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Working in a sawmill is one of the most dangerous occupations in the United States. The equipment poses numerous hazards. Massive weights and falling, rolling, and/or sliding logs can be very dangerous. The woodworking operations of a sawmill can also be hazardous, particularly when machines are used improperly or without proper safeguards. Woodworking employees often suffer from the following injuries: lacerations, amputations, severed fingers, and blindness. Wood dust, and chemicals used for finishing products, may cause skin and respiratory diseases. Sawmill hazards are even more dangerous when environmental conditions are factored in, such as uneven, unstable, or rough terrain; inclement weather; or isolated work sites where health care facilities are not immediately accessible.
Scope
OSHA’s Special Industries, Subpart R contains requirements that focus directly on various industry segments. In Subpart R, 1910.265 contains safety requirements for sawmill operations including, but not limited to, log and lumber handling, sawing, trimming, and planing; waste disposal; operation of dry kilns; finishing; shipping; storage; yard and yard equipment; and for power tools and related equipment used in connection with such operations.
Regulatory citations
- 29 CFR 1910.265 — Sawmills
Key definitions
- Boom: The term boom means logs or timbers fastened together end to end and used to contain floating logs. The term includes enclosed logs.
- Brow log: The term brow log means a log placed parallel to a roadway at a landing or dump to protect vehicles while loading or unloading.
- Bunk: The term bunk means a cross support for a load.
- Cant: The term cant means a log slabbed on one or more sides.
- Carriage (log carriage): The term carriage means a framework mounted on wheels which runs on tracks or in grooves in a direction parallel to the face of the saw, and which contains apparatus to hold a log securely and advance it towards the saw.
- Carrier: The term carrier means an industrial truck so designed and constructed that it straddles the load to be transported with mechanisms to pick up the load and support it during transportation.
- Cold deck: The term cold deck means a pile of logs stored for future removal.
- Drag saw: The term drag saw means a power-driven, reciprocating crosscut saw mounted on suitable frame and used for bucking logs.
- Head block: The term head block means that part of a carriage which holds the log and upon which it rests. It generally consists of base, knee, taper set, and mechanism.
- Head rig: The term head rig means a combination of head saw and log carriage used for the initial breakdown of logs into timbers, cants, and boards.
- Husk: The term husk means a head saw framework on a circular mill.
- Live rolls: The term live rolls means cylinders of wood or metal mounted on horizontal axes and rotated by power, which are used to convey slabs, lumber, and other wood products.
- Resaw: The term resaw means band, circular, or sash gang saws used to break down slabs, cants, or flitches into lumber.
- Sorting gaps: The term sorting gaps means the areas on a log pond enclosed by boom sticks into which logs are sorted.
- Spreader wheel: The term spreader wheel means a metal wheel that separates the board from the log in back of circular saws to prevent binding.
- Sticker: The term sticker means a strip of wood or other material used to separate layers of lumber.
- Stiff boom: The term stiff boom means the anchored, stationary boom sticks which are tied together and on which boom men work.
- Swifter: The term swifter is a means of tying boom sticks together to prevent them from spreading while being towed.
- Telltale: The term telltale means a device used to serve as a warning for overhead objects.
- Top saw: The term top saw means the upper of two circular saws on a head rig, both being on the same husk.
Summary of requirements
The regulation contain extensive requirements for facilities and equipment, ranging from guarding to illumination.
The rule also lists procedures for log handling, sorting, and storage.
Specific provisions address dry kilns and facilities.
In addition, employers should keep the following in mind:
- Exposure to wood dust
- Acute exposure: Acute exposure to wood dusts can result in eye and skin irritation, asthma, erythema, blistering, erosion and secondary infections of the skin, redness, scaling, itching, and vesicular dermatitis.
- Chronic exposure: Chronic exposure to wood dusts can result in dermatitis reactions, asthma, pneumonitis, and coughing, wheezing, fever and the other signs and symptoms associated with chronic bronchitis. Chronic exposure may also result in nasal cancer.
- Exposure to turpentine
- Acute exposure: The signs and symptoms of acute inhalation exposure to turpentine may include irritation of the skin, eyes, mucous membranes, and upper respiratory tract; salivation, cough, chest pain, and shortness of breath; confusion, headache, dizziness, nausea, anxiety, painful urination, bloody urination, or decreased urine output. The signs and symptoms of turpentine ingestion include a burning sensation in the mouth and throat; nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain; excitement, confusion, ataxia, stupor and seizures; fever; and increased heart rate.
- Chronic exposure: The signs and symptoms of chronic exposure to turpentine include dermatitis or eczema, with irritation, redness, swelling, and small or large fluid-filled blisters on the skin. Workers exposed to terpenes (a principal component of turpentine) for longer than 5 years may also be at greater risk of developing lung cancer.