Tracking and Analysis of Logging Accidents in Louisiana Using Industry-Supplied Data

TRACKING AND ANALYSIS OF LOGGING ACCIDENTS IN LOUISIANA USING INDUSTRY-SUPPLIED DATA

Sponsoring Institution

National Institute of Food and Agriculture

Project Status

TERMINATED

Funding Source

MCINTIRE-STENNIS

Reporting Frequency

Annual

Accession No.

0206776

Grant No.

(N/A)

Project No.

LAB93804

Proposal No.

(N/A)

Multistate No.

(N/A)

Program Code

(N/A)

Project Start Date

Jul 1, 2006

Project End Date

Dec 31, 2010

Grant Year

(N/A)

Project Director
deHoop, C. F.

Recipient Organization
LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY
202 HIMES HALL
BATON ROUGE,LA 70803-0100

Performing Department
School of Renewable Natural Resources

Non Technical Summary
Logging has among the highest fatality and accident rates of all industries, but sufficient accident data is not available. Composite accident data from the many small logging companies will be analyzed, and the results will be used to modify safety programs using an established mechanism in cooperation with industry, the Louisiana Logging Council, OSHA, and the Louisiana Department of Labor.

Animal Health Component

(N/A)

Research Effort Categories

Basic

(N/A)

Applied

90%

Developmental

10%

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
601	0650	3100	30%
601	5310	3100	10%
601	5340	3100	10%
801	0650	3100	30%
801	5310	3100	10%
801	5340	3100	10%

Knowledge Area
801 - Individual and Family Resource Management; 601 - Economics of Agricultural Production and Farm Management;

Subject Of Investigation
5340 - Nonfarm structures and related facilities; 0650 - Wood and wood products; 5310 - Machinery and equipment;

Field Of Science
3100 - Management;

Keywords

Goals / Objectives
1. Determine significant factors in the characteristics of logging worker accidents. 2. Determine significant trends in the characteristics of logging worker injuries. 3. Disseminate progress and results to the industry. 4. Assist the Louisiana Logging Council and the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration in designating essential topics for their logging safety workshops and logging safety inspection programs.

Project Methods
Through the Louisiana Logging Council and its Strategic Partnership Agreement with the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, accident data will be collected annually from approximately 250 cooperating logging firms. To determine the significant factors in the characteristics of logger accidents, the entries from the accident reports will be classified into categories describing the injuries, sources of injuries, types of accidents, and various factors that could influence the events leading up to an accident. Each January, an employee of the Louisiana Logging Council will contact the logging companies, send a copy of a blank accident form, and request that all accidents be reported. Follow-up calls will be made two weeks later to non-respondents. To encourage participation, the form will be as short as possible but will include a critical narrative section. After five years of data have been collected, some trends in the accidents will be discernable. Chi-square tests of homogeneity will be conducted to determine if the proportion of a certain category of injury was consistent throughout the study period. The data will be classified into a two-way contingency table according to two criteria: the injury characteristic and the year. To test the null hypothesis that the rows and columns of the contingency tables represent homogenous classifications, p-values will be obtained for a significance level a = 0.05. This test helps in determining individual elements within a particular injury category that cause significant deviations from a homogeneous pattern of injury or illness occurrence. When categories of injuries exhibit non-homogeneous patterns, Poisson residuals will be used to identify departures from homogeneity (+/- 2). The annual summaries will be reported in the Spring issues of The Louisiana Logger magazine. It is estimated that this covers at least 90% of the logging companies in the state. The results will also be disseminated through the Timber Harvesting and Transportation Safety workshops and through the Advanced Logging Safety workshops conducted by the Louisiana Logging Council. Each year, the PI will meet with representatives from the Louisiana Logging Council, OSHA, and Louisiana Workplace Safety to discuss changes to the safety workshops conducted by the Louisiana Logging Council. The logging accident analyses will be key factors in determining changes to logger safety education. Included in the discussion will be desired changes to topics and to teaching techniques. Any agreed changes will then be reflected in the manuals that will be distributed at the workshops.

Progress 07/01/06 to 12/31/10

Outputs
OUTPUTS: Accident data was collected and analyzed from about 280 logging companies that are members of the Louisiana Logging Council's OSHA Strategic Partnership. The results were reported annually to the Louisiana Logging Council members through articles in each issue of the quarterly magazine, The Louisiana Logger (3,000 readers). The results were also reported in four to five logging safety workshops during each year of this project (total attendance 763), and was used to determine the topics of emphasis. In addition, the US Dept of Labor OSHA used these results to determine areas of emphasis in their random safety inspections of logging operations. Some of this information is being disseminated to loggers in Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas through outreach from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler. The work has been disseminated to researchers across North America and internationally through conference proceedings of the Council On Forest Engineering and an international conference on forest worker safety held in France, respectively. An investigation that we added to this work was a preliminary evaluation to determine the extent of hearing loss in loggers caused by loud machinery. The results of these activities were reported to an international conference on industrial health and to the national conference of the Society of American Foresters. PARTICIPANTS: PI - Cornelis F. de Hoop, LSU AgCenter. Collaborators with the hearing test part: Dr. Fred Aghazadeh, Dr. Laura Ikuma and graduate student Antonio Fonseca (all of LSU Dept of Industrial Engineering). Partner organizations: Southwest Center for Agricultural Health, Safety, and Education; University of Texas at Tyler Health Science Center (I serve on advisory board). Partners in professional training: Will Hebert, Dorinda Folse and Harvey Collie, US Dept of Labor OSHA. Sandra Stokes, Greg Cook and Leon Parault, Louisiana Dept of Labor. Debra Jordan, Louisiana Logging Council. TARGET AUDIENCES: Loggers - information is provided to logging company owners and managers - 783 individuals educated in twenty workshops (most representing small businesses). About 3,000 additional individuals are reached by writing an article in each issue of the quarterly magazine, The Louisiana Logger. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: We took advantage of an opportunity to study noise-induced hearing loss in loggers. Otherwise, there were no significant changes.

Impacts
Accident rates continue to decline, but the proportion of serious accidents continue to rise. Injuries (usually sprained knee) incurred by equipment operators while mounting/dismounting equipment are now rare but are still common among log truck drivers. Two-thirds of the logging accidents in Louisiana in 2008 (and 52% in 2009) occurred to log truck drivers, with 45% of them being rollover accidents and the remainder occurring while the driver was out of the truck. Most of the accidents with equipment operators occurred while performing maintenance or repairs. Preliminary hearing testing of 26 male loggers showed hearing threshold shifts at 1000, 2000, and 4000 Hz were 4.9, 9.5 and 18.0 dB, respectively. This is an indication of hearing loss because of loud machinery. Hearing threshold shifts in the 50 to 59 year old age group were significantly higher than that of 20 to 29 year olds (13 dB difference at 4000 Hz). There was a significant decrease in hearing threshold (3.4 dB) between those participants who wore hearing protection and those who did not. This information is used by the Louisiana Logging Council to determine the curriculum in its logging safety workshops (both the basic safety/OSHA regulations workshop and the Advanced Logging Safety Workshop). It is also used by the USDL Occupational Safety and Health Administration to determine its areas of emphasis in industrial safety inspections and programs.

Publications

de Hoop, C.F. 2010. Logging seminar in Bossier includes equipment representatives. The Louisiana Logger 15(4):15-16. Louisiana Logging Council, Alexandria, LA.
de Hoop, C.F. 2010. Variety of accidents in 2009. The Louisiana Logger 15(3):15-16. Louisiana Logging Council, Alexandria, LA.
de Hoop, C.F. 2010. Logging can produce neck and shoulder pain in operators. The Louisiana Logger 15(2):15. Louisiana Logging Council, Alexandria, LA.

Progress 01/01/09 to 12/31/09

Outputs
OUTPUTS: The logging accidents that occured in 2008 among the member companies of the OSHA Strategic Partnership were evaluated in early 2009 and reported to the Louisiana Logging Council members through articles in each issue of the quarterly magazine, The Louisiana Logger. The output was also reported at four logging safety workshops. In addition, preliminary evaluation was conducted to determine the extent of hearing loss in loggers caused by loud machinery. The results of these activities were reported through the same outlets, to an international conference on industrial health, and to the national conference of the Society of American Foresters. PARTICIPANTS: PI - Cornelis F. de Hoop, LSU AgCenter. Collaborators: Dr. Fred Aghazadeh, Dr. Laura Ikuma and graduate student Antonio Fonseca (all of LSU Dept of Industrial Engineering). Southwest Center for Agricultural Health, Safety, and Education; University of Texas at Tyler Health Science Center (I serve on advisory board). Will Hebert, Dorinda Folse and Harvey Collie, US Dept of Labor OSHA. Sandra Stokes, Greg Cook and Leon Parault, Louisiana Dept of Labor. Debra Jordan, Louisiana Logging Council. Raw data is provided by 280 logging companies. TARGET AUDIENCES: Loggers - information is provided to logging company owners and managers - 75 individuals educated in four workshops. About 3,000 additional individuals are reached by writing an article in each issue of the quarterly The Louisiana Logger. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.

Impacts
Two-thirds of the logging accidents in Louisiana in 2008 occured to log truck drivers, with 45% of them being rollover accidents and the remainer occuring while the driver was out of the truck. Preliminary hearing testing of 26 male loggers showed hearing threshold shifts at 1000, 2000, and 4000 Hz were 4.9, 9.5 and 18.0 dB respectively. This is an indication of hearing loss due to loud machinery. Hearing threshold shifts in the 50 to 59 year old age group were significantly higher than that of the 20 to 29 year olds (13 dB difference at 4000 Hz). A significant decrease in hearing threshold (3.4 dB) was found between those participants who wore hearing protection and those who did not. This information is used by the Louisiana Logging Council to determine the curriculum in its logging safety workshops (both the basic safety/OSHA regulations workshop and the Advanced Logging Safety Workshop). It is also used by the USDL Occupational Safety and Health Administration to determine its areas of emphasis in industrial safety inspections and programs.

Publications

Aghazadeh, F., A.A. Fonseca and C.F de Hoop. 2009. Noise level in forest logging industry and hearing loss of loggers. Presented at the IEA Triennial Congress. August 9-14. Beijing, China. 14pp.
de Hoop, C.F., A. Fonseca, F. Aghazadeh and L. Ikuma. 2009. Hearing loss in Louisiana loggers. The Louisiana Logger 15(1):10. Louisiana Logging Council, Alexandria, LA.
de Hoop, C.F. 2009. If you are not at the table, you will be on the menu. The Louisiana Logger 14(4):10. Louisiana Logging Council, Alexandria, LA.
de Hoop, C.F. 2009. Healthy logging crews can help the bottom line. The Louisiana Logger 14(3):10. Louisiana Logging Council, Alexandria, LA.
de Hoop, C.F. 2009. 2008 Accidents: highways, slips and dismounting. The Louisiana Logger 14(2):10. Louisiana Logging Council, Alexandria, LA.
de Hoop, C.F. 2009. Louisiana Workplace Safety assists with compliance. The Louisiana Logger 14(1):10. Louisiana Logging Council, Alexandria, LA.

Progress 01/01/08 to 12/31/08

Outputs
OUTPUTS: Each year, logging companies that are members of the Strategic Partnership Agreement between the Louisiana Logging Council (LLC) and the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) send their accident reports to the LLC. I take those reports and analyze them as a group. The reports for 2007 came in from the 280 partner companies. The information developed under this project is presented at Timber Harvesting & Transportation Safety workshops and Advanced Logging Safety workshops conducted by the Louisiana Logging Council (five workshops totaling 150 attendees in 2008). Informal reports were printed in each issue of its quarterly trade journal, The Louisiana Logger, which is mailed to nearly logging companies and logging supervisors throughout the state (mailed circulation is 2800). PARTICIPANTS: The logging industry business owners and foremen are being trained through a trade magazine (The Louisiana Logger) and workshops in cooperation with the Louisiana Logging Council, Louisiana Department of Labor Workplace Safety and the U.S. Department of Labor OSHA. TARGET AUDIENCES: The target audience is the logging industry in Louisiana, with conclusions applicable nationwide. Accident reduction results in economic and social savings. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.

Impacts
As our safety programs have successfully focused on injuries in the logging woods, it appears that we really need to turn some attention to truck driver safety. As in the past, the critical areas for safety awareness for log truck drivers are still mounting/dismounting, binding loads, walking around the truck, and highway safety. Ninety-two percent of the Strategic Partnership member companies reported that they had no accidents during 2007. Of the accidents that were reported, all involved log trucks or log truck drivers. There were no reports of fatalities. We might expect that highway accidents would be the most common type of accident for truck drivers, but most of our truck driver accidents happen while the truck driver was outside the cab. This is still the case, although this year 43% of the accident-related incidents were highway-related and occured on public roads. Several of the accidents this year involved rollovers. Most of the highway accidents involved excessive speed or inattentive driving. Truck drivers still need to be vigilant when mounting or dismounting the truck, binding loads, walking around the truck (rough terrain) and during loading and trimming. Truck driver safety needs to be an important component of any logging safety program. Defensive driving, thorough driver training, safe equipment, up-to-date site workplans, good communications, frequent safety meetings, and public awareness are elements we should promote in our safety programs.

Publications

de Hoop, C.F., and R.L. Parish. 2006. Operating a Chainsaw Safely. Disaster Information Resources, LSU AgCenter Pub. 2949-A, Baton Rouge, LA. 2pp.
de Hoop, C.F. 2008. Log truck safety. The Louisiana Logger 13(3):12. Louisiana Logging Council, Alexandria, LA.
de Hoop, C.F. 2008. 2007 accidents: another year of the truck driver. The Louisiana Logger 13(2):13. Louisiana Logging Council, Alexandria, LA.
de Hoop, C.F. 2008. Personal protective equipment needs to be maintained. The Louisiana Logger 13(1):9. Louisiana Logging Council, Alexandria, LA.

Progress 01/01/07 to 12/31/07

Outputs
OUTPUTS: Each year, logging companies that are members of the Strategic Partnership Agreement between the Louisiana Logging Council (LLC) and the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) send their accident reports to the LLC. I take those reports and analyze them as a group. The reports for 2006 came from the 281 partner companies. Fatal accidents are added from OSHA reports, even if they came from non-member companies. This information is disseminated through The Louisiana Logger magazine, which is sent to nearly all logging companies in the state. The information is also disseminated through the OSHA Regulations for Loggers workshops and through the Advanced Logging Safety workshops (total 6 workshops with 206 different attendees). PARTICIPANTS: PI - Cornelis F. de Hoop Partner organizations: 1. Louisiana Logging Council, Alexandria, LA. 2. USDOL Occupational Safety & Health Administration, Baton Rouge office. 3. Louisiana DOL Workplace Safety, Baton Rouge. 4. 281 logging contractor companies. Professional development: Two graduate students. TARGET AUDIENCES: The target audience is the individuals who are working in the logging industry, particularly in Louisiana. However this information is equally applicable throughout the South and also relates nationwide. It is also of interest internationally, as evidenced by my invitation to speak in France. Furthermore, federal OSHA and state safety agencies are interested because it allows them to target their programs more effectively. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: None.

Impacts
Injuries incurred while mounting and dismounting trucks continues to be a problem in Louisiana logging, usually resulting in a strained knee. For machine operators, injuries continue to occur while performing maintenance and repairs. Back in 2002, we discovered that the most common injury among loggers was a sprain/strain to the knee incurred while dismounting equipment (and trucks). Since then, the LLC safety workshops and OSHA inspections have included mounting and dismounting equipment as part of their programs. Over the next few years, this type of accident was nearly eliminated among equipment operators. However, mounting and dismounting accidents continue to be a problem among log-truck drivers. Forty percent of the injured workers were truck drivers. Over the years, this number has typically been between 20 and 40%. Forty percent of the injuries were strains or sprains, while thirty percent were cuts. Seventy-eight percent of the injuries involved knees or ankles. There were also some injuries to the face and a few finger amputations. For equipment operators, the most hazardous activities continue to be maintenance (and repairs) and injuries incurred while relocating equipment. Operators rarely get hurt operating equipment. It is when they get out of the cab that they get hurt. The same goes for truck drivers, except that highway accidents are always an additional hazard. A few of the injuries could also have been prevented by use of personal protective equipment, particularly heavy work gloves.

Publications

de Hoop, C.F. 2007. A Voluntary Logging Accident Database after Seven Years Created by a Partnership of Loggers and Bureaucrats. International Conference on Safety and Health in Forestry held in Annecy, France. United Nations ECE/FAO. 8 pp. http://www.safety-forestry-2007.net
de Hoop, C.F. 2007. Personal protective equipment can prevent serious injury. The Louisiana Logger 12(4):7. Louisiana Logging Council, Alexandria, LA.
de Hoop, C.F. 2007. PPEs can prevent serious injury. Louisiana Logging Council website. 1p. http://www.laforestry.com/Default.aspx?tabid=550
de Hoop, C.F. 2007. Ideas exchange at international logging safety conference. The Louisiana Logger 12(3):8. Louisiana Logging Council, Alexandria, LA.
de Hoop, C.F. 2007. OSHA Partnership report: maintenance and truck dismounting. The Louisiana Logger 12(2):7. Louisiana Logging Council, Alexandria, LA.
de Hoop, C.F. 2007. Safety in Louisiana Logging: A Review. The Louisiana Logger 12(1):9+. Louisiana Logging Council, Alexandria, LA.

Progress 01/01/06 to 12/31/06

Outputs
2005 was not a good year for logging accidents in Louisiana. Seventy-nine percent of the companies reported having no accidents, which was down from 82% last year, but up from 72% in 2000. Also, there were three fatal accidents, up from one per year previously. Results of our surveys indicated that highway accidents involving log trucks were particularly prevalent. Most of these accidents involved cars or pickup trucks where the log truck driver was not at fault. However, these accidents often resulted in overturned log trucks, with the truck drivers receiving back and rib injuries. These injuries may not sound severe, but it is difficult to motivate a truck driver to return to work in a bouncing truck with these injuries, and most of these accidents resulted in about two months of lost driver time. Other trucking accidents involved the load binders, burning tires, and slipping while dismounting. We incorporated these data into the accident database, which is made available to the Louisiana logging industry.

Impacts
This information, updated annually, is used by the Louisiana Logging Council to focus its logging safety program and by the federal OSHA inspector to focus his inspections of logging operations.

Publications

Egan, A., I. Annis, D. Greene, C. de Hoop and J. Mayo. January 2006. Unused Logging Production Capacity in Northern New England. International Journal of Forest Engineering 17(1):31-38.
de Hoop, C.F., and R.H. Dupre. 2006. Using GPS to Document Skidder Motions - A Comparison with Manual Data Collection. Proceedings of the 29th Council On Forest Engineering Conference, Coeur dAlene, Idaho, July 30-August 2, 2006. W. Chung and H.S. Han, editors. pp. 393-402. Council On Forest Engineering, Corvallis, OR. www.cofe.org .
de Hoop, C.F., A. Hanumappa-Reddy, R.H. Dupre (presenter) and W.R. Smith. 2006. Survey of Forest Fuel Reduction Managers. Proceedings of the 29th Council On Forest Engineering Conference, Coeur dAlene, Idaho, July 30-August 2, 2006. W. Chung and H.S. Han, editors. pp. 445-451. Council On Forest Engineering, Corvallis, OR. (Presented at Fortuna, Calif., July 11-14, 2005, but published in 2006 edition). www.cofe.org .
Dupre, Robert H. MS Thesis. 2006. The Feasibility of Using GPS Technology for Continuous Time Studies of Rubber-Tired Skidders.
de Hoop, C.F. 2006. Safety in Louisiana Logging: A Review. The Louisiana Logger 12(1):9+. Louisiana Logging Council, Alexandria, LA.
de Hoop, C.F. 2006. How Set is Your Set?. The Louisiana Logger 11(4):9. Louisiana Logging Council, Alexandria, LA.
de Hoop, C.F. 2006. Lock-out Tag-out is Important for Logging. The Louisiana Logger 11(3):9. Louisiana Logging Council, Alexandria, LA.
de Hoop, C.F. 2006. 2005 Accidents - The year of the truck driver. The Louisiana Logger 11(2):9. Louisiana Logging Council, Alexandria, LA.
de Hoop, C.F. 2006. Logging community reaches out to homeowners affected by hurricanes. The Louisiana Logger 11(1):9. Louisiana Logging Council, Alexandria, LA.