Citation

Laflamme L, Cloutier E. J. Occup. Accid. 1988; 10(3): 191-198.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1988, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/0376-6349(88)90012-0

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Laflamme, L. and Cloutier, E., 1988. Mechanization and risk of occupational accidents in the logging industry. Journal of Occupational Accidents, 10: 191-198.The decrease in frequency of occupational accidents in the logging industry is a positive outcome of mechanization of delimbing and debranching activities. Furthermore, the variance in the number of accidents on mechanized sites as opposed to conventional ones, cannot be satisfyingly explained by fluctuations in the volume of production or by the number of workers exposed. The relative risk of accidents, estimated using the total number of accidents and the total number of workers exposed, is significantly different from one occupation to another. It is lower in occupations where machinery and equipment serve as substitutes for human strength and physical effort. In these latter occupations, workers are hurt while performing maintenance and repair tasks rather than during direct production ones. These results support the hypothesis that an improvement in technology reduces the risk of occupational accidents. They also suggest that preventive measures for technologically improved occupations and processes have to take into account the possible appearance of new dangerous tasks and situations.