Think OSHA? Every notice how many old farmers are missing fingers or other interesting parts? Life on a farm was hard work and sometimes dangerous. I had a distant cousin killed by a saw mill he was operating, that used a tractor for power. A chunk of wood kicked back while he was squaring up a cant and it hit the saw blade then shot back into his face. It fractured his skull and killed him.
The ironic thing was he had borrowed the portable saw mill to cut up some pine timber for a neighbor as a way to help that neighbor build hot frames to start sweet potatoes. He did not need the lumber but the owner of the saw mill did and had hurt his back so he could not operate the mill himself. Seeing his neighbors need, he did what killed him in his attempt to help his neighbor. This still is the family example of the old saying "that no good deed goes unpunished sometimes". Those old saw mills were dangerous as heck even in the best of times.
