Forestry

Safety communication for forestry workers can be complicated by language barriers and the use of specific technical and lay jargon. At times, workers are unfamiliar with the tasks they perform, forest management practices, and goals. This is particularly an issue for Hispanic forestry workers, which comprise a significant portion of the forestry workforce. Establishing a common set of terms will help firms, supervisors, and workers communicate safety concerns and best practices.

The forest service workforce is a predominately Spanish-speaking and immigrant population that faces language barriers, isolated working environments, and dangerous working conditions. To address the occupational health and safety concerns of this population, this project explored the injuries and illnesses and related medical treatment. The data collected in this project was used to pilot a job health and safety promotora program for forest service workers.

Latino immigrant workers are increasingly finding employment as laborers in Pacific Northwest forests. This project provided a baseline understanding of the hazards faced by salvage cedar block cutters and the barriers they may face in addressing these occupational health and safety hazards. Employing community based participatory research methods, 13 key informant interviews were conducted with forest and community workers. The findings of this project, in brief, include:

This stakeholder driven project aimed to reduce un-permitted harvesting of special forest products (SFPs) in the Forks, Washington area and increase the overall health of the environment and the workers. In a one-year effort, the Sustainable Harvest project brought together harvesters, public and private landowners, and local city and tribal government representatives.

In the US, logging is among the top three most dangerous jobs, and when all factors are considered, logging is likely the most dangerous job and the most exertive work. Data in OR, WA, and ID show that 50% of loggers are at least 45 years old -  and that percentage is growing. This pilot project assessed the ergonomic and economic benefits of using synthetic rope to replace wire rope in standardized logging tasks for older workers (>age 40) compared to current practices and younger workers.