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3. Other safety precautions
Vibration and cold
It is believed that a condition called Raynaud's Phenomenon, which affects the fingers of
certain individuals, may be brought about by exposure to cold and vibration.
Accordingly, your ECHO chain saw has shock mounts designed to reduce the intensity of
vibration received through the handles.
Exposure to cold and vibration may cause tingling and burning followed by loss of color and
numbness in the fingers.
We strongly recommend you take the following precautions because the minimum exposure
which might trigger the ailment is unknown.
Keep your body warm, especially the head and neck, feet and ankles, and hands and
wrists.
Maintain good blood circulation by performing vigorous arm exercises during frequent work
breaks and also by not smoking.
Limit the number of hours of chain saw operation.
Try to fill a part of each work day with jobs other than chain sawing.
If you experience discomfort, redness and swelling of the fingers, followed by whitening and
loss of feeling, consult your physician before further exposing yourself to cold and vibration.
Repetitive stress injuries
It is believed that over-using the muscles and tendons of the fingers, hands, arms and
shoulders may cause soreness, swelling, numbness, weakness and extreme pain to the
areas just mentioned.
To reduce the risk of repetitive stress injury, do the following:
Avoid using your wrist in a bent, extended or twisted position.
Instead, try to maintain a straight wrist position.
Also, when grasping, use your whole hand, not just the thumb and index finger.
Take periodic breaks to minimize repetition and rest your hands.
Reduce the speed and force in which you do the repetitive movement.
Do exercises to strengthen the hand and arm muscles.
See a doctor if you feel tingling, numbness or pain in the fingers, hands, wrists or arms.
