FACTS

1. Every year people are seriously injured or killed while doing tree work. Most people injured have extensive experience in tree work.
2. Common causes of injuries include falls from heights, being struck by falling objects, working around power lines, musculoskeletal disorders, exposure to noise, working with equipment and sun exposure.
3. Cutting down trees is dangerous, especially if it is not done by an experienced tree cutter or logger.
4. Most injuries from chainsaw use are due to “kickback”. Kickback occurs when the tip of the chainsaw hits a hard object such as a knot in the wood and kicks back towards the person operating it.
5. Tree cutting accidents can seriously injure workers, where the trees are located. Because of the weight of trees, these types of accidents can cause disfigurement, catastrophic injuries, or deaths.
6. Most logging deaths occurred in four occupational groups: logging occupations (for example, fellers, limbers, buckers, and choker setters), truck drivers, general laborers, and material machine operators.

STATS

• The National Traumatic Occupational Fatalities (NTOF) Surveillance System indicates that nearly 6,400 U.S. workers died each year from traumatic injuries suffered in the workplace. Over this 10-year period, an estimated 1,492 of these deaths occurred in the logging industry, where the average annual fatality rate is more than 23 times that for all U.S. workers (164 deaths per 100,000 workers compared with 7 per 100,000).
• The Occupational Safety and Health Administration calls logging “the most dangerous occupation in the United States.” The fatal injury rate for loggers is more than 30 times the rate for all U.S. workers.
• Contact with equipment, such as skidders, feller-bunchers and log loaders, accounted for 14% of all reported fatal logging injuries. In this category, the three leading causes of death were: being struck by or run over by equipment, equipment roll-over, and injuries suffered while performing maintenance or repairs.
• The occupation with the highest fatality rate is logging workers, with 135.9 fatal work injuries per 100,000 workers, which equates to 91 total fatalities over the course of a year. This makes logging the most hazardous job of 2019.