LOGGER CERTIFICATION AND TRAINING - A VIEW FROM WEST-VIRGINIAS LOGGING-COMMUNITY

The certification and training of professional loggers appear to be in creasingly common phenomena throughout the United States. As a result of West Virginia's Logging Sediment Control Act, enacted in 1992, the state's mandatory logger certification program has 1) provided loggers with training in Best Management Practices (BMPs) to control sediment from logging; and 2) assigned responsibility to loggers if non-compli ance with BMPs is discovered. Additional training in first aid and cha in-saw safety are also required as part of the state's certification p rocess. A survey designed to elicit information on both the costs asso ciated with logger certification training as well as training effectiv eness was mailed to all licensed loggers in West Virginia. The average certification training cost per worker was $1,617.69. Loggers conside red first-aid training to be the most worthwhile of the three training sessions, while the highest level of dissatisfaction was with chain-s aw safety training. Although half of the respondents agreed that the l ogger certification program was fine the way it is, loggers were more critical of the recertification program. When data were partitioned ba sed on respondents' years of logging experience, the most experienced loggers were found to be least satisfied with both programs.