The forestry industry has the highest rates of labor-associated mortality in the world, despite the introduction of mechanization in the sector. In this paper, we studied the documents of the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry instituted to check fatal accidents occurred in Minas Gerais. We analyzed the process of work done by teams of a logging company and found that the accumulated knowledge about the risk factors for accidents in this sector did not guide the transformation of work situations. The time of the felling of trees and the consequent risk of being "struck by" are the main causes of accidents and prompted the study, which is consistent with the description found in the literature. The precarious employment relationships predominate in the sector. The authors associate the continuing exposure to risks to increased outsourcing, focused on the stages of production, recognized as dangerous.
extractivism; industrial accidents; precarization; workers' health