Injury Patterns among Forestry Workers in Croatia

Matija Landekić,Matija Bakarić,Mario Šporčić,Ivan Martinić,David Mijoč

doi:10.3390/f12101356

Abstract

Timber harvesting, especially motor-manual felling, in Croatia, as in many other countries, is one of the most hazardous economic activities. Consequently, the aim of this paper is to analyse and compare the latest trends and risk factors related to the incidence of work-induced injuries in structural organization units of national forest enterprise. A combined approach of literature review and assembled secondary data was applied to gather data on workplace accidents over the years 2014–2020. Work-induced injuries data were drawn from the records of the national enterprise Croatian Forests Ltd. which manages state forests (76% of total forest area). A total of 1626 work-induced injuries were processed and entered into the database. Data analysis was conducted using statistical and descriptive methods. Research results have proven a significant difference in the injury rate over the years 2014–2020 in the Croatian forest enterprise. During the analysed period the highest number of workplace accidents (51.35% of all recorded workplace accidents) occurred during the forest harvesting phase, i.e., during motor-manual felling. Trends in the incidence of work-induced injuries in the observed period do not show any significant improvement. The key findings have pointed out that forest administrations which practice even-aged forest management have 25% or more injuries than forest administrations which practice selective forest management. Related to the average rate of change by forest administration, the largest annual increase or decrease of the selected safety indicators is recorded for smallest forest administrations. Related to total number of injuries, the smallest forest administrations have the least injuries and show statistically significant difference compared to large forest administrations. When comparing the number of injuries per 1000 employees, medium sized forest administrations have the highest value of indicator and show statistical significance. Discussion and conclusion of the paper emphasizes the need for systematic research in the field of ergonomy, safety and health of forest workers in Croatian forestry sector. Additionally, the development and inclusion of proactive safety culture is recognized as a mechanism that can further reduce work injuries and improve occupational safety which should have a significant role in the process of certification of forest management according to the FSC standard.

Highlights

The forestry sector is in many national economies one of the industries with the highest injury risk [1,2]
A heterogeneous trend is visible for the total number of injuries, and a significant difference in the injury rate over the years 2014–2020 was determined in the analysis for the Croatia forest company
Through the conducted analysis it was not determined whether a significant difference for total number of injuries is in relation to increase or decrease

Summary

Introduction

The forestry sector is in many national economies one of the industries with the highest injury risk [1,2]. Despite the introduction of modern technologies, forest production is considered to be one of the most dangerous work-related activities with high mortality rate and numerous accidents [2,3,4]. Forestry work is generally characterized as demeaning, dirty and dangerous (3D) work requiring unnatural and uncomfortable working postures and exposures to noise and vibration. Tree felling is the deadliest occupation in forestry; in developing countries, chainsaws may be involved in nearly half of all forestry accidents [8]. Given the prevalence of chainsaws in the forest sector and their potential to cause injuries and fatalities, special attention should be paid to investigating, reporting and analysing chainsaw accidents [2]

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Conclusion