I think it’s gotten a lot safer with the modern equipment. The main hazard seems to be on the public road. A friend of mine got impaled by a log that shifted in transit. He was in a cab over engine truck passing it on a two lane bridge. Emergency services used a chainsaw and delivered him to the hospital still in possession of his new piece of firewood. Cool scars.
It has become safer, but it's all relative.
random link: https://priceonomics.com/how-the-lumberjack-became-such-a-deadly-profession/
I’m on the East Coast. We are cutting managed forests of 25-year-old pines. They’re tiny in comparison. Much safer work. The tree that impaled my buddy was maybe 4 inches diameter on the end that stuck him and broke off. The other end of it might’ve been 12 inches in diameter.
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