NIOSH • 1000 Frederick Lane, Morgantown, WV 26508 • 304-285-5916

FACE IT: Report Slides
Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Program

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Logging processor lost traction and rolled down 

hillside fatally injuring operator – Idaho 

(FACE 2020-01)

Processor Equipment, photo courtesy of USDOL
Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Program

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SUMMARY 

• On January 25, 2019, around 1 pm, 

a 32-year-old processor operator 

was fatally injured when his 

equipment rolled down a 

previously logged (clear-cut) 

hillside. 

• The employer was subcontracted 

to clear-cut over 50 acres of fir, 

pine, and spruce. 

• The location of the incident was on 

a large tract of privately owned 

and managed timberland 

approximately 10 miles out on a 

logging road. 

Diagram of clear-cut logging site
Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Program

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SUMMARY 

• The road was a single lane logging road 

that varied between 13 to 16 ft in width. 

• The road grade varied but was 

approximately 4 percent with an 

approximate 9 percent outward slope at 

the site of the rollover incident. 

• The surrounding hillside terrain had an 

approximate 20 percent slope. 

• At the time of the incident, the logging road 

was covered with 2 inches of ice and lined 

with snow on both sides. 

Road percent grade measured with an 

inclinometer, photo courtesy of USDOL Road draw and grouser groves, photo courtesy of USDOL
Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Program

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SUMMARY 

• There were six employees onsite at a 

cable logging operation. 

• The processor operator was driving the 

equipment from a spur road to a main 

logging road to harvest some fringe 

trees on the lower section of road, 

then the equipment was to be loaded 

on a lowboy and transported to a new 

timber harvesting location. 

• As the processor operator approached 

a narrow inside corner in the road near 

a log deck (a stack of logs near a 

roadway), the tracks on the equipment 

slipped laterally on the outsloped road. 

Outsloped forest road, figure courtesy of Oregon State University
Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Program

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SUMMARY 

• The equipment slid off the road 

and temporarily stopped on logs 

that had been decked. 

• The processor operator swung the 

boom and placed the processor 

head on the uphill side of the road 

attempting to transfer the center of 

gravity. 

• The yarder operator saw the 

equipment slipping down the 

slope, communicated over the 

radio for the processor operator to 

“get the boom down and get out of 

there!” 

• While the processor operator was 

attempting to exit the cab, the 

equipment tumbled down the 

hillside, shearing the operator cab 

off the equipment and fatally 

crushing the processor operator 

before coming to a rest in the creek 

near the road below. 

• EMS arrived on scene and declared 

the processor operator deceased. 
Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Program

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SUMMARY 

Clear-cut hillside showing dirt pathway from rolling equipment, photo courtesy of USDOL
Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Program

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CONTRIBUTING FACTORS

• Road design and 

maintenance 

• Road hazard assessment 

• Operator training 

• Position of equipment and 

boom during travel 

• Operator protection design 

did not include Falling Object 

Protection Structure (FOPS), 

Tip Over Protection 

Structures (TOPS) and Roll 

Over Protection Structures 

(ROPS) 

• Processing head attachment 

stowing or stabilization 
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RECOMMENDATIONS

• Road designers should limit outsloping on forest roads with 

potential winter travel. 

• Employers should conduct a hazard assessment when 

working with forestry equipment in areas of steep terrain 

and provide worker training on hazard recognition as part of 

a comprehensive and site-specific safety plan. 

• Employers should develop, implement, and train operators 

on strategies for traveling forestry equipment over forest 

roads.
Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Program

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RECOMMENDATIONS

• Employers should select forestry equipment equipped with 

falling object protection structure (FOPS) or falling object 

guard (FOG) and rollover protective structures (ROPS).

• Employers should consider participating in professional 

safety organizations to strengthen safety and health 

programs. 

• Employers should develop a comprehensive health and 

safety program for manual and mechanical logging 

operations.
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• Manufacturers should design stowing or sway control 

features for forestry attachments such as dangle head 

processors. 

• Manufacturers should provide engineer designed ice bits 

for forestry equipment operating during winter snow and 

ice conditions to reduce lateral slipping.

RECOMMENDATIONS
Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Program

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Logging processor lost 

traction and rolled down 

hillside fatally injuring 

operator – Idaho 

(FACE 2020-01)

Download the full report: https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/face/pdfs/full202001.pdf
Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Program

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CONTACT US

Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation 

Surveillance and Field Investigations Branch

Division of Safety Research, NIOSH

1000 Frederick Lane, M/S 1808

Morgantown, West Virginia 26505-2888

FACE Web Site: https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/face/

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