16 FORESTRY FOR LIFE
The Gisborne Herald • Wednesday, April 26, 2017
Forestry for Life
Getting home safely the goal Many demands
A lifetime in the industry has given Eddie Te Kahika a very legislative requirements.
“When dealing with legislation you need to determine
holistic view of forestry and set him up perfectly for his
what is expected; what process or format you should follow;
current position.
and then turning that into common sense that staff can
Te Kahika is the health and safety manager for two
follow.”
companies – Kimberley Contractors in Gisborne and MW
Te Kahika says companies and contractors have a slightly
Lissette in Hawke’s Bay – overseeing around 80 employees.
different take on health and safety.
Having worked throughout the industry, he knows only
“It would be fantastic to get a more consistent approach
too well what each job entails and the challenges faced by
across the whole industry . . . but it’s a
those out in the forests.
huge challenge.”
Overseeing the health and
The Forest Industry Safety Council
safety of both companies is a
have worked very hard to try and
huge challenge.
achieve this through initiatives like Safe
“There have been so many
Tree. Other key issues include creating
changes over the years,
a working environment where staff are
particularly in health and safety,
comfortable about making a call on
but all for the good,” says Te
an issue or unsafe act without having
Kahika. “The biggest trick is to
concerns about repercussions; and the
not overcomplicate things –
forest worker who knows the rules and
everything needs to be practical
systems, but is tired from the week’s
and real, so those who work in
work and wants to take a risk to get the
the forests know exactly what is
job done.
expected of them.”
Te Kahika says Kimberley’s daily
That means goals that are
tailgate meeting is a good way of
achievable and sustainable,
getting everyone on the same page,
and in language everyone can
with all the right things in place.
understand.
“We always try to encourage staff to
“Once crews have been
make good solid decisions each day.”
involved in the initial stages
Te Kahika’s own career in forestry
of developing a system or had
began before he had even left school.
input into a process, they take
“Over the school holidays in the
ownership and are more likely
late 1970s we got into pruning and
to accept those processes.”
thinning with my father.”
The Kimberley Contractors
Eddie Te Kahika out doing what he loves.
That led to becoming a New
crews work for different forest
Photo supplied
Zealand Forest Service ranger, and
companies, each with slightly
on to environmental work in native forests, management,
different rules and expectations. To counter that the
followed by the production forestry sector.
company endeavours to work to the highest requirement.
He started as a machine operator, working on forestry
“That approach takes the frustration out of issues that
roading for the company he is with today, and when the
impact on the staff as they move from one to another,” Te
health and safety position came up, he didn’t need to think
Kahika says.
twice about taking up the challenge.
“We have a dynamic group of people and we like them
“Kimberley Contractors managing director Warrick
to be involved in our health and safety discussions and
Frogley is one of very few in the forestry industry to take on
processes so that when we make a company decision
a full-time health and safety manager and I’d like to think
they can see we have listened to their concerns and
implemented their feedback where reasonably practicable.” that decision has put him 10 steps ahead of the eight ball,”
As much as the health and safety realm has changed over says Te Kahika. “It’s a decision I am truly grateful for. I get a
the last two years, Te Kahika says there is still a long way to lot of enjoyment dealing with people. Many see health and
safety as a regulator enforcement role, but I have tried to
go to ensure the message gets across.
change that.”
“With the new Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 in
His biggest reward is ensuring all his crews get home
place since April last year, every business in New Zealand
safely at the end of each work day to see their whanau.
is trying to do its best to manage risk and follow the new
TRACTA56586
7355-01
eastland.nz
CONTINUED PAGE 17
The Forestry Drive Course has been designed
with industry in mind enabling students to learn
hands on and practical skills to help them in
both their current and future jobs and careers.
With a focus on getting people both into work
and better equipped in their current work, the
forestry Drive Course provides the student with
a comprehensive
knowledge and skillset to both gain and
advance employment
opportunities.
Contact us to enrol today
0800 624 663
John 027 239 7070
[email protected]
385 Palmerston Road
5666-01
Grow your skills
161130FF010J
We’re playing our part in a booming
industry. Eastland Port is proud
to make it happen for forestry.
When the Log Transport Safety Council was established
in 1996 the big goal was to make the industry safer for
everyone . . . and while it has achieved that, it continues to
strive for better results.
LTSC executive member Glenn Heybourn says the
organisation has gone from strength to strength over the
years, and continues to evolve as research identifies new
areas that need to be worked on.
Recent projects include load security, heavy vehicle
braking, fatigue management, national qualification for
log truck drivers and more.
The LTSC is a pan industry collaborative of truck
operators, transport researchers, trailer manufacturers,
forest owners, legislators and enforcement agencies.
It came out of a call to action from the Land Transport
Safety Authority who felt the forestry roll-over rate of the
logging fleet was at an unacceptably high level.
That was just the beginning of projects requiring the
attention of the LTSC.
Heybourn knows only too well the demands of logging
truck drivers. He drove for four years and was a transport
manager for 10, finishing up as the general manager of
the company. Then he used to go to the Log Transport
Safety Council meetings, and stepped up to join the
organisation in 2005.
“I used to go for my own benefit and the company I was
running. I found it very helpful and useful to learn from
those with so much experience who were on the council.”
About three years ago, it was decided the council
needed an executive to try to achieve more. Heybourn
was given the health and well being and training projects
— both of which carry a good dose of health and safety.
Forestry Drive
Course
Juken New Zealand Ltd
proud to support the
Eastland Forest
and Wood Processing
Industry
Logging ships
are getting bigger,
so are our tugs
Success . . . Log Transport Safety Council chairman
Warwick Wilshier, from Williams and Wilshier, (left) and
executive member Glenn Heybourn (right) with gold
certificate graduates from Steve Murphy Logging.
Photo supplied
FORESTRY FOR LIFE 17
The Gisborne Herald • Wednesday, April 26, 2017
Enhancing ability to
make quick decisions
Onus on everyone
Her research is working to improve safety by
Human factors scientist Brionny Hooper believes that
understanding the way people think.
we need to look at safety differently in forestry.
“People can make quick decisions based on hunches
“Traditional safety models that focus on process and
in real life. We don’t really sit down and assess a
compliance only get us so far, but our forest workers
problem from every angle — we get on with it.”
are still getting hurt or worse,” she says.
Hooper reasons that the forest environment reflects
Award-winning Christchurch-based Hooper works
the time-pressured, information-limited complexity of
for Scion — a crown research institute dedicated to
the real world so let’s build our safety models on this
improving the New Zealand forest industry.
form of decision-making.
One big reason traditional safety models struggle
“A forestry worker’s ability to make fast decisions
to keep our workers from getting hurt is the forest
environment. It is unpredictable, demanding and harsh. based on gut instinct under variable conditions
with incomplete or uncertain
“Most of the time our
information may be the only
forestry operations are
barrier between safety and
successful despite working in
serious harm or death,” she says.
an unstable and dangerous
“If we build safety systems
environment that is
based on the way we actually
literally riddled with gaps,
think in a risky environment,
vulnerabilities and risks.”
the forest industry has a real
It is different and far
opportunity to measurably
more complex than the
improve safety,” she says. “Think
clean, contained factories
about it. Humans are the most
where conventional health
adaptive species on the planet.
and safety systems were
The brain is hard-wired to keep
born. A safety procedure
us alive in dangerous situations.
applied in one context may
We can harness these abilities!”
not necessarily work when
Hooper’s research will lead
conditions change in the
to new insights into intuitive/
forest. And conditions change
instinctive decision-making and
all the time.
develop new approaches for
Compounding this, if
enhancing this process. Similar
something bad is going to
innovative research is being
happen, it will happen fast. A
carried out in the armed forces,
worker does not have time to
where for the elite military,
consider and assess solutions.
Brionny Hooper is looking beyond the
speedy, accurate decisions are
He or she only has time to
traditional safety model to improve
required for survival.
react.
for forestry workers. Photo
She aims to add another
Yet for years safety systems outcomes
supplied
dimension to current safety
have been formed on the
systems to further protect workers and enhance their
theory that the more information and time a person
ability to respond, monitor, anticipate and learn in a
has, the better their decisions and responses are.
high-risk, ever-changing environment to ultimately
However, Hooper argues that in the forest, workers
improve forestry’s safety record for the long haul.
often don’t have the luxury of time or mountains of
data to analyse.
Training pathway a success
FROM PAGE 16
The successful Fit for the Road Programme was one
project he has been involved with.
“We found a high rate of drivers were suffering from
diabetes and had heart-related issues, which is directly
related to what they were eating, their hours of work and
fitness regimes.”
It produced some great success stories, with drivers
giving up smoking, losing weight, eating better and being
more active.
The flow-on benefits continue to be felt by the wider
community.
That led to another programme that focused on sleep
apnoea, something Heybourn says is a “huge issue” in the
transport industry.
After the executive discovered it was costly and timely
to be tested for sleep apnoea, the LTSC decided to buy
the necessary equipment, giving members a cost-effective
way to get their staff tested.
Now they are on the brink of releasing a new
programme.
“Sleep apnoea is something that can be fixed. A lot of
guys are pretty reluctant to get tested, but we have two
workers keen to tell their stories on our promotional video
and I think that will encourage others.”
The LTSC is also aligning with the Canterbury University
engineering department to gather research on how to
reduce the high rate of rotator cuff injuries from drivers
throwing chains over their loads.
But one of the real success stories to come out of LTSC
is the training pathway.
“It is like an apprenticeship and designed especially
for log truck drivers who can work their way through the
levels — from bronze to platinum.”
It takes six years to reach platinum and two national
certificates.
“In recognising that a driver needs experience behind
the wheel before they can be a good competent driver,
we have brought time base back in.”
LTSC has 11 assessors across the country, with drivers
requiring four in-cab assessments to be done over
the six years.
“Our aim at the LTSC is to provide safer trucks,
drivers and industry for all — whether that be
members or the public. I think we have gone a long
way to achieving this,” says Heybourn.
“The council is made up of some very passionate
people who freely give their time for the benefit of a
lot of people . . . it is a fantastic thing to be involved
with.”
Just as they say it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a
community to keep its people safe.
The onus on ensuring those who work in the nation’s
forests come home safely each night sits not just with the
workers themselves, but also those they work for and those
who own the forests they work in.
According to WorkSafe New Zealand, 51 men have died
working in New Zealand forests since 2005, and on average,
three to four men a week are seriously hurt.
Grant Duffy, forestry sector leader for WorkSafe New
Zealand, says it is a sobering reminder that each one of those
is a son, brother, father or partner.
“It is easy to get lost in the numbers and forget that,” he
says.
But in the five plus years he has been at WorkSafe, he has
seen a 40 percent reduction in serious harm rates.
That improvement is down to a number of things — the
industry standing up and taking ownership of the problem,
including efforts by the Forestry Industry Safety Council, as
well as the regulator WorkSafe, who have adopted a national
programme and strategy focusing on risk.
“Four years ago we identified what people knew, but
was reinforced. The killing and hurting were predominantly
coming from those involved with tree felling and breaking
out,” says Duffy. “So we shifted the approach to forestry to
form a coherent and consistent nationwide approach.”
That included a commitment by WorkSafe to have their
inspectors visit every single harvest contractor in the
country. The initial aim was inside a year, but the estimated
300 contractors became 800-plus, so it took closer to two
years.
All the materials the inspectors used on each assessment is
publicly available for contractors, so they know exactly what
to expect during a visit.
Duffy says for the “good” contractors it was a chance
reinforce what they were doing well and improve anything
they could.
“The other crews may be less likely to welcome an
inspector but the visit is more likely to have an impact,” he
said.
WorkSafe is also supporting FISC with their action plan
being rolled out, including things like certification of crews.
“We have done research
in forestry and that has
reinforced to us that crew
bosses, foremen and
contractors, are central in
lifting the safety performance
in forests. They are the ones
who set the culture of a crew.”
One of the simplest things
they can do is encourage
people to speak out about
unsafe practices . . . and that
was something that should
be led by them.
“Every time a crew boss
walks past something they
know is wrong, they are
endorsing that practice . . . the WorkSafe New Zealand’s
forestry sector leader
time of doing that is over.”
Grant Duffy.
Have the confidence to work
in a Forestry Operations role
Study the New Zealand Certificate in
Forest Harvesting Operations [Level 3].
APPLY NOW - START IN MAY
6404-01
forestry.eit.ac.nz | 0800 22 55 348
7358-01