The protective- influence of logger's safety equipment

j health 9 (1983) 201-203. The effects of loggers' personal protectors and the safety equipment of chain saws were investigated with a postal questionnaire. The sample included 1,200 loggers. The main purpose of the inquiry was to collect data on accidents and near-accidents; special attention was paid to the role and behavior of protective devices in both accident and near-accident situations. Twenty-seven percent of the power saw operators reported incidents (near-accidents) which had occurred within the last year and in which some personal protector or piece of safety equipment had prevented harmful mechanical contact. The workers estimated that the average absence from work due to these reported near-accidents would have been 15 workdays if the injury had not been prevented. Sixty percent of the near-accidents occurred during limbing operations, and 30°/o during felling. The protective equipment which most often prevented injuries was safety boots, which were followed by the safety helmet and leg protectors. The chain of the saw was stopped by the safety padding of the protective equipment in every other near-accident involving chain saws. The chain was blocked by padding material in every sixth situation. In 10 O/o of the near-accidents, the chain perforated the protective equipment.

For m a n y reasons personal protective equipment plays a n important role i n forest work. T h e effects of loggers' personal protectors a n d t h e safety equipm e n t of chain saws were investigated with t h e aid of a postal questionnaire. The sample comprised 1,200 loggers.
The response rate was 91 O / o . The main purpose of t h e inquiry w a s t o collect data on accidents a n d near-accidents; special attention w a s paid to t h e role a n d behavior of protective devices i n both accident a n d near-accident situations. T h e data were collected a t t h e beginning of 1980.
The frequency with which protective equipment w a s used is shown i n table 1. Twenty-seven percent of t h e power s a w operators reported incidents (near-accidents) which h a d occurred within t h e last year a n d i n which some personal protector or safety equipment had prevented harmful mechanical contact.  The workers estimated that the average absence from work due to the near-accidents reported would have been 15 workdays had the accidents not been prevented. Some workers thought that the hazardous incidents could have been fatal. When the average number of days absent was calculated, the maximum number was restricted to 50. This restriction was made because of the uncertainty of the subjective estimations.
Sixty percent of the near-accidents occurred during limbing operations, and 30 O/o during felling. The total number of reported incidents was 298 (table 2). Table  2 shows that the protective equipment which most often prevented injuries in this sample was safety boots, followed by the safety helmet and leg protectors.
Nearly 70 010 of the respondents reported that the chain saw was under control when the near-accident occurred. Forty-three percent of the workers who had one near-accident situation lost their balance just prior to the near-accident.
The chain of the saw was stopped by the safety padding of the protective equipment in nearly every other nearaccident involving chain saws. The chain was blocked by padding material in every fifth situation. In 10 010 of the near-accidents, the chain perforated the protective equipment. In every fourth such incident the chain only lightly touched the protector.
Almost 40 OIo of the respondents stated that the chain saw was operating at nearly full revolutions when the chain touched the leg protectors, safety boots, or safety gloves. Every fourth person said that th'e chain saw was operating at full revolutions.

Accidents
The loggers' responses to the questionnaire also included accidents which led to injuries. That particular question was answered by 1,075 loggers who had been involved in 172 accidents which led to more than 3 d of absence due to injury in 1979. Thle average duration of absence from work in this sample was 21 d. According to the inquiry, the accident rate for motor-manual logging was 180 accidents per 1,000 annual employees. The official accident statistics of the National Board of Labour Protection show that the general accident rate for forest work in Finland was 154 accidents per 1,000 annual employees in that particular year.

Defi,ciencies of protectors
The loggers also gave their own opinions on the need to develop and improve individual safety equipment. The two most important items in need of product development seem to be eye protectors and safety boots. The most serious disadvantages of the eye protectors are poor visibility; steaming up, especially in the winter; glare; and their tendency to collect dirt and water.

Conclusion
The majority of the respondents claimed that loggers work more carefully if personal protectors are temporarily out of use. Thus it seems that work behavior becomes more careless when protectors are used. This view is supported by the fact that near-accident situations were very numerous among the respondents in comparison to the number of injurious accidents. On the other hand the respondents may have reported instances so small that they would not have led to injury without a protector. The method used to collect the data may not be completely valid with respect to the clarification of the number The preliminary results of that analysis of prevented cases, but nevertheless the show that the use of personal protectors is study gives valuable information on the very profitable for employers and for value of protectors in accidental situations. society as a whole. The results also in-An important component of the present dicate that personal protectors play an study is the cost-benefit analysis of important role in preventing and alleforestry workers' protective equipment. viating accidents in forest work.