Research Brief #30

Accident Analysis Impact in Louisiana's Logging Industry: 1985-2001
Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, LA

Situation/Problem

Over the past 15 years in Louisiana, about four workers were killed per year in the timber harvesting industry. Another 250 - 550 annually suffered injuries that were so severe that they missed at least a week of work. Most other states have suffered comparable accident rates in the same industry.

Action

Researchers at the LSU Agricultural Center have been analyzing logging accidents to help industry leaders understand the accidents and improve safety programs. Most injuries in the logging industry occurred to the knees, resulting in sprains/strains. The greatest source of injury was due to workers getting struck by trees/limbs. Cuts from chainsaws are on the decline. The number of injuries has declined, but the injury seriousness is continuing to increase, including an increase in the proportion of fractures. Vehicle accidents are becoming more prominent. One-quarter of the non-fatal logging injuries in Louisiana are strained knees incurred while mounting or dismounting equipment.

Impact

This project interacts with the new "Strategic Partnership" program conducted by the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) and the Louisiana Logging Council. By having loggers submit all accident reports to this program (not just the ones required by law) the researchers have been able to cause safety programs in Louisiana to be more focused as to topic than ever before. The information developed under this project continues to be used as an introduction to the logging safety workshops conducted by the Louisiana Logging Council (259 attendees in 2001). Logging fatalities in Louisiana declined from an average of 4 annually to 1 in 2001. Informal reports were printed in three issues of the quarterly magazine The Louisiana Logger during 2001. Information from this study is also being used by OSHA inspectors to help them focus their inspections on meaningful problem topics, improving the efficiency of both logging companies and OSHA inspectors.

Researchers

Cornelis F. de Hoop
Associate Professor
Louisiana Forest Products Development Center
Baton Rouge, LA.

John C. Pine
Professor
Institute for Environmental Studies
Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, LA.

Brian D. Marx
Professor
Department of Experimental Statistics
Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, LA.