A recent report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics lists the job of timber cutters as the most dangerous occupation in America.

Reports showed a fatality rate nationwide of 117.8 per 100,000 workers, 26 times that of the average worker. Following that were commercial fishermen with only 71 per 100,000, pilots and navigators with 69 per 100,000, metal workers with 58 per 100,000 and driver-sales workers with 38 per 100,000.\par }{\plain While the logging industry may well be dangerous in other parts of the country where heavy equipment like feller bunchers can't be used, in the south the fatality rate in the logging industry has fallen dramatically. Louisiana only had two fatalities in the year 2003.

"That's because over the last five or six years almost all logging jobs have gone to completely mechanized operations," explained Bobby Erskins of Louisiana Loggers Self Insured Fund in Winnfield, Louisiana. "That has reduced exposure on the ground level and accidents have gone down."

He said the most dangerous areas for logging are in the states with mountainous regions where big trucks and heavy equipment can't be utilized.

"At this time, 90% of the accidents we do see are from carelessness or just oversight," Erskins said.

Doug Wells of the Louisiana Safety Association of Timbermen in Winnfield, agreed.

"All our loss cost factors are down in the industry," he said. "Even trucking accidents have gone down slightly."

The Louisiana Works, Department of Labor site on the Internet reported that in the 2000 Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries only three fatalities were reported in the logging industry. The highest fatalities were listed under transportation with 68 deaths. Another high incidence area is for operators, fabricators and laborers in factories and shops where machine tools are utilized. The pccupational highest toll came from highway accidents, 39 deaths, and the second highest from being caught in machinery, 15 deaths.

Total occupational injuries during 2000 were only 143 for the entire state. That was down from 149 in 1999. Jefferson Parish had the highest number of fatalities on the job with 18 followed by East Baton Rouge with 17, and Caddo Parish with 13.

While logging in Louisiana continues to be a dangerous occupation, it by no means is listed as the most hazardous. New techniques, better equipment and safety measures have made workers in the woods much safer on the job.

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