For those of us who spend considerable time in and around the industry, it is a disappointing label reflecting an industry detached from the modern, mechanized logging workforce that harvests the majority of wood in the U.
The details of each fatality certainly matter, yet the sum is staggering for an industry of only 50, employees. The logging industry has an impressive story to tell in terms of improving safety, yet these statistics tell a different story. Nonfatal injuries fell from over 7, per year to less than 2, Fatalities also declined, though not to the same degree, from around per year to The higher proportion of employees in equipment certainly helped reduce injuries in the industry, and fatalities have declined.
One might expect that increased mechanization might lead to a reduction in the number of employees, but this did not appear to be the case. In their analysis of logging-related fatalities, Myers and Fosbroke , found higher rates in the eastern portion of the United States, including West Virginia, and suggested this may be due in part to forest type primarily hardwood tree species and low levels of mechanization in harvesting. Other papers describing logging injuries have hypothesized that increased mechanization should reduce numbers of injuries International Labour Organisation , Holman et al.
Two studies have looked quantitatively at the relationship between mechanization and injuries in the logging industry Laflamme and Cloutier , Shaffer and Milburn Both of these studies took the approach of comparing conventional or partially mechanized logging operations to fully mechanized logging operations during the same time period.
Laflamme and Cloutier examined the relationship between the mechanization of delimbing and debranching activities in two logging companies. They found sites logged with conventional logging methods to have almost three times the injury rate as sites logged with mechanized methods, however they do not specifically mention mode of felling or feller-bunchers. They also found that injuries in mechanized sites were more likely to occur to skidder operators, and during maintenance and repair activities, and that in conventionally logged sites, injuries were more likely to occur to fellers.
Shaffer and Milburn compared workers compensation injury claims between partially mechanized and fully mechanized logging operations. They found that fully mechanized operations had a lower proportion of injuries due to manual chainsaw delimbing, and a higher proportion of injuries due to equipment maintenance and repair.
There was no statistical difference in the proportion of the manual chain saw felling injuries between the two types of logging operations. However without denominator data, it cannot be determined whether injury rates were lower in fully mechanized companies.
Although several lines of reasoning were used to reach the conclusions in the current study, this study is not without its limitations. These include the fact that this is based on a convenience sample; every company in the state was not contacted and asked about feller-buncher use. However, to get the list of companies with feller-bunchers, entities that are dispersed geographically throughout the state, and that work closely with the WV logging community were contacted.
Because the use of feller-bunchers is still relatively uncommon in the state of WV, these results are based on a small number of companies.
More solid results could be obtained by continuing to add new companies to the analysis, as feller-buncher use becomes more widespread in the state of West Virginia. Similar data from other states could also be added and analyzed. The study does not include data on other potential confounding factors such as changes in other pieces of equipment cable vs. All logging operations are required to have one Certified Logger on site for at least part of the day, thus presumably affecting all companies equally.
In the state of West Virginia, a newer safety training program was initiated in July of In the future as data become available, the potential confounding effect of the new training program and fellerbuncher use will be assessed.
For example, if companies The International Mountain Logging and 11th Pacific Northwest Skyline Symposium 34 undderreport number of employees, but report whatever injuries may occur in their actual workforce, then this may make rates appear higher.
However, there is no evidence to suggest that these biases would have changed over the time period of this study. Most logging companies, particularly in the east, are relatively small, and are not required to keep OSHA injury logs.
Because of a lack of structured injury records, it is difficult to track non-fatal injuries in this industry. Axelsson, S-A, and B. Ponten New ergonomic problems in mechanized logging operations.
Ergonomics Bailer, A. Stayner, N. Stout, L. Reed, and S. Trends in rates of occupational fatal injuries in the United States Fosbroke, D. Kisner, and J. Working lifetime risk of occupational fatal injury. Holman, R. Olszewski, and R. The epidemiology of logging injuries in the northwest. Husberg, B. Conway, M. Moore, and M. Surveillance for nonfatal work-related injuries in Alaska, International Labour Organization.
Occupational safety and health problems in the timber industry. One possible causal factor was whether hurricanes made landfall in the coastal states. Storm damage may lead to increased fatalities, he explained. Falls from elevation was the only event type significantly different between the logging and landscaping industries. Tree care workers like this one, because they must control the fall of limbs and trunks, must climb trees with chainsaws and cut sections down.
Credit: GettyImages Jurkos. Getting a better handle on fatality numbers is just an early step in trying to make the job of tree fellers safer, Michael explained. And it is not as simple as just advising that protective equipment should be worn. There is a need to focus on hazards associated with tree-felling activities so that proactive prevention strategies can be developed, Michael suggested.
Furthermore, we took a look at how much the individuals within those professions are compensated for the level of danger they are subjected to. Are the most dangerous jobs also those with the highest compensation?
We suspected this was not the case.
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