Mar 8, 2013 | Logging Safety
BACKGROUND: On a clear and sunny March day in the Lake States, two U.S. Forest Service employees were returning to their duty station, driving a pickup truck on a county portion of a forest road. The pickup was towing a trailer with two snowmobiles on board. The...
Feb 5, 2013 | Logging Safety
BACKGROUND: On a fall day in the Appalachians, a logger was performing maintenance on the sawbar of his feller-buncher. PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS: The 38-year-old logger had approximately 20 years of logging experience and was considered fully trained to perform this...
Feb 5, 2013 | Logging Safety
BACKGROUND: On a sunny, spring afternoon in the Appalachians, a triaxle truck operator was unloading at a woodyard. To shorten his unloading time, the woodyard’s rubber tired unloader, rather than the triaxle’s truck-mounted knuckleboom, was unloading the wood....
Feb 5, 2013 | Logging Safety
BACKGROUND: On a spring day in the Southeast, a woods worker was operating a side-by-side utility four-wheeler delivering trees to a planting crew. Conditions were wet following a recent spring rain shower. The crew was using the utility vehicle to save walking time...
Feb 5, 2013 | Logging Safety
Log Smashes Into Truck's Unprotected Back Window BACKGROUND: On a hot, dry, dusty late spring day in the Appalachians, a tractor-trailer full of sawlogs was being unloaded at the local log yard. The yard was flat and concreted. PERSONAL...
Feb 5, 2013 | Logging Safety
BACKGROUND: On a sunny summer morning in the Northeast, a feller-buncher operator and a fellow employee prepared to complete a minor repair on the feller-buncher. The fellow employee was also an equipment operator but was the designated welder for the small mechanical...