Logging Safety

BACKGROUND: A log truck driver was driving his empty truck early one autumn morning in the South. The road was wet, but visibility was good. PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS: The 35-year-old log truck driver was considered experienced. UNSAFE ACT OR CONDITION: The log truck...

BACKGROUND: A Lake States logger was working alone on the log landing of a timber harvesting operation. A logging truck had developed a mechanical problem, and he was attempting to survey the situation. It was late winter, and the weather conditions were fair....

BACKGROUND: A logger was felling his last tree of the day on his way back to the landing site. He was working on a summer afternoon in the Appalachians on a steep slope that was rocky and laden with grapevines. PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS: The 36-year-old tree feller had...

BACKGROUND: On a sunny summer morning, a skidder operator was pulling his first load of the day through steep terrain in the Appalachians. PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS: The 43-year-old skidder operator had some previous logging experience two years earlier, but he had...

BACKGROUND: On an unusually windy day in the Lake States, a sawyer was select-harvesting log cabin poles with a 20-inch chain saw. The sawyer was working under the supervision of the cable skidder operator, who was transporting logs back to the landing. PERSONAL...