FOREST TALK
Group set up to solve silviculture issues; new forest planting could start in 2018; international forest engineers eye New Zealand; nature of deaths in the forestry industry is changing; new chapter for NZ forestry; confidence high in latest FICA survey; new Waratahs built from old heads; Eltec harvesters headed for New Zealand; Jones steps in for Gisborne mill workers; training tomorrow’s foresters steps up a gear with changes to harvesting and forest managements courses at Toi Ohomai; Eastland forestry awards nominations open; Nelson Forests celebrates anniversaries alongside sale; studies support bio chain bar oil ‘green’ credentials.
IN SPITE OF THE OVERWHELMING FOCUS ON SAFETY IN THE FOREST, WE are seeing a worrying trend; a rise in the number of people being killed at work. And what is even more worrying is that several of those deaths reported in the past year involved people in or around machines.
Isn’t mechanisation supposed to take people away from dangerous jobs and put them into the safety of a cab?
Yes it is. And it’s still the best way forward.
But there needs to be more emphasis on making sure people do not become lax or over-confident when they are in or around a machine.
Just because you are inside a steel cage doesn’t mean to say you are bullet-proof. If anything, the operator needs to be even more vigilant, because things can go badly wrong when a piece of equipment weighing up to 60 tonnes drops off a track or makes contact with another machine, or someone on the ground.
It’s all too easy to become distracted by a radio message, cellphone call or something happening outside and not be focused on the job in hand. A momentary lapse of concentration is all it takes for disaster to strike.
That’s easy to say, of course. In an average working day there will always be distractions and it is hard to stay fully focused for eight hours.
Sometimes you need to take a short break, just to clear your head, grab a breath of fresh air and step back from the constant pressures of the job. Have a snack and re-charge yourself. The boss will understand, in fact, they should encourage it, because it is in everyone’s interests.
But it’s not just around machinery we have to be careful. Probably the most dangerous part of the day is the journey into the forest at the start and driving out at the end. We’ve seen a few accidents on forest roads in recent times and it’s something we all need to be aware of.
The old adage of ‘driving to the conditions’ is never more true than when you are negotiating a forest road first thing in the morning. The road looks different in the dark and corners come up very quickly. You might be running late, so pushing to make the tailgate meeting. Similarly, at the end of the day you’ll be weary and wanting to get home. Both situations are fraught with danger.
We all want to live to see our loved ones at the end of every day. Keep that thought in the back of your mind and let’s all be careful out there as we get into another busy year.
NZL