WVFA Mountain State Forestry Winter 2020-21

20 West Virginia Forestry Association Mountain State Forestry | Winter 2020-2021 www.wvfa.org LOGGERS ARE MORE THAN 20 TIMES more likely to die from an accident than all other U.S. workers! In West Virginia, a logger’s potential for a fatal accident is over double the national average! These grim statistics showed a need for a comprehensive safety management program to give assistance to WV loggers in combating the dangers they face each day on the job. Through a grant from NIOSH and the Southeast Center for Agricultural Health and Injury Prevention, the money for the Timber Safe program was allocated. The Timber Safe program has been busy around our state for well over a year now. There are currently 31 logging companies involved in this research project. We have had several crews drop out, but keeping it around the 30 mark gives us the ability to travel the state in a timely manner to do the safety audits. With audits in 6-week intervals, we document all things concerning safety on a logging site. From paperwork in a binder tailored to that company, to the PPE needed to be compliant to OSHA standards, and everything in between. The audits we do are a standard form which utilizes a tablet and can be used in the most remote sections of the state because no internet or cell service is needed at the time of the audit. At regular intervals the information from the audits are shared with the companies to give them a comparison of the progress they have made through their audits. The companies involved with the program must keep up with the program by holding monthly safety meetings, completing daily sign-in sheets, and performing bi-monthly safety audits. They also have forms available to them for documenting any accidents, mentoring new employees, and keeping track of first aid/ CPR cards for all employees. Also included are the OSHA written programs which each company is required to use to train their employees. The information we have collected through these audits only adds to the facts listed above. There is a great need for this program, as proven by the comments we have received and from the amount of companies that have inquired about signing up in recent months. It shows that the loggers in our state and beyond have, not only a devotion to do what they love, but a real interest in keeping themselves and their workers safe! I think that Timber Safe is a great program. Being in our line of work safety is a big issue, but we are always busy and get paid by production, so things get overlooked at times. The timber safe app makes it quick and easy to keep an eye on things that might normally slip your mind. Another plus is it makes it easy to train new guys or have safety meetings with everyone. Andrew Sisler, SC&L LLC “ W V L O G G E R S C O U N C I L N E W S Timber Safe P R E V E N T I N G I N J U R I E S