Logging Safety

BACKGROUND: A logging crew was harvesting an aspen stand in east central Minnesota during winter. The crew had worked a half-day on a Saturday and was travelling in a pickup truck from the log landing to the area where their vehicles were parked. The winds were...

BACKGROUND: A sawhand was trimming logs on a log trailer on a logging job in the South. PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS: The sawhand was an experienced chain saw operator. UNSAFE ACT OR CONDITION: The sawhand was trimming the side of the load with a pole saw. There were two...

BACKGROUND: A log truck driver was unbinding his load of double-bunked logs at a mill woodyard in the South. He was wearing a hard hat. PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS: The driver was experienced. He had been trained to inspect the load of logs prior to removing the binding...

BACKGROUND: A logging company employee was felling trees with a chain saw on a warm summer day in the Appalachians. PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS: The 43-year-old employee had worked for his present employer about five months. His normal job was trimming trees that had...

PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS: Unknown. UNSAFE ACT OR CONDITION: The excavator operator attempted to pull the truck out with a tow chain attached to the truck’s bumper hitch. The excavator and operator were facing the truck during the pull. It is unknown if the excavator...

BACKGROUND: On a fall day in the Eastern U.S., a mobile crane was traveling through a mill’s woodyard. PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS: The mobile crane operator was in his mid 40s and had worked in mill maintenance for about ten years. UNSAFE ACT AND CONDITION: The crane...