Logging Safety

BACKGROUND: A logging company in the Lake States Region was harvesting timber in the fall of the year. The leaves had changed color and about half of them had fallen. The wind was calm; weather was not a factor in this incident, but the time of day (late afternoon)...

BACKGROUND: On a cold winter morning in the southern U.S., two loaded log trucks were parked on a woods road while the drivers secured their loads. The woods road was on a 15% slope, with some snow on the road surface. PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS: The driver of the first...

BACKGROUND: On a clear, warm fall day in the southeastern U.S., a logging crew was select cutting grade logs. Most trees were felled with a three-wheeled feller-buncher, but the over-sized trees and timber in the SMZ’s were manually felled. One employee--the skidder...

INCIDENT: In January of 2018, an operator had a near miss when he pulled over a base machine tethered to a steep slope machine (SSM). The operator had over 43 years of logging experience, including shovel logging, cutting, tower logging, and management. He located the...

INTRODUCTION: On a warm, sunny spring afternoon in the Pacific Northwest, a fatal accident occurred involving a driver assisting another driver in the process of dumping his loaded 53’ trailer at a receiving forest products company.Driver A was the victim who was on...

BACKGROUND: On a clear, dry, winter afternoon in the southeastern U.S., a log truck driver was preparing to attach a high-visibility end-of-load flag on the back of his load of tree length pine pulpwood. PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS: The 60-year-old driver had been...