Occupational accidents in Slovak Military Forests and Estates: incidence, timing, and trends over 10 years.

Introduction: Forestry provides a wide range of employment opportunities worldwide and is seen as one of the high-risk industries in terms of occupational accidents. Objectives: The submitted study analyzed the injury rate in the Military Forests and Estates of the Slovak Republic (62.6 thousand ha) between 2013 and 2022. Methods: The data analyses included regression and correlation analyses, χ2 tests to analyze the relationships between studied variables, and incidence rates. Results: During the observed period, employees suffered 26 occupational accidents, of which 19.2% were light, 57.7% were registered, 23.1% were severe, and 0% were fatal. For every 1 million m3 of harvested timber, 7.7 accidents occurred. The incidence rate during the observed period was 672.1/100,000 employees. The highest proportion of accidents was in the age group 51-60 years and in employees with the lowest length of work experience <5 years. Regarding time, the highest proportion of occupational accidents occurred between 8:01 and 10:00 AM (53.8%) and day-wise on Thursdays (46.2%). The highest proportion of accidents occurred among forest workers (65.3%) during pruning and silviculture activities (42.3%). The most common injury site was forest stands (65.3%). Superficial injuries (34.6%) were the most common, mainly affecting the lower limbs (50%). The most frequent material agents causing the accidents were work and transport areas as sources of worker fall (38.5%), and the most frequent reason for an accident to occur was the lack of personal requirements for proper work performance (92.4%), whereas only (3.8%) of accidents occurred due to the use of forbidden or hazardous working procedures. Conclusion: The presented study identified the most vulnerable worker groups and provided an overview of the overall injury rate at the state forest company in Slovakia. The documentation can be incorporated into the safety strategies of forest enterprises.

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

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 and64 fatal accidents were recorded. The data analyses included contingency tables, Pearson χ2 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 and0.75 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.

Deadwood Amount at Disturbance Plots after Sanitary Felling.

Deadwood is an important component of forests that fulfils many ecosystem functions. The occurrence, amount and spatial distribution of deadwood in forest ecosystems depend on tree species composition, historical development and past management. In this presented study, we assessed the total amount of deadwood, including fine and coarse woody debris at five areas of predominantly broadleaved forests within the University Forest Enterprise of the Technical University in Zvolen, Slovakia that had been disturbed by windstorm Zofia in 2014. Windthrown wood was salvaged between May 2014 and October 2015. In the year 2018, we performed an inventory of deadwood that remained on-site after salvage logging. The mean volume of deadwood recorded at sample plots fluctuated between 35.96 m3/ha and 176.06 m3/ha and mean deadwood coverage values at individual disturbed areas ranged from 7.27 to 17.91%. In the work, we derived several models for the estimation of deadwood volume based on deadwood coverage and/or diameter, which showed that these characteristics are good proxies of deadwood volume. The tests, involving close-range photogrammetry methods for deadwood quantification, revealed that the number of pieces and the coverage of deadwood recorded in photos was significantly lower than the values derived from field measurements.

What Are the Occupational Risks in Forestry? Results of a Long-Term Study in Slovakia.

Temporal patterns in occupational safety and health can shed light on the efficiency of safety measures companies adopt and identify when workers are prone to occupational accidents. We analyzed these patterns to identify the effects of factors such as the share of salvage logging, experience, age, daytime, weekday, and more on the number of occupational accidents at Forests of the Slovak Republic (FSR). We analyzed a database of 2963 occupational accidents and 443 occupational illnesses suffered by FSR employees and contractors. We then analyzed a subset of said database, containing 401 accident records coded according to European Statistics at Work manual. We used regression and correlation analyses and generalized linear models to test the relationship between the accident frequency and volume of harvested timber and volume of salvage logging. We used logistic regression, chi2 tests, and Cramér's V statistic to test when accidents occur within shifts, weeks, and months. We found the volume of harvested timber significantly affects the frequency of severe and fatal accidents of contractors (R 0.81; p < 0.05), whereas, for employees, the relationship was insignificant. Over time, the number of accidents and incidence rate decreased, and inexperienced or older workers were the most prone to accidents.