• Logging is one of the most dangerous occupations in the United States. Hazards include injury from tools like chain saws and logging machines; falling, rolling or sliding trees and logs; and extreme weather conditions.
• Safety precautions in the logging industry may include PPE, first aid equipment, training, environmental controls, and more.

By many measures, logging is the most dangerous occupation in the United States. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has a standard for logging operations at 1910.266.

The tools and equipment used in logging, such as chain saws and logging machines, pose hazards wherever they are used. As loggers use their tools and equipment, they are dealing with massive weights and irresistible momentum of falling, rolling, and sliding trees and logs. The hazards are even more acute under dangerous environmental conditions. These conditions can include uneven, unstable or rough terrain; inclement weather including rain, snow, lightning, winds, and extreme cold, and/or remote and isolated work sites where health care facilities are not immediately accessible.

Logging operations are associated with felling and moving trees and logs from the stump to the point of delivery, and may include the following dangers: marking danger trees, felling, limbing, bucking, debarking, chipping, yarding, loading, unloading, storing, and transporting machines, equipment and personnel to, from and between logging sites.

OSHA’s logging standard establishes safety practices, means, methods and operations for all types of logging, regardless of the end use of the wood. These types of logging include, but are not limited to, pulpwood and timber harvesting and the logging of sawlogs, veneer bolts, poles, pilings and other forest products. The standard does not cover the construction or use of cable yarding systems.

Employers must meet the requirements for:

• Personal protective equipment — 1910.266(d)(1)
• First aid kits — 1910.266(d)(2) and Appendix A
• Seat belts — 1910.266(d)(3)
• Fire extinguishers — 1910.266(d)(4)
• Environmental controls — 1910.266(d)(5)
• Work areas — 1910.266(d)(6)
• Signaling and signal equipment — 1910.266(d)(7)
• Overhead lines — 1910.266(d)(8)
• Flammable and combustible liquids — 1910.266(d)(9)
• Explosives and blasting agents — 1910.266(d)(10)
• Hand and portable powered tools — 1910.266(e)
• Machines — 1910.266(f)
• Vehicles — 1910.266(g)
• Tree harvesting — 1910.266(h)
• Training — 1910.266(i) and Appendix B