Room: Poster Area
Date: Tuesday, 19 May 2026
Time: 15:00 - 16:00 CEST
Session code 2AV.1
Sustainability assessments of biomass and bioenergy and social perspectives
Securing the Foundational Link of the Biomass Supply Chain: Safety Culture and Risk Perception in Forest Production
Short Introductive summary
The forestry sector serves as a foundational link in the sustainable biomass supply chain. However, the social sustainability of this link is threatened by the hazardous nature of forestry work. This study provides an evidence-based strategy to secure this human foundation. We surveyed 668 South Korean forest industry workers, using ANOVA and regression to analyze safety awareness. ANOVA revealed that the ’Forest Product Production’ sector—a primary biomass source—is a "weak link" with significantly lower safety awareness. The regression (N=668) identified the ’CEO’s safety-conscious attitude’ (ß=0.497) as the strongest predictor of workers’ risk perception, followed by organizational (ß=0.383) and individual (ß=0.110) factors. We conclude that enhancing the social sustainability of the biomass supply chain requires strengthening CEO-level safety leadership, not just focusing on individuals, as this is a key lever for a sustainable workforce.
Presenter
Changjun LEE
National Institute of Forest Science, Division of Forest Strategy Research, REPUBLIC OF KOREA
Presenter's biography
Dr. Changjun Lee is a researcher at the National Institute of Forest Science (NIFoS), Korea. His research focuses on forest workforce sustainability, safety risk perception, and forest industry economics, using structural equation modeling and econometric approaches to inform forest policy.
Biographies and Short introductive summaries are supplied directly by presenters and are published here unedited
Co-authors:
K. Kim, National Institute of Forest Science, Seoul, REPUBLIC OF KOREA
Session reference: 2AV.1.12