volume: 47, issue: 2
During professional work, the forestry workforce is exposed to hazardous activities and numerous risks, which may result in everyday occupational accidents or illnesses. Networking and innovative thinking with the aim of developing new legislative solutions and certification systems, e.g. chainsaw qualification standard, represents an important link in supporting accident prevention in the national, European or even global forestry industry. The starting point for the preceding ideas is systematic recording, analysis and interpretation of basic indicators of the level of occupational safety in forestry. This study is focused on analysing the different occupational safety indicators for the period 2015 to 2024, with the aim of a comprehensive analysis of occupational accidents in the forestry sector of the Republic of Croatia at the national and regional level.
Data is gathered from occupational safety service databases of the Croatian Forests (CF) Ltd., which manages 2.024 million hectares of forests in the Republic of Croatia. Descriptive and inferential statistical methods were used in filtering, processing and analysing data. The inferential methods for data analyses included correlation analysis, Chi-squared test, and the Kruskal-Wallis H test to analyse the relationships between sampled variables.
In the ten-year period analysed, a total of 2,390 occupational accidents were recorded, of which 9 were fatal accidents. In the same period, 157 cases of occupational illness were recorded, of which 67.5% were caused by exposure to vibrations. The annual weighted average of the total number of accidents is 239 according to Croatian Forests Ltd. database (where the company cuts and processes less than 50% of the annual felling volume), while the same indicator for Croatia according to the Eurostat report is 264. The highest average number of accidents is recorded in the process of forest harvesting (58.1%). The riskiest work-related activity is felling and wood processing where on average 48.5% of the total number of accidents occur annually. The annual statistics are 0.37 fatalities per mil. m3, one occupational accident per 10,000 m3 of felled and processed wood (1.00/10,000 m3) and 30 accidents per 1000 employees. So, safety at work in Croatian Forests Ltd. can be assessed as partially satisfactory. Accident analysis from the perspective of the time curve (month, day, hour) shows the highest proportion of accidents occurring in the third annual business quarter, on a weekly basis on Tuesdays, and on a daily basis from 9 to 11 am. The key findings regarding analysis of data at the regional level indicated that medium-size Forest Administrations (FAs) as organizational components of the company CF Ltd. had the highest risk of accidents at work (41.60 accidents per 1000 employees). The indicators of the quantity of felled and processed wood per one accident (m3/accident) revealed an unsatisfactory result achieved by small-size FAs (19,943 m3/accident), and a more satisfactory result achieved by large-size FAs (28,335 m3/accident).
The range of numerical values and the weighted average value of occupational safety indicators for the sampled period did not show a decreasing trend, which indicates a similar or lower level of occupational safety in the forestry sector of the Republic of Croatia. The results obtained provide scientists and practitioners with an understanding of the level of occupational safety in Croatian forestry and form the basis for developing proposals for new measures in line with technological progress, as well as new educational programs for the development of work skills and competencies.
volume: issue, issue:
During professional work, the forestry workforce is exposed to hazardous activities and numerous risks, which may result in everyday occupational accidents or illnesses. Networking and innovative thinking with the aim of developing new legislative solutions and certification systems, e.g. chainsaw qualification standard, represents an important link in supporting accident prevention in the national, European or even global forestry industry. The starting point for the preceding ideas is systematic recording, analysis and interpretation of basic indicators of the level of occupational safety in forestry. This study is focused on analysing the different occupational safety indicators for the period 2015 to 2024, with the aim of a comprehensive analysis of occupational accidents in the forestry sector of the Republic of Croatia at the national and regional level.
Data is gathered from occupational safety service databases of the Croatian Forests (CF) Ltd., which manages 2.024 million hectares of forests in the Republic of Croatia. Descriptive and inferential statistical methods were used in filtering, processing and analysing data. The inferential methods for data analyses included correlation analysis, Chi-squared test, and the Kruskal-Wallis H test to analyse the relationships between sampled variables.
In the ten-year period analysed, a total of 2,390 occupational accidents were recorded, of which 9 were fatal accidents. In the same period, 157 cases of occupational illness were recorded, of which 67.5% were caused by exposure to vibrations. The annual weighted average of the total number of accidents is 239 according to Croatian Forests Ltd. database (where the company cuts and processes less than 50% of the annual felling volume), while the same indicator for Croatia according to the Eurostat report is 264. The highest average number of accidents is recorded in the process of forest harvesting (58.1%). The riskiest work-related activity is felling and wood processing where on average 48.5% of the total number of accidents occur annually. The annual statistics are 0.37 fatalities per mil. m3, one occupational accident per 10,000 m3 of felled and processed wood (1.00/10,000 m3) and 30 accidents per 1000 employees. So, safety at work in Croatian Forests Ltd. can be assessed as partially satisfactory. Accident analysis from the perspective of the time curve (month, day, hour) shows the highest proportion of accidents occurring in the third annual business quarter, on a weekly basis on Tuesdays, and on a daily basis from 9 to 11 am. The key findings regarding analysis of data at the regional level indicated that medium-size Forest Administrations (FAs) as organizational components of the company CF Ltd. had the highest risk of accidents at work (41.60 accidents per 1000 employees). The indicators of the quantity of felled and processed wood per one accident (m3/accident) revealed an unsatisfactory result achieved by small-size FAs (19,943 m3/accident), and a more satisfactory result achieved by large-size FAs (28,335 m3/accident).
The range of numerical values and the weighted average value of occupational safety indicators for the sampled period did not show a decreasing trend, which indicates a similar or lower level of occupational safety in the forestry sector of the Republic of Croatia. The results obtained provide scientists and practitioners with an understanding of the level of occupational safety in Croatian forestry and form the basis for developing proposals for new measures in line with technological progress, as well as new educational programs for the development of work skills and competencies.
