SESSION VI. Forestry – Integrating Safety in a Time of Rapid Change
Chair: Marcy Harrington, MPA, PNASH, University of Washington
There is an upswing in demand for forest products and land management that occupational health and forest management professionals need to be prepared to address. These trends are driven by the threat of wildfire and expanded demand for US timber. The forestry sector relies on a small and largely unskilled workforce in need for training, technology, and management solutions, especially in a time of rapid change. Currently transforming the West is a new logging technology - winch-assisted steep slope logging. This is opening up the West’s steep slopes to harvesting and presents new safety challenges. In forestry services (forest maintenance), immigrant Latino workers conduct high hazard, intense manual labor tasks. This industry of small subcontractors is underserved and hidden from the regulatory eye and the workforce at high risk for injury and work abuses.
New Technologies Transforming Logging:
Winch-assisted Machine Logging on Steep Slopes
John Garland, PhD, PNASH, University of Washington
Mechanized Planting in the Southwest
Vanessa Cassanova, PhD, SW Ag Center, University of Texas at Tyler
GPS and Location Services for Situational Awareness
Rob Keefe, PhD, University of Idaho
Workforce Development Needs in the Forestry Sector:
NW Logger Needs Assessment and Coming Industry Initiatives
John Garland, PhD, PNASH, University of Washington
Mixed-methods Analysis of Logging Injuries in MT and ID
John Rosecrance, PhD, HICAH, Colorado State University
Logging Machine Operators, Health and Safety Training
Anabel Rodriquez, PhDc, SW Center for Ag Health, Injury Prevention and Education, University of Texas at Tyler
Panel: Immigrant Latino Workforces in Forestry Services
Carl Wilmsen, PhD, Executive Director, Norwest Forest Worker Center, Vanessa Casanova, PhD, SW Center for Ag Health, Injury Prevention and Education, University of Texas at Tyler Butch de Castro, PhD, PNASH, University of Washington