Injury Patterns among Forestry Workers in Croatia

Borz

2022

Forests

Occupational safety is generally known to be low in forestry work. A similar situation may be found in Southeast Asian countries, where health and safety aspects are not commonly taken care of so rigorously. However, there is also a lack of primary data which could be suitable for evaluating such issues. The auditing reports of FCS certification are a source of useful information to evaluate and analyze health and safety concerns in forestry work. This paper addressed the coverage of available information, classified the risk factors uniformly from different certifying body criteria, compared occurrence of risk factors in groups and checked for dependencies in data. The key findings are that the main issues were those related to the organizations’ failures to protect the workers and to the lack of awareness of safety. In turn, these may explain the high incidence of forestry-related work accidents in Southeast Asia.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Risk Factors and Occupational Safety Failures in Forest Work in the Southeast Asian Region

Borz

2022

Forests

“…A hazardous event is a falling tree, and the consequences can be injuries of varying severity to the logger’s musculoskeletal system ( 49 ). Loggers working outdoors are exposed to a number of different HFs, such as strong wind, inappropriate technical equipment (e.g., personal protective equipment), hygienic hazards [vibration ( 49 ), noise ( 50 )], ergonomic hazards—unnatural or uncomfortable working position ( 48 , 51 ), human factors—psychological inconsistency or health problems.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improvement of the occupational risk management process in the work safety system of the enterprise

Bazaluk,

Tsopa,

Okrasa

et al. 2024

Front. Public Health

PurposeThe research purpose is to improve the management of occupational risks associated with hazards as well as the organization’s capabilities to identify hazardous factors (HFs) using the “BOW-TIE” method in accordance with the provisions of the ISO 45001:2019 standard.MethodsTo improve occupational risk management, the “BOW-TIE” method has been introduced into occupational health and safety management systems. This approach facilitates a comprehensive description and analysis of potential risk development from identifying hazardous factors to studying the consequences. It visually integrates fault and event trees to provide a holistic view of risk dynamics.ResultsThe improvement of the occupational hazard risk management process considers both internal and external factors affecting the organization, thereby increasing the probability and severity of potential hazardous events. The revised approach categorizes risk levels as acceptable, unacceptable, or verifiable. In addition, occupational risk management requires an in-depth analysis of the organization’s external and internal environment to identify hazards that affect the probability and severity of potential hazardous events.ConclusionThis research proposes an innovative approach to occupational risk management by determining the magnitude of occupational risk as the cumulative result of assessing risks associated with all external and internal factors influencing the probability of hazardous event occurring. The introduction of the “BOW-TIE” method, combined with a comprehensive analysis of the organizational environments, facilitates a more effective and nuanced approach to occupational risk management.

“…It includes the technical processes of felling, delimbing, bucking, extraction, and debarking [19]. Forest harvesting is one of the most sensitive activities compared to other sectors [20]. For this reason, the social pillar examines the impact of the working environment on the forest worker [21][22][23][24][25][26].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Criteria for Assessing the Sustainability of Logging Operations—A Systematic Review

Grünberg,

Ghaffariyan,

Jourgholami

et al. 2023

Curr. For. Rep.

Purpose of Review The comprehensive assessment of timber and fuelwood harvesting operations through the consideration of the three pillars of sustainability: Economic, social, and environmental has not received much attention. The use of criteria can significantly improve impact assessment. Therefore, the objective of this review paper is to compile and analyze the most commonly used criteria and indicators for each dimension of sustainability in logging operations over the last 6 years. This review provides an overview of these criteria for different harvesting machines, geographical areas, slope classes, time periods, types of research, and silvicultural treatments. Recent Findings The environmental pillar was the most studied (46%), followed by the economic pillar (38%). Productivity was the most investigated criterion (15%). On the one hand, productivity is linked to the environmental and social pillars, as it is related to the level of greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption, and the employment rate. However, productivity is mainly used as a criterion of financial interest, as it is most often studied in combination with costs. In addition to productivity, the other most frequently examined criteria were costs (10%), soil nutrients (9.5%), and soil compaction (9%). The social dimension was the least studied pillar (16%). This may be due to a lack of knowledge of social sustainability issues in this area. Summary Sustainability is achieved when all three dimensions are balanced. The results of this review show an imbalance, with economic and environmental aspects being weighted more heavily than social aspects. Balancing all three dimensions typically requires an assessment of trade-offs. This review provides a comprehensive summary of the criteria that have been studied to date and can be used as a checklist and guideline for future sustainability assessments of harvesting operations.