Forest Operations > Effects of Accidents or Environmental Incidents

Effects of Accidents or Environmental Incidents

An injury or illness caused by a work place accident can have serious and long-term effects on your life, family, income, and social well-being (see Fig 51).

Fig 51

An accident in forest operations is more likely to be serious and will often affect more people than just the injured worker due to the use of heavy machinery.

Some serious injuries like a back injury or a crushed leg or arm may mean you will not be able to work for a long time, or you may not be able to return to the same work you did before.

A major environmental incident can be very damaging with expensive clean-up costs, or possible loss of species forever.

Poor environmental performance can also affect your employer’s ability to get future work and  so your job could be at risk.

Table 16 talks about the possible affects of accidents and/or environmental incidents.

 

Potential Effects of Accidents / Environmental Incidents
Cost	Financial cost due to machine down time for employer. Loss of wages for injured worker and possibly workmates. Medical and medication costs. Failure to meet house or car repayments. Rehabilitation costs to repair environmental damage.
Social	Lack of ability to play sports or do hobbies. May not be able to spend time with friends (e.g. going to the beach, out to BBQs, or clubs). Unsustainable forestry leading to loss of jobs and values for future generations.
Family	Time and cost involved in caring for someone who is injured. Driving person around to doctors, meetings. See husband/partner in pain. Partner may need to work more to make up for loss of wages.
Environment	Damage to drinking water; loss of a particular species.

Table 16

Remember: Preventing accidents is better than finding a cure for the injury or damage.

Self Help Activity 21, Effects of Accidents

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