[Occupational diseases in forestry workers]

Inquiries and medical examinations provided a considerable amount of informations on the state of health of forest workers in Switzerland. A large number of forest workers suffers from back troubles (55%) and other health problems concerning the muscular-skeletal system. These are obvious reasons for giving up forestry work before reaching the retiring age limit. Complaints about overfatigue and overall body degeneration are frequent and point to the necessity of further investigations. Vibration induced "White Fingers" are frequent amount forest workers (46%). They are closely related to total exposure time. During recent years among professional forest workers there has been a change-over to chain-saws with vibration damping devices (97%) and, to some extend, to chain-saws with heated handgrips. This seems to lead to a reduction of White Finger symptoms. Chain-saw exhausted gas continues to be a problem requiring solution.