New Zealand forest safety standards were attacked by the president of the Council of Trade Unions Helen Kelly but her comparison is “naïve and uninformed” said Forest Owners Association health and safety committee chairman Sheldon Drummond. Source: Gisborne Herald (NZ)
Mr Drummond said forest safety statistics included a wide variety of accidents relating to tree felling, including those on farms as well as in private backyards.
In a press statement last week, the CTU president said the New Zealand forest industry’s death toll was 34 times higher than the UK and wages ranked fourth lowest of 12 compared countries.
There were 30 deaths nationally in the sector in the past six years, including at least four this year.
“There have been three deaths in the Wharerata Forest in the past 18 months, with strong coroner recommendations made at least in regards to one of them,” said Kelly.
Mr Drummond, general manager of Juken New Zealand’s East Coast forests, said the three fatalities in the Wharerata ranges in such a short space of time were “most unfortunate”.
Combined and individual efforts were being put in to making the workplace more safety conscious, he said.
Forest owners are working with the ACC and the Department of Labour to achieve safety goals outlined in the Forestry Sector Action Plan 2010-13.
