Forest Industry Safety Alert

FOREST INDUSTRY SAFETY ALERT

Silviculture Surveyor Injury

Location:Free growing cut-block at Goatskin Creek, Boundary Forest District

Date of Incident:August 31, 2010

Details of Incident:

A forestry worker was conducting a silviculture survey on a reforested cut-block up the Goatskin FSR road system. The cut-block is at a relatively high elevation and the morning was unusually cold for the end of August. The worker was wearing spiked rubber boots and raingear as the bush was wet that morning.

While compassing his first line, the worker stumbled. This is something that happens several times a day when traversing cut-blocks due to slash and uneven ground. On this occasion, the workers right foot went into a depression/hole in the ground as he stumbled. His forward momentum caused the right leg to hyperextend and a calf muscle tore as a result. The worker described it as feeling like someone hit him in the back of the leg with a stick. There was a great deal of pain and the worker felt the muscle “ball-up” above where he felt the muscle tear.

Using a hand-held radio, the worker immediately contacted his supervisor, who was working on a nearby cut-block. The worker then hobbled to the road using his planting shovel as a crutch and was able to drive their pickup to his supervisor’s location. The supervisor then drove the worker back to camp, where ice was applied and the leg was wrapped with a tensor bandage. The worker was able to drive back home himself and immediately saw his family doctor. No medical treatment was required, but the worker was referred to physiotherapy. The worker was out of the woods for 7 weeks but was able to do office work for that time.

Recommended Preventative Actions:

An investigation of the incident conducted by theemployer found no single cause for the injury. However, there were a number of factors indentified that might have contributed to the injury:

-Unusually cold morning

-The heater in the pickup had malfunctioned the previous day and was not working on the day of the incident. This made for a rather cold trip to the cut-block.

-The worker had worked the previous day in the field after spending a week in the office doing paperwork. It is possible that his leg muscles were a little stiff from the previous days work and this was exacerbated by the unusually cold day. It as noted that the worker had a least one similar incident earlier in the year, which did not result in an injury (i.e. hyperextension of leg).

-Worker age. Older bodies don’t recover as quickly and muscles can become less supple with age.

It was noted that the worker was wearing all required and needed PPE’s. In addition, the faulty heater in the pickup was not a result of poor maintenance as the pickup was only two years old. It was repaired the following week. It was also noted that having hand-held radios helped get the injured worker off the site and back to camp in a timely manner.

In response to this incident, the company has added a new Safe Work Procedure to its company safety plan. Workers are now required to “warm-up” prior to commencing field activities. That is, gentle stretching prior to commencing work. In addition, this incident will be used to educate any future new workers about the risk of muscle injury while conducting field activities.

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