Analysis of Accidents During Cable Yarding Operations in Austria 1998–2008

• Main Authors: Petros A. Tsioras, Christian Rottensteiner, Karl Stampfer
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of Zagreb, Faculty of Forestry 2011-01-01
• Series: Croatian Journal of Forest Engineering
• Online Access: https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/108156
• ISSN: 1845-5719; 1848-9672

This paper deals with accidents in the period 1998 – 2008 reported during harvesting operations in ÖBf AG, Austria’s largest forest enterprise, with a focus on cable yarding. In total 1888 accidents were recorded with 8.7% of these associated with cable yarding activities. The overall accident rate amounted to 36 incidents per million cubic meter extracted by cable yarder. There was a clear spike in accidents between 2 and 3 pm. Most accidents occurred onWednesdays and Mondays (26 and 25%, respectively). The four months of March, June September and November accounted for 45% of all accidents. The majority of accidents (63.2%) were caused by broken spar and anchor trees, bouncing cables and falling objects. Frequently injured body parts were the extremities such as hand and feet (64%) and the head and neck area (15.2%). Contusions (37.8%) are the most common kind of injury followed by bone fractures (12.8%), sprain or strains (11.6%) and punctures or lacerations (10.4%). An average cable yarding accident required 17.9 days for recovery, compared to the 25.6 days for manual extraction and 29.7 days for extraction by means of a tractor or skidder. Accident severity varied among body parts: eye injuries resulted in three lost work days, while injured extremities required 20 days for recovery. During wood extraction, some stems with branches may be unhooked and fall down. In this case, the accidents caused are the most severe needing 27 days for recovery.