Exploring determinants of log truck accidents resulting in injury or fatality in the Northwest United States between 2015-2019 using Motor Carrier Management Information System data

ABSTRACT

Log truck drivers represent a high-risk yet understudied worker population. Logging, more generally, is known to be one of the most dangerous industries in the country, but little is known about injury and fatality rates among log truck drivers specifically. Using data from the Motor Carrier Management Information System (MCMIS), this study aims to characterize log truck crashes in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana. Using multiple logistic regression, we estimated the odds of a crash resulting in an injury or fatality by environmental and structural conditions at the time of each crash. Results indicate that the presence of a positive median barrier is strongly associated with a decreased odds of injury or fatality for log truck crashes (odds ratio (OR) = 0.45, p = 0.03). An increased number of vehicles involved in the crash was significantly associated with an increased odds of injury or fatality (OR = 1.32, p = 0.01). Crashes occurring in Washington or Oregon had significantly decreased odds of resulting in an injury or fatality, in comparison to Idaho and Montana (OR = 0.14, p < 0.001; OR = 0.53, p = 0.01, respectively). These results indicate that the presence of highway safety measures and a state-approved OSHA plan may be beneficial in decreasing the odds of injury or fatality in log truck crashes.

KEYWORDS:

• Logging safety
• forestry transportation
• truck safety
• forestry operations

Acknowledgements

We thank the University of Washington Statistical Consulting Services for providing feedback on methods. We thank our logging industry partners in Region X for guiding research questions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

Funding for this project was provided by the US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health through Cooperative Agreement #5 U54 OH007544 with the Pacific Northwest Agricultural Safety and Health (PNASH) Center. Views presented here do not reflect the official views of CDC, NIOSH, or PNASH.