Sean P. McGinley Personal Injury Law Blog on Lawyers.com

Loggers in West Virginia are more likely to be hurt or killed on the job than coal miners.    Like construction workers, loggers work outside in all kinds of weather. Their work year is short because they can't cut trees when the weather gets too bad to get into the forests.  More than 1,000 West Virginia loggers make an average of $260 a week, or about $13,500 a year. The average West Virginia worker makes $430 a week. An average chemical plant worker or coal miner might make twice what a logger earns.  By any measure, logging is the most dangerous occupation in the state:

Nationally, the reported fatality incidence rate is more than 8 times that for mining, and 53 times that for manufacturing. In West Virginia, the fatality rate for loggers is 14 times higher than for mining. More than 7 out of every 1,000 loggers in the state will die on the job each year.  When loggers are injured, their reported injuries are more severe than injuries in other industries.

Many logging companies do not comply with safety rules and standards, which causes deaths and injuries to loggers.  Under West Virginia rules, this training by the state Division of Forestry deals primarily with chainsaw operation, but only 1 % of logging fatalities and one-fifth of injuries result from chainsaw accidents. By contrast, almost one-fourth of logging injuries nationally occur when loggers are hit by trees, limbs or logs. Another quarter are caused by slips, trips or falls.  Most of these accidents are preventable if the logging company follows proper safety standards.  

When loggers are injured or killed at work, the logging company usually denies responsibility, even when it failed to provide for the loggers safety and could have prevented the accident.  When a logging company in West Virginia refuses to take responsibility for injuries or deaths to loggers, the logger and his family must hire a lawyer to get justice.  One law firm in Charleston, West Virginia understands logging safety and accidents and has for over fifty years represented workers in injury and death cases.  DiTrapano Barrett & DiPiero, PLLC is available to help, advise and speak with injured loggers or their families.  One of West Virginia's most experienced logging accident law firms offers free consultations for injured loggers and their families.