KAN Report 48

	Safety of forestry machinery, 8/2011, Dr. Günther Weise (635 KB)
Bookmarks in the pdf file link directly to the individual chapters.

Summary

Prompted by KAN Report 41, "Safety of agricultural machinery", the "Forestry" Expert Committee of the German Social Accident Insurance (DGUV) requested a similar study from the KAN Secretariat on the safety of forestry machinery.

In the view of the OSH lobby, areas presenting problems exist in the forestry sector. These include the field of vision on forwarders, ladders for access to high equipment, and work platforms. 

The study focused upon the standards governing large forestry equipment. This includes self-propelled harvesting machinery, winches and wood chippers.
Harvesting machinery includes harvesters, skidders and forwarders. These machines are used to cut down trees and to transport them away.
Winches used for forestry purposes are primarily skidding winches (mounted at the front/rear of or on a vehicle). Winches are however not used solely for cable skidding; yarders for example are also widely used for the recovery of logs harvested on slopes by means of chainsaws. For some years now, (traction) winches have also been used to secure self-propelled forestry machinery on inclines.
Besides the harvesting of saw timber, the recovery of biomass for use as a source of energy is growing in importance. For this reason, the standard governing wood chippers was included in this study.

The purpose of the study was to determine whether, and to what extent, certain health and safety requirements of the 2006/42/EC Machinery Directive are supported in the standards governing large forestry equipment.