At Work in the Woods: Occupational Hazards of Harvesting Non-Timber Forest Products in the Pacific Northwest

Details

• Alternative Title:
  J Agromedicine
• Personal Author:
  Keifer, Matthew ; Sammen, Joseph ; Hoare, Lesley ; Harrington, Marcy
• Description:
  Harvesting timber for lumber produces is among the most dangerous occupations in the United States. While not exhaustive, the literature on these dangers is substantial. However, several other smaller harvesting forest based industries put workers at risk in unique ways. Relatively little research has been published on these activities, but preliminary exploratory research, summarized here, suggests that besides the risks inherent in being in the forest, workers face some unique workplace risks, the frequency and consequences of which are augmented by the social determinants that characterize the workforce. This paper provides a brief overview of the workplace safety risks to forest green and mushroom harvesters and cedar block cutters in the Northwest. We also point out the social characteristics of these workforces that potentially aggravate these risks and the health impacts therefrom.
• Subjects:
  Farmers Forestry Humans Occupational Health Occupational Injuries
• Source:
  J Agromedicine. 24(2):125-128
• Pubmed ID:
  30720391
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC9830976
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  U54 OH007544/OH/NIOSH CDC HHSUnited States/ ; U54OH007544/ACL/ACL HHSUnited States/
• Place as Subject:
  Northwestern United States
• Volume:
  24
• Issue:
  2
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:55127ae92eb841d5cd030db86e87a5a280c067ccf3eac2baebea339c810eac01
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/123523/cdc_123523_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 44.34 KB ]