Wood Matters

The Forest Industry Safety Council is launching the Safetree Contractor Certification scheme. The certification scheme was developed by the forestry industry for the forestry industry. It was identified in the Independent Forestry Safety Review report as a ‘must-have’ for improving health and safety in forestry.  The names of Safetree Certified Contractors will be placed on a searchable, online register which forest owners and managers can view.

The scheme is designed to assist contractors to move beyond compliance and brings in elements of leadership and engagement, as well as risk management. These are three key areas required by the new legislation and supported by WorkSafe. The certification process also helps contractors sort out their employment conditions and contracts to help create a more stable, professional workforce. Whilst general upskilling in these areas should improve the overall performance of contractor’s business, it is important to note that the certification does not cover other business areas such as productivity, environmental management, log quality or value recovery.

This scheme is all about improving safety on-site. So, in addition to a document review, the certification process includes on-site verification to ensure there is alignment between the documented system and what’s actually implemented on-site. This verification is done by a Safetree approved auditor.

PF Olsen is right behind this initiative as part of a suite of initiatives to materially improve forestry safety and will be actively encouraging forestry contractors it works with to become certified.

Safetree^TM is a one-stop-shop for New Zealand’s forestry industry to find the safety information it needs. It is a collaboration of forest industry groups and government including ACC, the Council of Trade Unions, the Forestry Industry Contractor’s Association, the NZ Forestry Owner’s Association and WorkSafe NZ.