Postural Risk Assessment in Wood Measurement: A Follow-Up Study To Explore New Measurement Options And To Check The Repeatability of Outcomes When Using Digital Options

Technological development and digitalization have brought new opportunities in many industrial sectors, including forestry. Wood measurement is an important process which in many regions is shifting from manual methods to the use of digital tools, and the validation of new approaches is necessary to ensure the sustainability of the sector. This study was set up mainly as a follow-up attempt to validate results concerning postural risks when using digital tools to measure logs. In addition, the study explores the postural implications of a new measurement option, namely scanning of wood loaded into trucks. Generally, the digital measurement options involving the use of smartphones and professional LiDAR scanners generated lower postural risks, results which are consistent with and validate previous findings. Although the studied measurement options displayed statistically significantly different profiles in terms of postural conditions, manual wood measurement remains challenging in terms of postural risk. From a postural assessment perspective, transition to digital tools in wood measurement seems to be a sustainable option in the long run, but it will require the further development of existing algorithms so as to be able to extract useful information from the collected data.