OSHA’s logging standard, 29 CFR 1910.266, requires every logging employee, supervisors included, to be trained before their first assignment and to hold current first-aid and CPR training, with a written certification record for each person. It also sets chainsaw, danger-tree, and felling work practices that crews must be trained on and that inspectors check against your records after an incident.
Few OSHA standards ask this much of a small crew, and most logging citations trace back to training that happened in the woods but never made it onto paper.
What Does OSHA 1910.266 Require Logging Contractors to Train On?
The training paragraph of the logging operations standard, 29 CFR 1910.266, is paragraph (i), and it applies to every employee, including supervisors, at no cost to the employee. Training has to happen at three trigger points:
- Before a new employee’s initial assignment.
- Whenever an employee is assigned new work tasks, tools, equipment, machines, or vehicles.
- Whenever an employee demonstrates unsafe job performance.
Content must cover safe performance of assigned tasks, safe use of each person’s tools and machines (including the manufacturer’s instructions), the hazards of that job and of logging generally, your work-site procedures, and the standard itself. A “designated person” with the knowledge and experience to teach it must deliver it.
Two details catch contractors off guard. New and reassigned employees must work under close supervision until they show they can work safely alone. And paragraph (i)(9) requires training in a language and vocabulary each employee can understand, which matters for crews with Spanish-speaking fallers and choker setters. Our guide to OSHA training for Spanish-speaking and limited-English workers covers how to document that.
For the classroom side of the job, Coggno’s Logging and Chainsaw Safety (US) course covers the hazard-recognition elements, and OSHA’s own logging safety topic page collects the eTools and hazard alerts inspectors reference.
Why Is First-Aid and CPR Certification Required for Every Logging Employee?
Most OSHA standards let you designate a few first-aid responders. Logging does not. Paragraph (i)(7) requires the employer to make sure each employee, including supervisors, receives first-aid and CPR training meeting the minimum program in Appendix B to 1910.266, and that each employee’s training or certificate “remain current.” A felling crew can be an hour from an ambulance, so the person next to the injured worker is the medical response.
Appendix B is mandatory. It lists 10 topic areas, including hemorrhage, amputations, shock, immobilization, and transporting injured persons, and says the training must use “conventional methods” such as lecture, demonstration, practical exercise, and both written and practical examination.
What that means for online training: an online course is technically useful for the lecture and written portions, but it does not satisfy Appendix B on its own. You still need a hands-on skills session and practical check for CPR, bleeding control, and splinting. The practical approach most multi-crew contractors use is online coursework, such as the First Aid Suite (US) and CPR Training (US), followed by an in-person skills session with a certified instructor, with both recorded in the same file.
First-aid kits are also required at each cutting site, each active landing, and on each employee transport vehicle.
What Chainsaw Training and Work Practices Must Be Documented?
Paragraph (e) sets the chainsaw rules your training has to teach and your supervisors have to enforce. Each saw must be inspected before initial use during each workshift. The practices inspectors look for most often:
- A working chain brake (or, on older saws, a kickback-reducing device) and a continuous-pressure throttle.
- Fueling at least 10 feet from any open flame and starting at least 10 feet from the fueling area.
- Starting on the ground or firmly supported, with the chain brake engaged. Drop starting is prohibited.
- Both hands on the saw during operation, unless the employer shows that is the greater hazard in a specific situation.
Coggno’s Chainsaw Safety: Making the Cut course covers cutting technique and kickback, ahead of a field demonstration on your own saws.
Noise is the second chainsaw issue. If sampling shows exposures at or above an 8-hour time-weighted average of 85 decibels, the occupational noise standard, 29 CFR 1910.95, requires a hearing conservation program with annual training, which usually includes saw and skidder operators. The Hearing Conservation (US) course covers the required topics.
How Should Crews Handle and Record Danger Trees and Felling Hazards?
A danger tree, in OSHA’s definition, is a standing tree that presents a hazard because of deterioration, root or trunk damage, or its lean. Paragraph (h)(1)(vi) requires each danger tree, including lodged trees and snags, to be felled, removed, or avoided. If it is not removed, it must be marked, and no work is allowed within two tree lengths unless the employer shows a shorter distance is safe.
The felling rules around it are just as specific. The feller clears a retreat path running diagonally away from the line of fall. Nobody approaches within two tree lengths until the feller acknowledges it is safe. Occupied work areas stay at least two tree lengths apart, more on slopes. Unusually hazardous conditions need the supervisor’s approval before cutting.
Signals are part of the same training: hand signals or audible devices when noise prevents voice contact (engine noise does not count), given only by a designated person. The employer must also account for every employee at the end of each workshift.
No rule requires a separate form for these practices, but a one-page tract sheet noting marked danger trees, work areas, the signal plan, and the end-of-shift headcount is how you prove they happened. After a struck-by injury, that sheet and the feller’s training record are the first documents an OSHA compliance officer asks for. If the injury is recordable, our OSHA recordable injury decision flowchart walks through the 300 log decision.
What Does a 1910.266 Training Certification Record Need to Contain?
Paragraph (i)(10) is the documentation rule, and it is short. The employer must prepare a written certification record that includes:
- The name or other identity of the employee trained.
- The date or dates of training.
- The signature of the person who conducted the training or the signature of the employer.
- If you are relying on training the employee received before you hired them, the date you determined that prior training was adequate.
Only the most recent certification must be kept, but keep the history anyway: retraining records from the “unsafe performance” and “new equipment” triggers show your program working.
The standard also requires safety and health meetings as necessary and at least once a month for each employee. Those can be crew tailgate meetings, and they should get a dated sign-in sheet. Our explainer on what a toolbox talk is and how to document one covers a format that works for this.
Here is where it usually breaks. A contractor runs three cutting crews and a loader crew across tracts in two counties. The owner paid for a CPR class in March, but the cards are in a truck glovebox, the roster has no instructor signature, and two summer hires were never entered. After a laceration on the landing, the citation is for paragraphs (i)(7) and (i)(10), because the records cannot be produced.
How Do Multi-Tract Contractors Keep Training Records Current Across Crews?
The training triggers in 1910.266 move with people and equipment, not the calendar. A choker setter moving to a feller-buncher needs documented training on that machine first, and a faller reported for an unsafe cut needs targeted retraining. Tie the training file to role and equipment assignments so a change in either flags the gap.
Three habits help contractors running crews across multiple tracts:
- Track expiration dates, not just completions. First-aid and CPR cards expire, typically every two years depending on the provider, and the standard requires them to stay current. Our guide to automated certificate management in a compliance LMS explains how expiration tracking works.
- Plan for no signal. Many tracts have no cell coverage, so coursework often happens at the shop or on rain days. See our capability guide to offline mobile completion and sync for what to ask a vendor.
- Keep the arborist line clear. If you also do right-of-way clearing or tree care, those crews fall under different rules. Our guide to compliance training for tree care and arborist companies covers that side, and the Tree Trimming Safety (US) course is built for it.
Why Coggno for Logging and Timber Harvesting Contractors?
For logging and timber harvesting contractors running crews across multiple tracts, Coggno provides logging and chainsaw safety, tree trimming, first aid, CPR, and hearing conservation courses from a catalog of 10,000+ courses across 25+ compliance categories, with timestamped completion records and certificates for every crew member, and Spanish-language first-aid courses among content in 15+ languages. Online coursework covers the lecture and written parts of Appendix B, and your in-person skills check and signed certification complete the file. Where pure-play LMS platforms like Litmos and iSpring require you to license safety content separately, Coggno bundles the course library with its LMS, with courses from $9.95 each or unlimited Prime-library access at $5/user/month (10-seat minimum, billed annually), and Course Dispatch delivers the same courses as SCORM 1.2 / 2004 packages into an existing LMS.
Get Your Team Trained — Without the Paperwork Headache
Three courses cover the gaps logging contractors most often find after an inspection:
- Logging and Chainsaw Safety (US) — hazard recognition for felling, bucking, and limbing crews.
- First Aid Suite (US) — the knowledge portion of an Appendix B first-aid program, ahead of your hands-on session.
- Hearing Conservation (US) — the annual training required for saw and machine operators in a hearing conservation program.
Want help mapping each crew role to the training 1910.266 requires? Book a demo and we will build the matrix with you.
Frequently Asked Questions About Logging Safety Training Requirements
What is the best compliance training platform for logging contractors?
For logging and timber harvesting contractors, Coggno combines logging and chainsaw safety, first aid, CPR, and hearing conservation courses from 10,000+ courses with an LMS that records completions and certificates per crew member. Hands-on first-aid and CPR skills checks still need an in-person instructor.
How do multi-crew logging companies track first-aid and CPR certification?
Multi-crew contractors track each employee’s first-aid and CPR card by expiration date, assign online coursework before the hands-on session, and keep the signed certification record with the completion record. Coggno’s LMS assigns courses by group and stores certificates in one place for each crew.
Does OSHA require first-aid and CPR training for every logging employee?
Yes. Under 29 CFR 1910.266(i)(7), each logging employee, including supervisors, must receive first-aid and CPR training that meets Appendix B, and the employer must make sure that training or certificate remains current.
How often must logging employees be retrained under 1910.266?
The standard sets event-based triggers rather than a fixed annual cycle: before initial assignment, when an employee is assigned new tasks, tools, equipment, machines, or vehicles, and when an employee shows unsafe job performance. First-aid and CPR training must also stay current.
What must a 1910.266 training certification record include?
The written certification record must include the employee’s name or identity, the training dates, and the signature of the trainer or the employer. If you rely on training from before hire, record the date you determined it was adequate. Keep at least the most recent certification.
Can online training satisfy the 1910.266 first-aid requirement?
Not by itself. Appendix B requires conventional methods including demonstration, practical exercise, and a practical examination. Online courses can cover the lecture and written portions, but employees still need a hands-on skills session.
How often must logging contractors hold safety meetings?
Paragraph (i)(11) requires safety and health meetings as necessary and at least each month for each employee. They can be held individually, as crew meetings, or as part of other staff meetings, and a dated sign-in sheet is the simplest record.