The BC Forest Safety Council is working to reduce the number of logging truck accidents on BC roads.
Director of Transportation Safety Dustin Meierhofer says the inherent risks associated with hauling any type of cargo makes the logging truck one of the most dangerous spots in the forest industry.
“Overall within the industry, log hauling typically ranks number two in terms of risky activity… hand falling is typically number one.”
Data analysis conducted by the Safety Council on the first quarter of 2016 shows the majority of log truck incidents happen between 6a-8a with with secondary peaks between 2-4am and 12-2pm.
Meierhofer says it’s too early to determine what factors behind those bumps are, but that work is ongoing. He says the Forest Safety Council has done extensive work in recent years on the file, “We went from 52 (major on public hwys) incidents in 2013 to 20 incidents in 2015, a dramatic decrease.”
He says night shifts are a risk factor in any industry, with winter road conditions another factor they are looking at closely.
More than 4000 industry members have gone through awareness workshops on log hauling, where the Council relays information they glean from data.
“Some of the key messages that we want to get to the folks out there doing this work is; what’s going on out there, what they need to pay attention to, what is contributing to the incidents on the roads so that they are aware and know what to look out for.”
Meierhofer says an industry Trucking Advisory Group was formed in 2014 to specifically look at log hauling incidents with a goal of lowering injuries and fatalities in the sector