Request for Assistance in...Preventing Injuries and Deaths of LoggersNIOSH ALERT: May 1995 |
WARNING!
|
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
(NIOSH) requests assistance in preventing worker injuries and deaths
during logging operations. Recent NIOSH investigations indicate that
many workers and employers in the logging industry are unaware of the
risks associated with logging and are not following the procedures in
the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards for
preventing injuries and fatalities among loggers. This Alert describes
six incidents resulting in the deaths of six workers who were performing
logging operations. In each incident, the death could have been
prevented by using proper safety procedures and equipment and by
following the provisions of the OSHA standards.
NIOSH requests that editors of trade journals, safety and health
officials, industry associations, unions, and employers in the logging
industry bring the recommendations in this Alert to the attention of all
workers who are at risk.
The National Traumatic Occupational Fatalities (NTOF) Surveillance
System indicates that during the period 1980-89, nearly 6,400 U.S.
workers died each year from traumatic injuries suffered in the workplace
[NIOSH 1993a]. Over this 10-year period, an estimated 1,492 of these
deaths occurred in the logging industry, where the average annual
fatality rate is more than 23 times that for all U.S. workers (164
deaths per 100,000 workers compared with 7 per 100,000). Most of these
logging deaths occurred in four occupational groups: logging
occupations (for example, fellers, limbers, buckers, and choker
setters), truck drivers, general laborers, and material machine
operators. The actual number of loggers who died is higher than
reported by NTOF because methods for collecting and reporting data tend
to underestimate the total number of deaths [NIOSH 1993b].
NTOF data also indicate that 59% of all logging-related deaths
occurred when workers were struck by falling or flying objects or were
caught in or between objects. Approximately 90% of these fatalities
involved trees, logs, snags, or limbs.
In addition, the NIOSH Alaska Activity has identified helicopter
logging (long-line logging) as extremely hazardous. This Alert does not
address helicopter logging, but information about this topic is
available in a recently released report [CDC 1994].
In 1992, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that logging had a
workplace injury rate of more than 14,000 injuries per 100,000 full-time
workers compared with 8,000 per 100,000 for the total private sector
[BLS 1994]. Workers' compensation data showed that injury events
causing lost workdays were very similar to those that caused fatal
logging injuries [Myers and Fosbroke 1994; Myers and Fosbroke, in
preparation]. The four occupational groups that accounted for the most
logging fatalities also accounted for the most workers' compensation
claims (79%).
OSHA has recently revised and expanded its regulations to address
all types of logging operations [29 CFR 1910.266], regardless of the end
use of the forest products (such as saw logs, veneer bolts, pulpwood,
and chips). Employers must be in compliance with all the requirements
of this final standard by February 9, 1995.
The revised regulations are notably different from the previous ones
and provide for the following:
1. Additional job and first-aid training for workers.
2. Expanded uses and types of personal protective equipment.
3. More stringent requirements for the use of rollover and
falling-object protective structures.
4. Comprehensive
manual felling procedures (including proper techniques for
undercuts and backcuts to prevent trees from prematurely twisting off
the stump)
In 1976, NIOSH published NIOSH Criteria for a Recommended Standard:
Logging from Felling to First Haul [NIOSH 1976]. This document
recommended safe work practices, personal protective equipment, and
medical examinations for loggers.
Between October 1991 and May 1993, the NIOSH Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) program investigated 13 fatal incidents (1 fatality each) that involved workers in the logging industry. The following case reports summarize six of these investigations.
On October 9, 1992, a 33-year-old male tree feller was killed while operating a chain saw. Using a 4-horsepower, 16-inch, bow-bar chain saw, the victim felled a 40-foot pine tree. He then used the bow-bar chain saw to cut the limbs from the felled tree. As the victim cut through a spring pole, the chain saw recoiled and kicked back, fatally striking him in the throat [NIOSH 1993c].
On October 10, 1992, a 53-year-old male tree feller was fatally crushed by a tree that had fallen against another tree and had suddenly become dislodged. The victim had felled a 70-foot yellow pine tree that was lodged against another yellow pine of similar size about 15 feet away. The victim presumably decided to clear the lodged tree by felling the support tree. As he began cutting the support tree, the vibration of the chain saw apparently jarred the lodged tree loose. The lodged tree fell along the support tree onto the victim, crushing him [NIOSH 1993d].
On November 17, 1992, a 58-year-old male tree feller was killed when a tree limb struck him on the head. The victim had been felling trees on a mountainside with a 40-percent slope. When he cut a 100-foot white oak, the tree fell downhill, striking a beech tree 20 feet below and breaking off a 40-foot beech limb that extended uphill over the victim. The limb fell 35 feet, fatally striking the victim on the head [NIOSH 1993e].
On December 3, 1992, a 24-year-old male timber cutter was fatally struck on the head while felling an 80- to 90-foot poplar tree. As the poplar fell, one of its limbs struck a 35-foot snag. The snag broke off about 4 feet above the ground, fell back toward the victim (who was looking in the opposite direction), and struck him on the head. Although the victim was wearing approved head protection, the blow was immediately fatal, as it fractured the first vertebra in his neck [NIOSH 1993f].
On March 22, 1993, a 51-year-old male foreman and skidder operator was fatally struck on the head by a falling tree while he was cutting another tree into logs (bucking). A coworker was felling a 58-foot poplar tree about 50 feet away from the victim. As the tree fell toward the victim, the timber cutter and another worker shouted warnings. However, the victim (who was wearing a protective helmet and ear plugs) apparently did not hear them. He was struck on the head and died instantly [NIOSH 1993g].
On April 8, 1993, a 28-year-old male equipment operator was killed when he was struck and run over by the skidder machine he was operating. The victim pulled into a landing area (which had a slope of less than 5 percent), stopped the skidder, and unhooked a number of logs that were being dragged. The victim remounted the skidder and drove it around an idled log-loader. As he did so, the skidder ran over two logs lying on the groundone 6 inches in diameter and the other about 14 inches in diameter. When the skidder ran over the logs, the victim apparently lost his balance, fell or jumped from the skidder cab, and was run over by the left rear tire. The victim sustained multiple traumas to the head and torso and died at the scene [NIOSH 1993h].
These FACE investigations and national fatality data indicate that many workers and employers in the logging industry are unaware of the risks associated with logging and are not following the procedures in the OSHA standards for preventing injuries and fatalities among loggers. In each of these incidents investigated by NIOSH, following the OSHA safety procedures would have saved the logger's life.
NIOSH recommends that workers and employers take the following steps
to prevent logging-related deaths and injuries:
1. Follow the safety procedures in the OSHA regulations that apply to logging operations [29 CFR 1910.266]:
2. Develop, implement, and enforce a comprehensive written safety program that includes safe work procedures for all tasks performed. This safety program should include but not be limited to the following elements:
3. Before beginning work, conduct an initial and daily jobsite survey to identify hazards and implement appropriate controls.
4. Designate a competent person to conduct periodic safety inspections to ensure that workers are performing their assigned tasks according to established safe work procedures. Immediately correct any identified hazards or improper work practices.
5. Oversee the selection and use of chain saws:
The principal contributor to this Alert was Richard W. Braddee, Division of Safety Research, NIOSH. Please direct comments, questions, or requests for additional information to the following:
Director
Division of Safety Research
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
1095
Willowdale Road
Morgantown, WV 26505-2888
Telephone, (304) 285-5894; or call
1-800-35-NIOSH (1-800-356-4674).
We greatly appreciate your assistance in protecting the lives of U.S. workers.
Linda Rosenstock, M.D., M.P.H.
Director, National Institute for
Occupational Safety and Health
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
BLS [1994]. Survey of occupational injuries and illnesses, 1992. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 1994.
CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) [1994]. Risk for traumatic injuries from helicopter crashes during logging operationsSoutheastern Alaska, January 1992-June 1993. MMWR 43(26):472-475.
CFR. Code of Federal Regulations. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, Office of the Federal Register.
Myers JR, Fosbroke DE [1994]. Logging fatalities in the United States by region, cause of death, and other factors1980 through 1988. J of Safety Res 25(2):97-105.
Myers JR, Fosbroke DE [in preparation]. Nonfatal injury patterns of four occupational groups in the United States logging industry, 1985 through 1987. Morgantown, WV: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Division of Safety Research.
NIOSH [1976]. NIOSH criteria for a recommended standard: logging from felling to first haul. Cincinnati, OH: U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Public Health Service, Center for Disease Control, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, HEW Publication No. (NIOSH) 76-188.
NIOSH [1993a]. National traumatic occupational fatalities (NTOF) surveillance system. Morgantown, WV: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Unpublished data base.
NIOSH [1993b]. Fatal injuries to workers in the United States, 1980 1989: a decade of surveillance; national profile. Cincinnati, OH: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 93-108.
NIOSH [1993c]. Tree feller dies after being struck by a chain saw in South Carolina. Morgantown, WV: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Report No. 93-02.
NIOSH [1993d]. Tree feller crushed by dislodged tree in South Carolina. Morgantown, WV: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Report No. 93-01.
NIOSH [1993e]. Tree feller killed by falling tree limb in West Virginia. Morgantown, WV: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Report No. 93-05.
NIOSH [1993f]. Timber cutter dies after being struck by a falling snag in West Virginia. Morgantown, WV: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Report No. 93-10.
NIOSH [1993g]. Foreman/skidder operator killed by falling tree in West Virginia. Morgantown, WV: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Report No. 93-13.
NIOSH [1993h]. Equipment operator struck and killed by skidder in South Carolina. Morgantown, WV: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Report No. 93-16.
Logging Alert--DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 95-101