Loggers Say Osha Rules Increase Risk Timber Workers Mock Federal Safety Officials

Proposed federal safety rules for timber workers not only won’t make the job safer, but they also will make it more dangerous, the intended beneficiaries say.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s proposal insults the professionalism and intelligence of loggers who have to live with the rules, they told Sen. Conrad Burns here Saturday.

And they laughed at OSHA officials who said they are trying to work out misunderstandings about the rules.

Burns, R-Mont., took testimony for the Senate Small Business subcommittee.

“Have the authors ever felled a tree? Have the authors ever worked in the woods?” asked Idaho logger George Miller.

One OSHA official said he has not worked in the woods but does own a chain saw. That drew guffaws from the crowd of about 300.

“OSHA simply must rewrite the rules,” said John Hanson, safety officer for the Montana Logging Association. “Rules that address one hazard often create another hazard.”

OSHA’S Greg Baxter said the agency is trying to be flexible and listen to concerns about the rules. He noted loggers are 36 times as likely as the average worker to die on the job and twice as likely to be injured.

Logging has had the highest death rate of any industry for more than a decade.

“Our goal at OSHA is simply to protect workers,” said Baxter. “We must work together to bring down the costly toll of lives snuffed out.”

But logger after logger said he is well-aware of the dangers of the job.

“Common sense has been around a lot longer than OSHA and will still be around when OSHA isn’t,” said Libby, Mont., logger Paul Tisher.

Loggers listed several specific complaints, including:

Traditional leather logging boots would have to be replaced by Kevlar boots with steel toes. However, Baxter said that is not the case, that traditional sturdy boots would suffice.

Cut trees that hang up in nearby standing trees would have to be felled with heavy equipment. Loggers said so-called domino-felling, in which another tree is dropped on the suspended tree, often is the only practical way to dislodge such trees.

OSHA calls for the removal of snags, while landowners often retain snags for wildlife habitat.