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Forests NSW region meets world best safety record

Forests NSW has reached world industry safety standards with only one reportable incident in the last financial year in its Central Region, regional manager Kathy Jones said today.

The region extends from Morisset to Kempsey on the North Coast.

Ms Jones said world’s best practice is an incident rate of one, which is equivalent to 1% of reportable incidents.

“This is a fantastic achievement and clearly demonstrates that Forests NSW is improving at recognising and managing risks,” Ms Jones said.

“This region has an equivalent full time staff complement of 96 so this represents an incident rate of about 1%.

“A reportable incident is when a doctor prescribes a drug or uses their medical expertise to insert a stitch or take some other special action.

“This result also confirms Central Region has demonstrated a good health and safety management system and an excellent safety culture with the support of a great health and safety committee.”

Last year Central Region recorded seven incidents and the previous year 11.

“A good safety record is directly related to leadership, and that leadership can come from any level,” Ms Jones said.

“Forests NSW has demonstrated that injury is preventable, and any examination of an injury report seems to always find a fault in the work processes that lead up to it.

“The region passed a WorkCover safety audit two years ago.”