Open AccessType, effects and cause of injuries suffered by workers in the sawmill industry of El Salto, Durango, Mexico
Author(s) -
Juan Abel Nájera Luna,
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Jorge Méndez-González,
Francisco Cruz-Cobos,
Francisco Javier Hernández,
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Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
revista chapingo serie ciencias forestales y del ambiente (en línea)/revista chapingo serie ciencias forestales y del ambiente
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.201
H-Index - 10
eISSN - 2007-4018
pISSN - 2007-3828
DOI - 10.5154/r.rchscfa.2021.03.016
Subject(s) - occupational safety and health , falling (accident) , damages , work (physics) , typology , medicine , operations management , environmental health , business , forensic engineering , engineering , geography , archaeology , political science , law , mechanical engineering , pathology
Sawmill work is a dangerous occupation because it involves handling materials and equipment that exposes workers to many risks that can affect their health and safety.Objective: To identify injuries, parts of the body affected and agents that cause accidents in sawmill workers in the region of El Salto, Durango.Materials and methods:A structured survey was applied to 300 workers in 26 sawmills and pallet mills to determine typology, damages and cause of injuries suffered in the last five years.Results and discussion: In the sawmills of El Salto, the most important positions are occupied by people of older age and work experience, regardless of their level of schooling; they have suffered one to five accidents in the last five years and only 32 % have received occupational safety training. The most frequent injuries were caused by hits and crushing body parts of assistants (57 %), open wounds in operators (16 %) and sprains (15 %). The mechanisms causing these injuries were getting stuck by moving objects (30 %), hitting against moving objects (23.3 %), falling objects (14.3 %) and false moves (13.7 %). Fingers were the most affected (35 %) due to a hit and by getting stuck. Conclusions: Safety training is limited, leading to 95 % of workers with injuries with different degrees of severity. It is necessary to implement actions to reduce the risk of accidents and injuries.