The risk analysis at working with a chainsaw

Abstract

Forestry in Slovakia has recently got very fast tendency of research in all levels. The introduction of complex machines and equipment, the application of new advanced technologies, the tendency to decrease energy consumption, material difficulty of products, requirements on high reliability of machines and automation in operation impose the necessity for the search of theoretical basics for wood production processes and utilization of new developing forest and wood processing techniques. The work with a chain saw is risky and has negative impact on the health of workers. It has been clear from recent findings. The limitation of these impacts has influence on technical, technological and organizational actions serving as preventive ones. That is the reason why the famous chain saw producers established different technical supports which have the influence on decrease of vibrations and noise. It is necessary to realize several actions within the maintenance of chain saws to fulfil the goals of a technical action. The paper deals with risk analysis by usage Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA), which was implemented on STIHL motor chainsaw. We identified the potential failures, then we allocated to the value of occurrence, significance and detectability in the process and we also calculated the risk priority number (RPN). Application of the FMEA method allows flexibility in the case of unexpected situations and optimization of human potential abilities. FMEA is a tool preventing outages operational reliability and preventive tool for ensuring the maintenance of facilities. There are several methods of information processing regarding to reliability parameters, but some of them are very difficult and in standard operational conditions are not usable. The method of information analysis mentioned below is simple but precise enough for implementation in real working conditions.