Worker versus Employer Perspectives on Safety in the Forestry Services Industry.

Forestry services work presents high risk for injury, illness, and fatality. How worker and employer views of workplace safety compare influences the strategies to address hazardous working conditions. Interviews with forestry services workers and employers revealed themes about occupational hazards and ways to prevent work-related injury. Workers identified hazards related to the social and natural environments, and injury prevention solutions focused on interventions beyond their control and based on employer responsibility. Employers characterized hazards within job task contexts and tied solutions to worker behaviors to improve job task performance. Discordance between worker and employer reports indicates inconsistent views about what safety measures should be provided and pursued to effectively reduce injury risk. Because many workers in the forest services industry are marginalized due to their immigrant documentation status and being racially/ethnically minoritized, power differentials between workers and employers can also influence how workplace safety and health measures are determined and implemented.

Exploring determinants of log truck accidents resulting in injury or fatality in the Northwest United States between 2015-2019 using Motor Carrier Management Information System data.

Log truck drivers represent a high-risk yet understudied worker population. Logging, more generally, is known to be one of the most dangerous industries in the country, but little is known about injury and fatality rates among log truck drivers specifically. Using data from the Motor Carrier Management Information System (MCMIS), this study aims to characterize log truck crashes in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana. Using multiple logistic regression, we estimated the odds of a crash resulting in an injury or fatality by environmental and structural conditions at the time of each crash. Results indicate that the presence of a positive median barrier is strongly associated with a decreased odds of injury or fatality for log truck crashes (Odds Ratio (OR) = 0.45, p = 0.03). An increased number of vehicles involved in the crash was significantly associated with an increased odds of injury or fatality (OR = 1.32, p = 0.01). Crashes occurring in Washington or Oregon had significantly decreased odds of resulting in an injury or fatality, in comparison to Idaho and Montana (OR = 0.14, p < 0.001; OR = 0.53, p = 0.01, respectively). These results indicate that the presence of highway safety measures and a state-approved OSHA plan may be beneficial in decreasing the odds of injury or fatality in log truck crashes.

System Failure: Work Organization and Injury Outcomes among Latino Forest Workers.

OBJECTIVES: Forestry services is a hazardous industry with high job-related injury, illness, and fatality rates. The Northwest workforce is largely Spanish-speaking, Latino, and immigrant, working in poor conditions with insufficient attention paid to safety and health. Institutional racism fundamentally shapes the structural vulnerability of Latino immigrant workers. Given this context, we sought to understand how workplace organizational factors and safety climate affect job-related injuries in this industry. METHODS: We developed 23 case studies from personal interviews after selecting from an initial participant survey pool of 99 Latino forest workers in southern Oregon who had been injured at work in the previous 2 years. Workers were recruited through snowball sampling and door-to-door canvassing. Questions spanned work conditions, tasks, employer safety practices, injury experience, medical treatment, and workers' compensation benefits. RESULTS: Workers reported broken bones, chainsaw lacerations, back pain, heat and pesticide illnesses, and other occupational injuries. One-third of the cases fell into a Systems Functional category in which they reported their injuries to their supervisors and received medical treatment and workers' compensation benefits. The remaining two-thirds experienced System Failures with difficulties in receiving medical treatment and/or workers' compensation benefits, employer direction to not report, being fired, or seeking alternative home remedies. CONCLUSION: Workers employed by companies with more indicators of safety climate were more likely to obtain adequate treatment for their injuries and fully recover. Workers for whom interpretation at medical exams was provided by someone unaffiliated with their employers also reported better treatment and recovery outcomes.

At Work in the Woods: Occupational Hazards of Harvesting Non-Timber Forest Products in the Pacific Northwest.

Harvesting timber for lumber produces is among the most dangerous occupations in the United States. While not exhaustive, the literature on these dangers is substantial. However, several other smaller harvesting forest based industries put workers at risk in unique ways. Relatively little research has been published on these activities, but preliminary exploratory research, summarized here, suggests that besides the risks inherent in being in the forest, workers face some unique workplace risks, the frequency and consequences of which are augmented by the social determinants that characterize the workforce. This paper provides a brief overview of the workplace safety risks to forest green and mushroom harvesters and cedar block cutters in the Northwest. We also point out the social characteristics of these workforces that potentially aggravate these risks and the health impacts therefrom.

A Case History Introducing the Oregon Ag Seminar Series-Keys to Program and Research-to-Practice Success.

This case history of Oregon state's Ag Seminar Series is consistent with the Socio-Ecological Model, demonstrating how policy at a state level can influence an organizational approach with impacts that ultimately influence safety practices on the farm. From modest beginnings, the Ag Seminar Series, offered through a workers compensation insurance company, now serves over 2,300 Oregon farmers annually in English and Spanish. This case offers unique but also replicable methods for educators, insurers, and researchers in safety education, safety motivators, and research-to-practice (r2p).

Practical Solutions for Pesticide Safety: A Farm and Research Team Participatory Model.

Development of the Practical Solutions for Pesticide Safety guide used participatory research strategies to identify and evaluate solutions that reduce pesticide exposures for workers and their families and to disseminate these solutions. Project principles were (1) workplace chemicals belong in the workplace, and (2) pesticide handlers and farm managers are experts, with direct knowledge of production practices. The project's participatory methods were grounded in self-determination theory. Practical solutions were identified and evaluated based on five criteria: practicality, adaptability, health and safety, novelty, and regulatory compliance. Research activities that had more personal contact provided better outcomes. The Expert Working Group, composed of farm managers and pesticide handlers, was key to the identification of solutions, as were farm site visits. Audience participation, hands-on testing, and orchard field trials were particularly effective in the evaluation of potential solutions. Small work groups in a Regional Advisory Committee provided the best direction and guidance for a "user-friendly" translational document that provided evidence-based practical solutions. The "farmer to farmer" format of the guide was endorsed by both the Expert Working Group and the Regional Advisory Committee. Managers and pesticide handlers wanted to share their solutions in order to "help others stay safe," and they appreciated attribution in the guide. The guide is now being used in educational programs across the region. The fundamental concept that farmers and farmworkers are innovators and experts in agricultural production was affirmed by this study. The success of this process demonstrates the value of participatory industrial hygiene in agriculture.

Health and safety hazards in Northwest agriculture: setting an occupational research agenda.

BACKGROUND: Agriculture is among the most hazardous occupations in the United States. Research can provide new insights about disease and injury and serve as the foundation for occupational health and safety policies. The determination of research priorities can be problematic. Public participation approaches offer opportunities to identify and integrate various perspectives. METHODS: The agenda process was modeled on the NIOSH National Occupational Research Agenda. Center staff contacted representatives of producer groups, labor, health care, academia, and public agencies to participate in telephone interviews and a daylong workshop. RESULTS: Twelve research priorities were identified: musculoskeletal disorders; respiratory disease; skin disease; traumatic injuries; chemical exposures; special populations at risk; social and economic foundations of workplace safety; risk communication barriers; diagnostic approaches; hazard control technology; intervention effectiveness; and surveillance research methods. CONCLUSIONS: The agenda process engaged stakeholders in priority setting. The resulting document is a useful guide for occupational safety and health in agriculture.