[Square] Adding Safety to Forest Jobs

Choi Byung-am, Administrator of the Korea Forest Service. Photo by Korea Forest Service

This year, as always, news comes that tree planting will begin starting from the southern regions. It is a signal marking the green beginning to create healthy and dense forests. Trees take root in one place, sprout new buds, and endure many years. Then, silently accepting the final time set by someone, they are cut down and felled for the next generation. We devote efforts to caring for and nurturing each tree so that it can live its life safely.

The healthy forests we cultivate generously provide clear water, clean air, and beautiful scenery. Every year, more than 10 million citizens visit the forests, and they are even envied abroad. This is precisely why forestry projects, which involve cultivating and preserving mountains, must continue.

However, according to the 2019 statistics from the Ministry of Employment and Labor, the forestry industry’s accident rate is about twice the average of all industries. Although mountains are peaceful and beautiful, for forest workers who make the mountains their livelihood, they are dangerous and cautious spaces. Forestry work sites are extensive, making accident recognition difficult, and due to insufficient safety management systems and workers’ lack of emergency response skills, they are highly vulnerable to industrial accidents. For this reason, the Korea Forest Service conducts workforce training projects to successfully complete forestry projects. But an even more important task is to fulfill efforts and responsibilities to reduce safety accidents on site.

John Ruskin, a British social thinker, said, "A mountain is not precious because it is high. It is precious because there are trees." The forests we see and enjoy are gifts of nature, but it is no exaggeration to say that raising the value of forests depends on the hands of forest workers. While the economic and public value of forests increases day by day through forestry projects, on the other hand, there are tragic losses of about 10 people every year to create such dense forests.

To reduce serious accidents and fatalities in forestry work, it is most important to classify accident types and establish an emergency response system that can effectively respond to each type.

The Korea Forest Service visits forestry sites vulnerable to safety accidents to reduce such incidents. Vulnerable sites include workplaces with many new and elderly workers and sites where trees are felled. After conducting ‘visiting safety accident prevention education,’ the average accident rate decreased by about half, from 2.12% during 2015?2019 to 1.11% in 2020.

The Korea Forest Service aims not only to create dense forests but also to place greater emphasis on the safety of forest workers, targeting a 50% reduction in forestry accident rates and a 0% fatality rate by 2023. To achieve this, it will implement the ‘K-Forestry Project Safety Measures,’ consisting of four areas: ▲focused management of high-risk vulnerable sectors ▲clarification of responsibilities and authority by project entities ▲establishment of a field-centered safety management foundation ▲spread of safety culture.

Along with policy efforts, the effectiveness will increase when individuals take an interest in spreading safety culture. If safety rules are followed on site and safety equipment is properly worn, safety accidents can be prevented in advance.

The Korea Forest Service plans to hold content exhibitions and field campaigns to spread and establish safety culture on site, and to develop and distribute VR training programs that allow indirect experience of safety accidents. If a culture that prioritizes people and safety in forestry projects takes root, forestry projects will be able to advance to the next level.

Choi Byung-am, Administrator of the Korea Forest Service

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.