Worker-fatigue contributing to workplace incidents in New Zealand Forestry

Problem: Reports of incidents in dangerous work environments can be analysed to identify common hazards, in turn aiding in the prevention of future accidents. Whilst studies exist that do this, most focus on causes that involve physical risks. In this paper we propose an alternative approach, and illustrate causes of forestry incidents from the perspective of worker-failure and fatigue. Method: This paper outlines the analysis of eight years' worth of New Zealand forestry incident data, with a focus on the cause of, and time that, incidents occur. Results: This has resulted in two main findings. First, 70% of incidents can be attributed, at least in part, to worker-failures. Second, 78% of worker-failure based causes show indications of fatigue. This indicates that a significant number of forestry incidents are caused by worker-fatigue. Finally, this dataset showed inconsistencies in data quality, similar to those that exist in other datasets. This did not affect our analysis. However, these types of errors have the potential to affect the data quality in the national reporting system. Impact on industry: The results from this study will be used in a larger project on detecting fatigue in forestry workers for injury and incident prevention. It is also our hope that other researchers may find these results of interest for further fatigue prevention research in hazardous industries. (c) 2021 National Safety Council and Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study proposes an alternative approach to analyzing forestry incidents from the perspective of worker-failure and fatigue, revealing that a significant number of incidents are caused by worker-fatigue. The results will be used in a larger project on detecting fatigue in forestry workers for injury and incident prevention, and may be of interest for further fatigue prevention research in hazardous industries.