Evaluation of mechanical risks in the rafting company and their incidence in the accident rate in the sawmill area

Abstract

In the balsa wood manufacturing industry, the mechanical hazards present in this type of company are multiple. The William Fine method consists of assessing the severity of the risks by considering three factors: consequence, exposure and probability. The general objective of this work was to evaluate the mechanical risks using the William Fine method and to determine their incidence with the accident rate in sawmills. The study was carried out by means of a quasi-experimental design because the evaluation of the degree of danger of the existing mechanical risks was carried out in all the workstations by means of analytical, quantitative, observational, inductive and correlational research. Through the statistical analysis of the data concerning the period January 2018 - June 2021, it presented 48 work accidents, with 465 lost days, detecting that the phalanges of the hand is the most affected part of the body. With the application of the William Fine method, the most influential mechanical risks are cut (15.63%) and run over or hit by a vehicle (15.63%), the job position with the highest criticality is auxiliary log handler. The area with the highest accident rate is sawmilling. The highest FI was in 2018, IG 2019 and TR 2019. The contrast of the hypothesis showed that mechanical risks do have an impact on occupational accidents; it was determined that 94% of workers are exposed to critical level risks. Therefore, it is necessary to reduce the accident rate through the application of the proposed control measures.