Gearing up safely
WITH LEVEL 4 RESTRICTIONS LIFTED AND Level 3 shortly allowing for forestry to open its gates at the time of publication, it’s back to work, albeit more cautiously, for NZ forest workers.
The path has been cleared by organisations representing forest growers, transport, processing and contractors, setting up a working group to develop risk assessment protocols in readiness for start-up of the industry sector.
The National Safety Director of the Forest Industry Safety Council, Fiona Ewing says the aim was to assure government that the sector will be able to comply with the epidemic management conditions of COVID19.
“The priority and starting point is health and wellbeing. There is the complex technical side of start-ups that will be a ‘whole of industry’ scan of the value chain. That starts in the forest and moves through transport, processing and export, through to the work at the ports. The group has been working with our stakeholders to get the start-up protocol proposal right,” she says.
Ms Ewing says the forestry industry had accepted the government decision that forestry was a non-essential service provider.
“However, we now have clear guidelines on MPI approved safe practices from other parts of the primary sector that we have adapted.
“These protocols provide the guidelines and will still require companies and individuals to adopt safe practices specific to their sector groups,” says Ms Ewing.
The protocols were sent out to industry following MPI sign off. They are on the Safetree website and have been endorsed by WorkSafe: https://safetree.nz/resources/ covid-19/
Alert level 3 is not business as usual; there will still be a number of restrictions in place. For instance, numbers of people have to be minimised on-site, and workers have to maintain a distance of at least one metre while working. People must travel to and from forestry sites where possible, and wipe down vehicles and machinery.
“The next step for the forestry sector is effective implementation across the supply chain. And, if we can’t do work in a Covid-19 safe way then we should not be doing that work,” says Ms Ewing.
Already there is also a fast-growing call from New Zealand’s international customers to provide wood-based products that are deemed essential in their own countries.
“We need to act on this now. Even though the industry shut down in two days when lockdown was announced, it will take much longer to get the forestry supply chain organised and moving again and advance planning will ensure a safe and successful restart,” she says.