Apr 9, 2012 | Logging Safety
BACKGROUND: On a summer Saturday morning in the Southcentral region, a flatbed lowboy tractor-trailer rig was transporting a skidder and a feller-buncher on a four-lane highway. The lowboy driver approached a railroad bridge that extended over the four-lane highway at...
Apr 9, 2012 | Logging Safety
BACKGROUND: The operator of a stroke-type delimber in the Northeast was conducting maintenance to his machine on the log landing. Stroke-type delimbers require periodic sharpening of knives in the field due to normal wear. Standard practice is to use a power grinder....
Apr 9, 2012 | Logging Safety
BACKGROUND: On a wet spring day in the Appalachians, a logging contractor operating a harvester-processor was exiting the cab to replace a damaged saw bar. PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS: The 35-year-old operator had two years of logging experience. He had attended the...
Apr 9, 2012 | Logging Safety
BACKGROUND: On a spring afternoon in the Southeast, a contract welder, assisted by a logging crew mechanic, was repairing cracks on a woods chipper frame. During the repair process, they noticed a fuel leak on the chipper’s diesel fuel tank. After completing the...
Apr 9, 2012 | Logging Safety
BACKGROUND: A logging crew in the Southeast was clearcutting a tract and using a whole-tree chipper to process treelength pulpwood. After the crew had operated the machine for two weeks, the flail chains needed to be replaced; changing out the chains safely required...
Apr 9, 2012 | Logging Safety
Feller-Buncher Rollover Injures Operator BACKGROUND: A logging crew was clearcutting a steep tract in the Appalachians. The feller-buncher, facing straight downhill, would cut trees on the way down a very steep slope and then would back up the...
