Of the five sectors where the most harm is occurring – construction, forestry, agriculture, manufacturing and fishing – forestry has the highest rate of workplace deaths. 

The majority of these accidents involve the tasks of tree felling and breaking out – we can and must do better to improve safety in the industry.

 That’s why the Department of Labour has developed a Forestry Sector Action Plan. It sets out a number of actions to reduce this toll under the following areas: 

• growing safety leadership
• building relationships with those in the sector
• increasing the availability and uptake of appropriate training
• building knowledge to establish clear safety standards for tree felling and breaking out. 

We’ve worked with the NZ Forest Owners Association’s health and safety training committee and ACC to develop the Action Plan. The Minister of Labour will be launching it outside the Department’s information stand at the Forest Industries Expo at 9.30am on Wednesday 7 September. 

The Action Plan is part of the National Action Agenda which is focused on reducing the work toll in the five sectors where the most harm is occurring. The Forestry Sector Action Plan is the second to be released – with the Construction Sector Action Plan released in May. 

At the launch of the Forestry Sector Action Plan we’ll also be asking stakeholders in the industry to sign up to the Partners in Action Pledge which is a symbolic acknowledgement of the collaborative approach needed to reduceNew Zealand’s work toll. 

People willing to do their part can become Partners in Action with the Department of Labour – in return they’ll be kept in the loop about workplace health and safety activities via email and will be recognised on the Department’s website.

By David Blakey, BNZ Head of Corporate and Specialised Finance

BNZ has a long and active relationship with the New Zealand forestry industry dating all the way back to the bank’s founding 150 years ago.

Today BNZ has the privilege of providing banking services to all the major forestry owners in New Zealand. This makes us the leading bank to the industry with more than double the amount of lending than any other institutional organisation and three times the number of forestry clients than our nearest rival.

Not surprisingly the forestry sector represents an important market to BNZ, but the benefits of our relationship with forestry spread further than just our own bottom line — a healthy, sustainable forestry sector is a key part of New Zealand’s future economic success. It’s currently our third largest export earner and is likely to soon become our second largest behind dairy and is a key provider of jobs to rural New Zealand.

What’s more, there’s an ecological benefit, not just to New Zealand, but the world. Forestry is our largest “carbon sink” and plays a crucial role in reducing the country’s carbon emissions and subsequent liabilities under the Kyoto Protocol. It’s a great fit with BNZ’s dedication to being a sustainable business and our status as a carbon neutral bank. And let’s not forget the positive visual impact forests make on the landscape.

The future looks bright as we continue to forecast strong offshore demand for New Zealand forestry products, particularly from China where supplies from their traditional partners, such as Russia, are constrained. Obviously, with such strong long term prospects for the sector, BNZ has a strong appetite and the expertise to support appropriately structured forestry transactions.

We plan to achieve this future success by lending in new and innovative ways following the recent adoption of the Emissions Trading Scheme. We believe the bank has a significant role to play in assisting our forestry clients as they navigate the various opportunities and risks this new lay of the land presents. We provide client-tailored solutions along with seminars, workshops, conferences and publishing of research articles.

On top of this, BNZ is breaking new ground in the sector by lending to carbon forestry — a new class of forest that is grown partially or wholly for the sequestration of carbon.

 For those who always wanted to work in the forest, here is the ultimate toy – the virtual harvester.

Would-be lumberjacks can see this serious video game on display at the PF Olsen Forest Industries Expo from 5 September in Rotorua.

The John Deere simulator fells virtual trees, strips the branches and cuts the stems to length just like a real million-dollar E-series harvester, using a complex array of joy-sticks, switches and buttons. Then at the flick of a switch it transforms into a virtual forwarder, loading and towing the cut logs.

The simulator uses all the software and controls of a real harvester to manoeuvre into position, extend a boom to set the cutting head at the base of a tree, grasp the trunk, activate the saw and control the direction in which the tree falls.

It can then pick up the cut tree, strip the branches and cut the stem into preset, measured lengths to suit the needs of a sawmill. The simulator records the number and size of trees cut, measuring productivity as it goes – just like the real harvester.

Operators who get it wrong, for example by extending the boom too far for the weight of a tree, can get a graphic picture of the harvester tipping over or damaging the equipment. Felling a tree the wrong way can even produce a picture of it falling on the virtual cab.

The simulator, provided to Waiariki Institute of Technology’sSchoolofForestryand Primary Industries by John Deere at no cost, will be used for training and for promotional purposes at career days. John Deere is treating the arrangement with Waiariki as a world-first pilot project.

The sophisticated software can be programmed to provide action that matches real terrain and forest conditions, then used to plan cutting patterns in the forest for maximum production.

Waiariki School of Forestry head Jeremy Christmas said the first public outing for the simulator would be the opening of the school’s new building and gasification plant on 5 September, after which it would go to the Forest Industries Expo until 7 September.

To complement the hands-on display at the Expo, a number of the one-hour technology clinics on Monday 5 and Tuesday 6 September will be detailing information on the very latest in harvest optimisation technologies, automated structural log segregation, steep slope harvesting systems and innovations in processor heads and log making.   

Caption: Waiariki tutor Mark McNaught comes to grips with the John Deere harvester simulator in a virtual forest, guided by Cable Price equipment sales specialist Terry Duncan (right) and watched by tutor David Batterham.

Entries open to secondary school students only.

See here for more details. uni of canterbury competitionScan4001

Click on the link to view the latest copy.

CHIPPER_V2

The first Rugby World Cup game in Rotorua is not until the 10th of September so there are no problems with suitable rooms at reasonable rates being available.

Some hotels and motels have set aside an allocation of rooms for the FI2011 and there is a wide choice of accommodation in various hotels and motels around the city, many within walking distance to the Energy Events Centre. A  full list is available by clicking on the accommodation tab on the Home Page. Accommodation is freely available for all nights from Saturday 3 September to Thurday 8 September.

The Organiser who are managing all bookings for the FI2011 can assist with accommodation bookings as well as all general tickets and bookings for the expo, conference and clinics and also can advise on other tourist attractions to visit when in Rotorua. Their contact details are on the bookings page.

Fitec have also secured additional rooms at the Holiday Inn. Follow the link from the Links page to the Fitec Awards site to find out more.

Download the entry form

Winning entries will receive either a Canon EOS1100D Twin Lens Kit – or similar (three available), or an awesome camera accessories package. Winning photos will be displayed at the P F Olsen Forest Industries Expo, and around the forest industry for the remainder of the International Year of the Forest.

The competition is open NOW, and closes 12 noon 26^th August 2011.

Full details are included in the accompanying entry form.

Download entry form