Not sure about Canada, but in the US it's generally very easy to buy a chainsaw and hire yourself out as a "logging company". There are plenty of father-son te

Not sure about Canada, but in the US it's generally very easy to buy a chainsaw and hire yourself out as a "logging company". There are plenty of father-son teams who hit a rough patch in the labor market and go off and do exactly that. Not everyone who does so is properly equipped or knows how to use the equipment safely, and most are familiar with only a limited subset of the techniques required to do a job correctly. Many are desperate and will take on jobs they cannot do safely (or with the results the landowner wants!). Harvesters are great but they are not necessary to do a safe, neat, and professional logging job, nor are they appropriate to every job. The conduct you describe and the fact that you mentioned alcohol and macho behavior are strong evidence that the crew you hired, however experienced, is not competent and has no business logging. Logging will always be dangerous work regardless of the equipment used, but there's no excuse for adding to the danger through amateurish and foolish practices. A professional logging company will employ loggers who work as safely as possible, equip them with the right tools, and ensure they are properly trained in correct procedures and the use of those tools. Those things cost money, and the low barriers to entry and limited employment opportunities in many forested areas mean there is always plenty of cheap competition. Landowners don't have much incentive to seek out more safety-conscious logging companies. Even if a landowner has a bad experience with one company, it is usually many years before they hire loggers again, making it difficult to punish a sloppy or unsafe company by taking the business elsewhere. So accidents tend to put a small-scale, unprofessional logger out of business before the market does, and that's a significant contributor to the accident rate.