a pro.

Chainsaw safety is no joke. A study from Penn State University found that hospital emergency rooms across the U.S. reported 127,944 chainsaw-related injuries between 2018 and 2022, either from the tool itself or from being struck by branches or debris after a cut.

While these tips may seem obvious, they can prevent common issues like kickback, which a novice cutter might not know to avoid. If you're a new chainsaw user or just need a quick refresher, we’ve pooled our expertise in covering and reviewing these powerful tools to bring you a list of the most important chainsaw safety tips.

Most Dangerous Cause of Injury: Kickback

Kickback, where the chainsaw bucks up and backward, creates a very dangerous situation that leads to injury. It's most frequently triggered when the top section at the tip of the cutting bar strikes an object (i.e., the wood) or encounters excessive friction. (That part of the cutting bar is actually called “the kickback zone.”) All chainsaws are required to have a chain brake bar in front of the handle, which acts as an emergency cutoff when the saw bucks back in your hands during a kickback.

Even with the chain brake, you should still take steps to avoid kickbacks as much as possible. Start your cuts using the bottom edge of the cutting bar, closer to the middle or the hilt; if you need to cut from the top, stay as far from the tips as possible and keep an eye on the kickback zone, as it’s easy to move into that area of the bar when cutting something using the top of the bar.

If you are new to chainsaws, it may be helpful to use a reduced-kickback saw chain, which has shallow teeth that don't cut as deep. This type of chain is slower to work with, but if you’re only using your chainsaw a couple of times a year, it may be worth the extra safety.

Keep in mind, we’re not saying you can’t ever cut using the tip of the chainsaw, but it's an advanced maneuver that's best left to the pros. Learning how to do it safely requires a lot of experience and a strong feel for how chainsaws work.

Other Key Safety Tips

Start it up in a secure position: When starting up your chainsaw, you don’t want the sudden rev of the engine to cause it to buck and hit something. There are two recommended ways to start it up safely: 1) Place it on the ground, holding it with one hand while starting it with the other. Or, 2) Secure the back end between your lower thighs with one hand securely on the handle while the other starts the chainsaw. You should only use method number two if you are wearing a heavy set of protective chainsaw chaps or pants.

Use the boxer stance: Operating a chainsaw safely requires good form, which some call the boxer stance. If you’re right-handed, you should stand with your left foot slightly in front and at a 45-degree angle, and your right foot slightly behind. (Or vice versa if you are left-handed.) Keep your feet approximately shoulder-width apart and slightly bend your knees. This will prepare you to push back against any force that comes back your way.

Always keep both hands on the saw: Controlling a chainsaw requires both hands. You need full control to keep the saw steady, and to be ready for a kickback or any other loss of control. If you find yourself using only one arm because you’re trying to get to a hard-to-reach area, you aren’t close enough and are only asking for trouble. Repositioning or switching to another tool like a pole saw is a safer approach.

Plan out your cut: Just as important as knowing where to start your cut is understanding where the cutting bar will exit after you finish. You don’t want the saw to connect with anything after completing a cut. You should also anticipate where the cut section will fall: Many accidents happen when a cut log or branch drops onto something breakable ... like your foot. With large trees in particular, keep in mind that it's not uncommon for branches to spring upward once they’re freed from the weight of the rest of the tree.

Be ready for the pull of the chainsaw when you start cutting: You never know what may happen when cutting through a piece of wood. A hidden knot may cause the saw to pull harder, or it just may be harder than you anticipated. Be ready for anything with a firm grip and a good stance.

Never cut with a loose chain: Making sure your chain has the proper tension is an important part of your overall maintenance routine. You should never cut with a loose one: It can cause the chain to derail, injuring you, damaging the chainsaw, or both. A properly tightened chain should offer a little give, but will not noticeably dangle from the chain bar.

Keep the chain bar covered when not in use: Not all chainsaws come with covers for the cutting bar, but if you have kids or need to store it in tight spaces, we highly recommend getting one. The chain is still sharp even when the saw isn’t running: A cover protects you and the tool.

Use the chain brake any time you need to walk more than a step or two: Walking with a running saw is dangerous. A sudden trip or stumble could result in injury

Safety Gear Is Also Important

A good stance and technique will go a long way, but protective gear will protect your body if something goes wrong. Wearing cut-proof equipment, plus protective eye and ear protection, is essential.

• Protective eyewear: When you’re cutting wood, debris of all sizes shoots out at high speed, and it’s easy to get it in your eyes. We recommend eyewear that seals to your face, such as foam-sealed safety glasses. If you wear eyeglasses for vision, safety goggles offer more room to accommodate them.
• Work gloves: Beyond protecting your skin, gloves help absorb the shock of the constant vibration of the chainsaw. Because cutting wood produces a lot of debris, we recommend a glove that has safety cuffs to help keep bits of wood from getting up your sleeves. There are even specialty gloves made specifically for chainsaw users.
• Safe toe boots: Another common cause of chainsaw accidents comes from large logs or branches falling on people. While you can avoid this with careful cutting, it never hurts to wear footwear with extra toe protection in case of an accident. There’s no better ally than a steel-tipped boot or composite-toe boot in that regard.
• Chaps: If you do a lot of cutting, invest in a pair of chainsaw chaps. They’re specially reinforced with multiple layers to reduce the risk of injury should you accidentally hit yourself with the chain bar. These layers contain fibers that will actually tangle up in the chain and jam it up, so that it cannot cut through the chaps.
• Ear Protection: Even a smaller electric saw can get quite loud; that’s why the pros wear earplugs or earmuffs. Your hearing will thank you.
• A hard hat: While it may not be essential if you're cutting logs apart at waist level, if you’re up in the trees, a hard hat is a must. You never know what will go flying toward your noggin. There are even brands that offer a hard hat with ear and eye protection.
• Felling Wedge (optional): Plastic felling wedges are used when felling trees (felling is a term that describes a cutting method used to cause a tree to fall in a predetermined direction). This requires multiple deep cuts, so the felling wedge helps keep the tree from leaning back, compressing down on your chain bar (i.e., pinching), and moving in the right direction as you cut deeper into the trunk.

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