Logging is Perilous Work

Logging was the second most dangerous occupation (behind fishing) during 1992-96, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI). With over 128 deaths per 100,000 workers, logging surpassed fishing as the most dangerous occupation in 1997. (See charts 1 and 2.) Timber is a multibillion dollar industry in the United States, and financial incentives have maintained levels of employment to meet consumer demand. Products and structures made from trees are so prevalent that their origin is often scarcely noticed. Homes and furniture, paper and pencils, some cloth fibers, even many medicinal extracts are derived from wood. According to one report, “an average American uses wood and paper products equivalent to what can be produced from one 100-foot, 18-inch tree every year.” Trees provide the convenience of the Sunday paper just as readily as they provided previous generations with fuel in the winter. In fact, it takes a cord of wood (a stack 8 feet by 4 feet by 4 feet) to produce 250 copies of a typical Sunday edition of The New York Times. Timber resources come at a price, however: Each year, between 100 and 150 loggers lose their lives according to the CFOI, and many more suffer non-fatal injuries. Loggers face a risk of fatal work injury approximately 27 times greater than the average for all occupations. During 1992-97, loggers suffered, on average, 128 fatalities per 100,000 workers compared to 5 per 100,000 for all occupations. (See table 1.) Over the 6-year period, 1 out of every 780 loggers lost his life to a work injury, which translates into 57 fatal injuries per 1,000 workers over a 45year lifetime of timber cutting.