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The problem of exposure to harmful vibrations in forestry arises with the use of the first chainsaws in logging and construction. Although working with chainsaws was many times faster, more productive, and physically less demanding than manual felling, chainsaws emitted large amounts of vibration and over time had a negative impact on the health of forest workers. White finger disease (Raynaud's syndrome) has become a real problem with great potential for reducing workers' working ability. Along with the use of chainsaws, some operations still require hand tools in forestry. The main theme of this paper is to compare daily vibration exposure in cleaning operations when operating a chainsaw and billhook. EU Directive 2002/44/ EC clearly establishes limit values for daily vibration exposure, A(8), which serve as a measure against excessive vibration exposure. In this paper, the A(8) values for working with a chainsaw and working with a billhook in cleaning are estimated. The timeshares of individual cleaning operations were obtained using time study methods on videos of effective work. The result of the time analysis indicates that the worker spends 46.7% of his time in cutting, while the rest of the time is spent in different ways of carrying a chainsaw. In working with the billhook, the worker makes an average of 27 cuts per minute. Vibration levels were recorded with a Brüel & Kjaer 4447 vibrometer and calculated according to ISO 5349 standards. A(8) values of 4.9 m/s2 on the right hand and 3.4 m/s2 on the left hand when operating the chainsaw were obtained, and 13.7 m/s2 on the right hand when operating the billhook. The results point to a serious misconception when organizing work and using human resources. The common belief that working with a billhook, to which workers with disabilities are mostly allocated, is "easier" than working with a chainsaw and can have serious health consequences for the health of workers. The results of this study indicate the direction in which the forestry profession should be guided in organizing cleaning operations that will comply with the applicable regulations for the protection of the health of workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]