I was required to wear a hard hat when I worked in Kentucky as a forester. The hat went on when you got out of the truck. I had a few close calls. Up in Pike County on a fire, a big limb landed right next to me, and if it had hit me on the head, the hat wouldn't have been any help.
In 1979 near Missoula, Montana, we were walking through burned over timber where big trees had been tipping over all night. "*" The fire had burned down in the soil, and roots were no longer stabilizing the trees. There was no noise at all until a tree landed. A big Douglas-fir tipped right after I passed it and the guy behind me had to jump ahead to keep from being crushed.
Illinois did not enforce wearing a hard hat, so I wore one only for fires, chainsaw activities, logging jobs, and windy days. (Actually, I tend to stay out of timber on windy days. I will go out in rain, but wind is just plain dangerous.) A safety reminder appeared a couple days ago. This treetop fell during the night when we had only light winds of 5 mph. This is another one of those things that will kill you whether you have head protection or not. When big wood falls it often causes smaller wood to fling great distances, so protection is a good idea. It seems a bit odd that I wear a hard hat more frequently now that I am retired than when I was working, but maybe my head is not as hard as it used to be.
* We were stuck up on a mountainside that night and everybody found a boulder or tree to get close to. The fire had caused boulders above us to break loose, and all night long, big rocks were coming down the mountain. We were glad to be able to hoof it out of there at first light.
