Determinants of Safety Climate in the Professional Logging Industry

Abstract

Work involving forest logging is considered one of the most dangerous occupations in the world. In the intermountain region of Montana and Idaho in the United States, the extreme terrain, remote location and severe weather conditions escalate risk. Although safety has improved through the development of mechanized equipment, logging tasks continue to be very hazardous. Thus, as with leading companies in other occupational sectors, logging enterprises are beginning to consider safety climate as a useful measure in their safety systems. The purpose of this study was to quantify safety climate within the logging industry of Montana, USA and to identify specific determinants of safety climate. A demographic, musculoskeletal symptom (MSS), and safety climate survey (NOSACQ-50) was administered to 743 professional loggers. Analyses were conducted to determine the association between demographic characteristics, MSS, workplace variables and the scores on five safety climate dimensions (management safety priority and ability, workers' safety commitment, workers' safety priority and risk non-acceptance, peer safety communication, learning and trust in safety ability, and workers' trust in efficacy of safety systems). Variables identified as predictors of safety climate included logging system type, supervisory status, age, years of experience and reported MSS. As safety climate is a leading indicator of workplace safety, if work groups with the lowest safety climate scores can be identified, they could receive targeted safety intervention programs or resources; thereby directing resources to the groups who need it the most, without relying on lagging indicators such as injury and fatality rates.

NOSACQ-50 for Safety Climate Assessment in Agricultural Activities: A Case Study in Central Italy

“…In fact, unlike the majority of previous studies that investigated specific groups of farmers, in our case the results provide a more comprehensive snapshot of SC perception in agriculture. Moreover, the low level of perception of safety issues that emerged in this study is in line with the high rate of accidents that occur annually in the sector, validating the strong relationship between SC and occupational accidents, which has been documented by research in other types of industries [ 7 , 69 , 83 ].…”

“…NOSACQ-50 was presented by Kines et al [66] in 2011 as the result of research activities involving a Nordic network of occupational safety researchers and it was available online [39]. The reliability and validity of NOSACQ-50 has been tested in various studies in different contexts, confirming its effectiveness as a diagnostic tool to investigate the safety climate within organizations [67][68][69]. The questionnaire consists of 50 statements, which contribute to evaluate seven SC dimensions.…”

Safety climate as a predictor of work ability problems in blue-collar workers: prospective cohort study

“…Measurements of safety climate instead of injury claims distinguish by the ability to predict the risks of injury and react before they actually occur, and thereby help workplaces with safety climate items to target their initiatives before they lead to injury. 32 Safety climate items have previously been associated with increased risk of accidents among blue-collar workers 5 and in the general working population. 33 Therefore, it is important for companies to prioritise safety climate since it is associated with an increased risk of accidents and also lower physical and mental work ability.…”

“…Thus, it could be speculated that our measure of safety climate is a proxy measure for perceived overall working environment among blue-collar workers. Furthermore, measuring safety climate instead of actual accidents provides the advantage for the companies to focus on preventive measures by improving different aspects of the safety climate before an accident occurs 32 and thereby further impacting work ability. This suggests that companies should bring safety climate into focus and implement initiatives that reduce the safety climate items.…”

Health and safety in the Maine woods: Assemblage and baseline characteristics of a longitudinal cohort of logging workers

“…This study adds substantial information to the literature about Maine loggers' nonfatal work injuries, work history, and access to healthcare. The nature of the logging workforce differs across the country5,[12][13][14] and this is the first study of its kind attempting to fullyF I G U R E 3 Geographic distribution of survey respondents T A B L E 2Number of survey respondents by type of logging Survey respondents by type of logging Size of operation (number of employees) and safety issues of Maine loggers. The results from this baseline survey, the first of seven, along with inperson health assessments will provide the needed information for our research team to partner with the industry in improving logger health and safety in this high-risk occupational setting.…”