Research article - Peer-reviewed, 2016
Human, technology, organization and environment - a human factors perspective on performance in forest harvesting
Haggstrom, Carola; Lindroos, OlaAbstract
In recent years, concern has been raised that the trend of continuous productivity improvements of forest harvesting has stagnated and even declined in the Nordics. This selective literature review therefore examines human factors research with regard to the performance of the harvesting system, and outlines how human factors research can stimulate continued performance improvements. The focus is on implications for mechanized cut-to-length (CTL) operations and, especially, research of importance to the operation of the single grip harvester and the harvester-forwarder system. Most literature for this review was found in the Web of Knowledge and Google Scholar databases or as a consequence of the snowballing approach also applied. A conceptual framework was used to facilitate the analysis of the interrelated elements - Human, Technology, Organization and Environment (HTO-E). The right abilities, skills, techniques and training alone are not sufficient for ensuring high performance of the logging system. To address this discrepancy, education, training, (semi-) automation, shift scheduling, harvester-forwarder cooperation, inter-and intra-organizational knowledge exchange were all recognized as important areas for improvement and development. Great difficulties exist in predicting outcomes when introducing change, for example automation, into a system. However, the consequences of not trying may be detrimental to productivity as well as safety in mechanized forestry. Thus, it is important to research into methods, interfaces, forms of interaction, risk analyses and automation technology. HTO-E and a systems perspective provide a good basis for understanding the work today and making educated predictions for the future.Keywords
HTO; MTO; mechanized logging; ergonomics; forestry; literature reviewPublished in
International Journal of Forest Engineering2016, volume: 27, number: 2, pages: 67-78
Authors' information
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Forest Biomaterials and Technology
Forestry Research Institute of Sweden, Skogforsk
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Forest Biomaterials and Technology
Sustainable Development Goals
SDG9 Industry, innovation and infrastructure
UKÄ Subject classification
Forest Science
Production Engineering, Human Work Science and Ergonomics
Publication Identifiers
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14942119.2016.1170495
URI (permanent link to this page)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/77449