Helicopter Logging Safety 1995 Alaska

APRO has successfully worked with the aviation industry and government agencies to reduce occupational fatalities in Alaska. During 1990-1999, an average of 11 work-related crashes occurred per year, resulting in an average of 16 occupational fatalities per year. By comparison, during the following decade (2000-2009), an average of 5 work-related crashes occurred per year, with an average of 8 occupational fatalities per year. Aviation-related incidents continue to be the second leading cause of occupational fatalities in Alaska. Efforts in aviation safety continue. Current APRO projects include a fatigue study among operators and pilots, collaboration with the Medallion Foundation on analysis of the Aviation Safety Action Program's data, and collaboration with the FAA, the State of Alaska and the Medallion Foundation on the cue-based training project for pilots operating in Southeast Alaska. A key publication of this work is Helicopter Logging Safety: Alaska Interagency Working Group for the Prevention of Occupational InjuriesNIOSH Publication No. 98-147 (July 1998)
This monograph incorporates proceedings and recommendations from three Helicopter Safety Workshops (conducted in 1995, 1996, and 1997) as well as useful background materials on safety in the helicopter logging industry at http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/logging/
This document reports the findings, outcomes, and recommendations of a series of workshops on helicopter logging safety in Alaska. The specific topics covered include the epidemiology of Alaska helicopter logging deaths, synthesis of the aircraft accident data involving helicopter external load operations in the United States and Alaska from 1980 through 1994, public health approaches to preventing helicopter logging injuries, helicopter logging from a pilot's perspective, alternative aerologging techniques, helicopter logging safety and the concerns of the manufacturer, weather and terrain hazards in helicopter logging, helicopter maintenance in helicopter logging operations, regulations and standards in external load operations, the business of helicopter logging, helicopter adaptations for external load operations, helicopter logging from a ground crewman's perspective, operational and aircrew factors in helicopter applications, and investigation findings of helicopter logging crashes. The Alaska Pacific Regional Office (APRO) was established in 1991, to address the high rate of occupational injuries and fatalities in Alaska (five times higher than the national average.) Since 1991, APRO has conducted studies of fishing injuries and fatalities in Alaska. Through focused research programs and a collaborative effort by many agencies, NGOs, industries, and workers centered on commercial fishing, logging, and aviation, APRO helped bring about a 63% reduction in worker deaths by 2009. For more about the NIOSH Alaska office and research, go to http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/contact/im-alaska.html. This is clipped from a 1995 NIOSH 25th Anniversary video.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Logging
• Aircraft
• Helicopters
• Accident
• prevention
• Epidemiology
• Injuries
• Alaska
• NIOSH
• FAA
• NTSB
• occupational
• work
• worker
• aerologging
• injury
• fatality
• aviation
• research
• Senator
• Stevens