Forestry Mutual Insurance Co.
Provided by Greg Plumley, Director of Loss Control with Forestry Mutual Insurance

One of the tasks that the entire Loss Control staff at Forestry Mutual was charged with was to develop a list of the top ten initiatives regarding Safety to assist our policyholders. While researching for related articles, we came across a well-written article from Rick Myers of the Forest Resources Association. Rick is out of Roanoke, VA, and has recently retired. He also chaired the Southwide Safety Committee.

The article is well written, and we found no reason or need to reinvent the wheel.

From March 2016, here is the FRA Technical Release 18-R-3.

Thank You, Rick. Your work continues to be relatable.

Forest Resources Association Technical Release 18-R-3
Top Ten Logging Safety Best Practices

Introduction:

A prominent, longtime logging contractor in Georgia was once quoted as saying: “Safety should be the #1 priority in every successful logging operation. The primary goal for all loggers should be zero lost-time accidents forever.
“Several years ago, FRA surveyed a number of logging safety professionals, and former FRA Director of Forestry Programs Steve Jarvis compiled a list of ten of their most important logging safety recommendations. Steve’s original ”Top Ten“ list below has been updated, adding more detail based on safety behaviors shown by FRA’s regional and national Outstanding Logger Award winners in recent years.

General Features:

One - Logging Business Owner Makes Safety #1 Priority
(Safety is Job #1). Demonstrate a genuine and consistent concern for Safety so that the employees know that logging safety is the firm's number one priority. Lead by example. Produce written safety rules and never bend the rules.

Two - Establish a Comprehensive Safety Training Program (Train Employees).
Prepare a written safety program. Train and closely monitor new employees during their first year on the job—they are the employees most likely to suffer an injury. Hold regular safety meetings to discuss OSHA regulations, incidents and close calls, and employee suggestions for safe work habits. Obtain First Aid and CPR training.

Three - Wear Personal Protective Equipment
(Wear PPE). Get in the habit of wearing all appropriate personal protective equipment. It may save a life or prevent serious injury when accidents occur. OSHA requires hard hats, eye protection, hearing protection, and foot protection for in-woods workers. Chain saw operators must also wear cut-resistant leg protection and cut- resistant boots. Equipment operators must use seat belts. Employees on the ground should wear high-visibility clothing as well.

Four - Look For Overhead Hazards
(Look Up!). Every year dead limbs, lodged trees, and other overhead hazards kill and maim loggers nationwide. All in-woods workers should practice “heads up” to avoid possible hazards. Remember, gravity kills! Train employees to recognize overhead hazards and to safely eliminate the danger; for example, using a skidder to ground a lodged or setback tree before work continues.

Five - Work Outside of Strike Zone
(“Twice Tree Height” Rule). Plan your work so that in-woods workers are separated by at least two tree lengths of the trees being felled. This is especially important when manual felling or felling with a continuously rotating saw-head. (Employees on the ground should maintain 300-500 feet of separation from all mobile equipment and wear high visibility clothing.) Watch out for each other! This separation of duties while maintaining visual or audible contact with other logging employees greatly reduces the risk of serious injury if an unexpected incident occurs.

Six - Practice Safe Directional Manual Felling
(Chain Saw Training). The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that logging is one of the most dangerous occupations in the United States, based on the fatality rate. The victim was often engaged in cutting activities (felling, limbing, or bucking) with a chain saw. Selecting a safe direction of fall, creating the proper notch and hinge, protecting the hinge during the backcut, and proceeding on the “diagonally away” escape path are some of the steps chainsaw operators should take to fell a tree safely in the desired direction.

Seven - Properly Maintain Equipment
(Maintenance & Repair). In fully mechanized logging operations, the greatest risk of injury occurs during equipment maintenance and repair. Our group of logging safety experts suggest the following: Inspect equipment before use. Establish a regular, preventive maintenance program on all equipment. Set the parking brake, place the transmission in the park position, and ground moving elements before maintenance and repair. Always follow proper lockout/tagout procedures to prevent any movement of the equipment when maintaining or repairing machines. Use the 3-point mount and dismount technique to avoid slips, trips, and falls when working on logging machines.

Eight - Retain Valuable Logging Employees
(Teamwork Important). Install adequate compensation and benefit plans to retain valuable, experienced employees in order to keep a good, safe crew together. Good teamwork is important as it relates to logging safety. Reward employees for periods of accident-free work.

Nine - Be All That You Can Be!
(Good Physical/Mental Condition). Some loggers are injured because they show up for work in poor mental or physical condition. They may be sick, distracted because of personal problems, on drugs, tired, or suffering from a hangover. Woods workers may need to be sent home rather than risk injury. Stay in good physical condition by exercising regularly and eating a healthy diet. Try to leave personal problems at home.

Ten - “There is No Tree Out There Worth Getting Hurt Over”
(Don’t Take Chances). This was a favorite quote of the late APA former President Ken Rolston. It simply means, don’t take chances. Remember, no job is so important that your Safety has to be jeopardized to accomplish it. Don’t hurry! It’s hard not to hurry at times, especially during short windows of opportunity for production. Make sure the entire logging crew remembers that Safety is Job #1 on the logging operation.

Comments:
A former APA/FRA National Outstanding Logger Award winner from Mississippi, as part of his acceptance speech, attributed his decision to adopt a “safety first” philosophy as the point at which he and all his employees started taking more pride in their work and then became more productive and more professional in all aspects of their operation.