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

Abstract

Background Logging remains one of the most hazardous industries in the United States, despite many safety improvements made in the last decades. Currently, we know little about regional trends in health conditions of logging workers, especially in the Northeast. However, the forest products industry is a critical component of the Northeast's economy, especially in the State of Maine. Methods This paper reports on the baseline data of a longitudinal cohort study involving Maine loggers, aimed to assess the health and safety of the industry. Results Three hundred twenty‐five are included in these analyses, 246 mechanized loggers, and 79 conventional. On average mechanized loggers worked longer days (11.8 vs 9.7 hours) and had longer commutes from home to the woodlot (72.6 vs 40.7 minutes) than conventional loggers. For health factors, mechanized and conventional loggers had similar responses. Nearly two‐thirds of both mechanized and conventional loggers had an annual physical in the previous year, and 36.3% had seen a health specialist during that same time period. The overall work‐related injury and illness rate is 6.8 of 100 workers for this cohort. Conclusions These factors contribute to a need to work with the community on transforming logging into a safer and healthier profession for the current workforce, as well as the workforce of the future. This study provides the basis for an appropriate intervention, in collaboration with the loggers and industry stakeholders, to improve the lives of these vital workers.

Not Quite Out of the Woods

“…The baseline characteristics of this unique cohort have been described in a previous report. 9 This approach is congruent with the understanding that work affects many aspects of life, including chronic disease and overall well-being. 32 Unique to our study were in-person physical health assessments, accomplished by setting up “pop-up” health screenings during logger safety training and outreach events.…”

“…Enrollment of the baseline cohort and administration of the initial survey has been described in detail elsewhere. 9 The entire larger study entailed seven surveys spaced at 3-month intervals, a health questionnaire, and an in-person physical health assessment. Briefly, we enrolled English-speaking participants between March 2018 and May 2019 using a variety of methods including telephone, postal mail, and in-person recruitment.…”

“…Conversely, mechanized logging places the equipment operator in a seated, sedentary position for the vast majority of the day, not only during work hours but also during long commutes. 9 , 10 Traumatic injury rates are lower in mechanized logging versus conventional logging, but other important health issues such as back and neck pain, have been associated with logging equipment operators. 11 , 12 Kim et al found that logging machinery posed threats to health and safety but mostly through injury, musculoskeletal disorders, and exposure to diesel exhaust.…”

Using hospitalization data for injury surveillance in agriculture, forestry and fishing: a crosswalk between ICD10CM external cause of injury coding and The Occupational Injury and Illness Classification System

“…(United States Code, 1958) Lastly, though forestry and logging operations are within scope for the SOII, research has shown injuries and illnesses to be underestimated, as well. (Scott et al, 2020) The goal of injury surveillance is to systematically collect, analyze, interpret and disseminate injury data, for the purpose of improving public health. (CDC, 2001) Reporting exists for a wide-variety of public health injury events, using such means as the National Hospital Discharge Survey, National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, Emergency Department Visit Data, National Health Interview Survey, and the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, especially their Industry and Occupation (I&O) module.…”

The development of a machine learning algorithm to identify occupational injuries in agriculture using pre-hospital care reports

“…The injury and fatality estimates that do exist are limited [5][6][7][8]. Similarly, data has also shown underreporting of injuries in the forestry and logging sector, which is part of the agricultural super-sector [9].…”