Long-term temporal analysis of fatal and severe occupational accidents in Central European forests of the Slovak Republic

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F60460709%3A41320%2F23%3A97940" target="_blank" >RIV/60460709:41320/23:97940 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38081720/" target="_blank" >https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38081720/</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jsr.2023.09.002" target="_blank" >10.1016/j.jsr.2023.09.002</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Long-term temporal analysis of fatal and severe occupational accidents in Central European forests of the Slovak Republic

Original language description

Introduction: Forestry is one of the most dangerous industries worldwide. Workers handle heavy loads and are exposed to numerous adverse factors of the work environment. This study was focused on analyzing severe and fatal occupational accidents over a long period. Methods: Data were gathered from occupational safety and health databases of the State Forests of the Slovak Republic, which manages 879,113 ha of forests in Slovakia. Between 2007 and 2021, 210 severe and 64 fatal accidents were recorded. The data analyses included contingency tables, Pearson v2 test, and Cramer's V coefficient to analyze the relationships between studied variables. Results: The mean annual number of fatalities was 14, occurring to workers aged 42 on average. Almost 80% of all fatal accidents were suffered by contractors of harvesting operations, who were 5.23 times more likely to suffer a fatality than company employees. On average, 1.28 severe and 0.75 fatal accidents occurred per 1 million m3 of harvested timber. The outcomes of the correlation analysis showed a decreasing trend in incidence in the case of severe accidents. Workers <= 30 years or between 51 and 60 years of age were the most vulnerable in the case of fatal accidents. In the case of severe accidents, workers between 51 and 60 were the most vulnerable group. Most fatal accidents were suffered by tree fellers (72.2%) during felling (69.8%), who were in contact with falling trees and tree parts (93.7% share for this material agent). Conclusion and Practical Applications: The presented study identified the most vulnerable worker groups as well as the effects of factors on the occurrence of severe and fatal occupational accidents in forestry. The results will serve in development of occupational safety and health strategies in forest enterprises

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

40102 - Forestry

Project

—

Continuities

S - Specificky vyzkum na vysokych skolach

Publication year

2023

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

JOURNAL OF SAFETY RESEARCH

ISSN

0022-4375

e-ISSN

0022-4375

Volume of the periodical

87

Issue of the periodical within the volume

2023

Country of publishing house

CZ - CZECH REPUBLIC

Number of pages

7

Pages from-to

488-495

UT code for WoS article

001133948200001

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-85172469046