Safety Improvements on Wood Chippers Currently in Use: A Study on Feasibility in the Italian Context

Abstract

Following formal opposition by France, the harmonized safety standards regarding manually-loaded wood chippers (EN 13525:2005+A2:2009) which presumed compliance with the Essential Health and Safety Requirements (EHSR) required by the Machine Directive (Directive 2006/42/EC), have recently been withdrawn, and a new draft of the standard is currently under revision. In order to assess the potential impact of the expected future harmonized standards within the Italian context, this study has examined the main issues in implementing EHSRs on wood chippers already being used. Safety issues regarding wood chippers already in use were identified in an analysis of the draft standard, through the observation of a number of case studies, and qualitative analysis of the essential technical interventions. A number of agricultural and forestry operators and companies participated in the study, pointing out the technical and economic obstacle facing the safety features requested by the pending new standard. It emerged that the main safety issues concerned the implementation of the reverse function, the stop bar, and the protective devices, the infeed chute dimension, the emergency stop function, and the designated feeding area. The possibility of adopting such solutions mainly depends on technical feasibility and costs, but an important role is also played by the attitude towards safety and a lack of adequate information regarding safety obligations and procedures among users.

Applying Hierarchical Task Analysis to Depict Human Safety Errors during Pesticide Use in Vineyard Cultivation

“…This finding is in line with the study of Allahyari et al [68], who noted the need to increase farmers' awareness of the adverse effects of pesticides on human health in order to enhance the proper use and management of these products. In addition, this result also supports the findings of other studies that have focused on the unsafe behavior of farmers because of a lack of risk awareness and risk perception among farmers [27,67,69,70].…”

Risk Assessment for Musculoskeletal Disorders in Forestry: A Comparison between RULA and REBA in the Manual Feeding of a Wood-Chipper

“…Forestry is recognized as a highly hazardous industry [ 46 ] and working postures are one of the most investigated risk factors for workers’ safety, even though the postural aspects in the human–machine interaction have been under investigated in this sector [ 47 , 48 ]. With regard to machinery, manually fed wood-chippers are one of the most widely used machines in forestry, agricultural, landscaping and urban tree maintenance to reduce the volume of woods for following disposal or re-use in bio-energy production [ 47 ]. The attention to this machine is rising because of the significant increasing interest in biomass production as biofuel [ 49 ] and because they are often involved in fatal and non-fatal injuries [ 50 ].…”

Comprehension of Safety Pictograms Affixed to Agricultural Machinery among Pakistani Migrant Farmworkers in Italy

“…26,27 This is especially because of tractor rollover, machinery maintenance and sharpening/rotating parts of machinery that could pinch, cut or catch different parts of a worker's body. 28,29 To reduce potentially risky situations, machinery design need to follow a safety hierarchy protocol that consists of different phases: (a) physically remove or eliminate the hazard based on the design of the machine itself, (b) isolate people from any hazards that could not be eliminated through the machinery design with appropriate engineering devices, (c) protect users with personal protective equipment (PPE), (d) train users about the hazards and how to avoid personal injuries, and (e) warn users about the potential residual hazards/risks. 30 Pictograms refer to point (e) of this safety hierarchy protocol since they have the purpose of informing about the presence of danger and how to avoid it, pushing users to action and changing their attitudes.…”