Everybody cut: A first-hand look at life in the logging industry.

Lindsay Scott (right) appears in The Loggers, a local series about forestry workers. He tells Sarah Nealon why a job in the industry is no laughing matter.

Rightly or wrongly, forestry has a reputation as one of the most dangerous industries to work in.

Working outdoors using heavy equipment and machinery means safety is paramount for those who venture into New Zealand’s forests for tree-felling purposes.

“In some cases, yes, it’s pretty dangerous,” says recently retired forestry worker Lindsay Scott.

“You get guys that want to act the goat. It’s not a place where you can fool around and act the goat. We act the goat at smoko, not when we start work. You don’t clown around when you’re working.

“You get guys on big machinery that are up in the hills. People think, ‘Oh he’s got an easy job’ but one mistake and the machine starts rolling. It’s quite a dangerous job but if you want to gain experience and you’re aware of safety it goes pretty well.”

Scott, who started in the industry in the 1960s, features in local series The Loggers when he was employed by Newton Logging, an established forestry business in the Bay Of Plenty.

The Loggers takes a look at the people who work for and run Newton Logging. Among other things, it shows the challenges the crews face, the importance of safety and the various characters who work for the business.

“Forestry is changing and moving towards fully mechanised crews,” says the series post-production director Susan Leonard. “So we’ve been lucky enough to get a final glimpse of how things were for loggers in the old days, with people manually cutting on chainsaws.

“The Newton family are well known in the industry for their professionalism and deep family values, employing many people from their community.”

As the series shows, the job of a forestry worker can be physically demanding but age isn’t necessarily a barrier.

“The eldest guy that was in one of the crews that I was in, he was 70,” says Scott.

“Our boss he was in his 70s. They were working out there every day just about. It all depends on your body and if you think you’ve had enough. I got to 67 and thought, ‘I’ve had enough’.”