Public health effects of accidents in self-employed forestry work

Abstract

Little is known about the extent of work-related accidents occurring during the performance of forestry work by the non-industrial private forest owner or their assistant (hereafter called self-employed NIPF). The absence of an effective accident registration system largely excludes this group from accurate representation in official statistics. In this study, data from 1996 to 2001 were collected from hospital injury records managed by the Umeå Accident Analysis Group at the University Hospital in Umeå. During that period, it was found that 485 persons in the Umeå region were given medical attention due to injuries possibly acquired during self-employed forestry work. Questionnaires about the accidents were sent to each of the 485 injured persons and 80% were returned. Responses revealed that 225 of the respondents were injured during selfemployed forestry work. Out of these, 81% performed fewer than 31 days of forestry work annually. Due to the injury, 29% had been on sick leave for some period of time and 42% had persistent symptoms. On average, each injury led to 13 days of sick leave and 24 hours of institutional care. Firewood production was shown to be a key factor behind the large number of accidents for self-employed NIPF. Further studies on the lack of knowledge about how the work should be done and conscious risk taking should be considered as an important link to the development of effective accident prevention strategies.

Addressing Occupational Ergonomics Issues in Indonesian Forestry

“…3). A similar tendency has also been revealed in other countries (Thelin 2002, Wilhelmson et al 2005, Potočnik et al 2009. In 2008-2015, the average annual fatality rate in forestry work accidents was 1.3 death/10 6 m 3 log, and the average annual round wood production was 35.4 million m 3 (MoF 2012, MoEF 2017).…”

What Are the Occupational Risks in Forestry? Results of a Long-Term Study in Slovakia

“…Two thirds of the OAs reported occurred to workers between the ages of 25 and 54 years, with the mean age reaching 43 years. Wilhelmson et al (2005) [38] report similar results: that older workers in forestry, between the age of 50 and 59, suffer the most OAs. In addition, Tsioras et al (2014) [15] report the mean age of the workers who suffered an OA was 40 years.…”

The West Virginia Friends of Firewood Network: Engaging with and exploring the practices of firewood producers

“…Reasons for not wearing PPE included comfort, time and cost; personal grooming and health conditions were also directly related to PPE use (Carpenter et al 2002). In addition to the lack of PPE usage, studies of families involved in selfemployed forestry operations and small-scale firewood processing in Sweden have proven that these individuals do not engage in these activities often and so thus may lack the experience and knowledge necessary to make proper assessments about the risks involved (Doyle & Conroy 1989, Fischer et al 2005, Wilhelmson et al 2005, Lindroos 2007).…”

“…A lack of standardized injury reporting protocol and data on injuries where the individual did not seek medical attention has prompted intense safety research on NIPFs in Sweden, as an issue of public health (Wilhelmson et al 2005). Occupational safety is studied extensively, but home and leisure accidents such as those related to firewood production are not, even though they account for 75% of injuries and a significant amount of missed work.…”

“…A study of "nearaccidents" (those accidents that would have occurred if PPE had not been in use) by Haar in 1974 found that loggers in Norway had fewer accidents when wearing PPE; many claimed that they believed themselves to be more cautious when not using PPE, to make up for a lack of bodily protection, a phenomenon called "risk compensation" (Drasdo 1969, Klen & Vayrynen 1984. However, as mentioned before, 68% of Swedish NIPFs reported that they were personally at fault for the accidents they experienced between 1996 and 2001 (Wilhelmson et al 2005).…”