Logged. Call to stay safe. April 2016 Issue 10. The newsletter of Wenita Forest Products. Inside this issue:

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1 Logged April 2016 Issue 10 The newsletter of Wenita Forest Products Inside this issue: HEALTH & SAFETY - LTI/Near misses: 2 - D&A Testing: 3 OPERATIONS - Wind damage 4 - Superskid operation 5 - Production reporting 6 INDUSTRY - Forestry awards 6 Call to stay safe By Wenita CEO David Cormack The deaths of four workers since the start of the year is a sad reminder that the forest industry still has a lot of work to do to improve its safety performance. These fatalities compare with three forestry deaths in 2015, one in 2014 and 10 in No-one knows what has triggered the spate of serious accidents this year; perhaps we ve all become a little complacent because of the improved accident statistics and complimentary media reports? The last three months have shown us that there s definitely no room for complacency and we don t deserve any compliments yet. So far this year, Wenita crews have suffered two Lost Time Incidents (LTIs). Both related to our trucking operations. This is very disappointing considering we had just five LTIs for the whole of According to the Forest Industry Safety Council (FISC) there are three key things that can prevent many of the accidents that happen in forestry: 1. Workers need to be trained and competent to do their job. 2. There needs to be good planning and communication so everyone knows what s happening on site. 3. People must adhere to the safe retreat distances. These are very sensible rules for everyone to keep in mind, regardless of the position you occupy in the crew. If you don t know how to do something or you don t feel safe, don t just put your head down and carry on. Stop and ask someone. Wenita Forest Products Ltd PO Box 341 Mosgiel Phone: Fax: forestry@dn.wenita.co.nz Awards It was great to see the nominations for Wenita contractors and staff for the upcoming Southern Wood Council Forestry Awards. Thanks to all those who contributed and best of luck to the nominees. (See page 6 for more details.)

2 Health & Safety Lost-time injuries and near misses In the first three months of the year, there was one Lost Time Injury (LTI) and 21 Near Hits, and we had another LTI in April. It was disappointing to experience our first LTI for the year. The LTI was unfortunate in that it was caused by a combination of factors. The catalyst was a truck driver jarring himself when a chain slipped while tensioning down a load, and then further straining his back when spinning his trailer drawbar a couple of days later. His equipment was in good condition and the driver was noted for having good technique. This shows that in some cases you can do most things right and still occasionally get caught out. The one thing that should have happened, and didn t, is the initial back twinge should have been reported. It is important to report all injuries when they occur, so that decisions can be made to avoid tasks that might aggravate an injury. There were also a couple of Near Hit incidents that we should learn from. Scarfed and back-cut tree left standing The most critical Near Hit occurred back in February when a faller left a tree standing that was scarfed and back cut. He had run out of fuel! In this case he compounded the bad situation by running his fuel can dry as well, then forgot to go back to finish off and did not communicate the situation to ensure no one else came within two tree lengths of the tree. There were two issues here. 1. You should only start felling a tree when you are confident you have enough fuel to complete the job. Plan your felling so that you don t run your chainsaw out of fuel mid-tree, and never run both your chainsaw and petrol can dry at the same time. 2. If you do get caught short of fuel, you must immediately refuel and finish felling the tree, and while you take the necessary steps to get the tree felled, ensure no other person can unwittingly come within two tree lengths before it is felled. In this case, the faller s actions were unacceptable, made the situation worse and potentially could have had a tragic outcome. Consequently, this incident was treated most seriously. Increased mechanisation hazards There has been a noticeable trend of increased conflict between machinery working on skids. This is one of the downsides of increased mechanisation. There is no question that increased mechanisation overall makes logging operations safer, but more having machines increases the chance of conflict. So make sure, as you lay out your skid and plan your day-to-day skid management, that minimising machine conflict is a key consideration. 2

3 Health & Safety Drug and alcohol testing - Jan to April Total Negative Non-Negative Drug Positive Pre-employment Post-incident 2 2 Reasonable cause 0 0 Random THC Random Rehab 1 1 TOTAL: Remember that if someone has an accident, or a dangerous near miss, please contact the office immediately and we will arrange for a drug and alcohol test. Random Rehab 1 Random Non-Negative 1 Random Negative 12 Pre-employment 10 2 Postincident 3

4 Operations Damaging winds hit forests Damage at the Cuttance block off McLaren Gully Road. As a result of the severe winds on Thursday March 10, several Wenita forests suffered some serious windthrow damage. All gangs were affected to some degree, apart from Jones s operation at Mt Allan, which seemed to miss the worst of it. We have been making really good progress with the clean-up. Roxburgh 1 at Berwick had to clean up a big ridge off Reserve Road that suffered a fair amount of damage. We decided to clear the whole ridge to avoid further damage by leaving exposed trees. Roxburgh 1 has now completed this work. Roxburgh 2 had some scattered areas of damage to clean up at Pophams, and most of the readily accessible areas there have been tidied up. Griffin 2 had a significant area to clean up at the FF9 block at Moeraki Bush and have now finished this. Griffin 1 has scattered windthrow throughout the Cuttance block and one very significant area of approximately six hectares that has been literally destroyed, with trees uprooted and the majority of standing trees broken off at varying heights. Griffin 1 has been working through the damaged areas in their current settings and are now in the process of attacking the worst hit area. We also brought in Anderson Contracting to clean up a small area in lower Berwick and this has been completed. Our aim was to complete these areas as soon as practicable to avoid value loss with aged wood. This has gone exceptionally well so far. This type of work is extremely dangerous and all involved are to be commended for their excellent attitude and safe work practices while dealing with this type of operation. We are very fortunate to have felling machines available at most crews and this has been a real bonus to avoid putting men into these areas. We are hoping to have all areas completed by the end of April. 4

5 Operations Super Skid end of an era From 2008 the Mt Allan Super Skid was an integral part of Wenita s operations, until it was shut down and sold at the end of last year. Since February, a team of engineers have been working up at the Super Skid pulling it apart and cutting up the log decks into 18-metre lengths, so they can be loaded on to trucks for transportation to Gisborne. Most of the workshop containers and fleeting line have already gone, just leaving the main saw shed to be pulled down and packed up, and this should be completed by early June. All going well the new owners, Hikurangi Forest Farms, hope to have it back together and processing stems by the end of the year. Above and right: the Mt Allan Super Skid is pulled apart poisoning operation TB Free is undertaking a poisoning operation in Berwick and Mt Allan Forests in the next few weeks (depending on suitable weather). Its monitoring has shown that possum numbers have built up to levels that could pose a TB risk to livestock on neighbouring farms. The operation will involve two helicopter applications of pellets over the forests, the first application being a non-toxic pre-feed and the second the 1080 poison application. Very soon after the 1080 has been applied, the possums will die and their carcasses will be extremely toxic to dogs. Carcass remains can persist for many months, and the time required for carcass breakdown partly depends on the weather in the months after the operation. Even small residual bone fragments can kill dogs. The forests will remain off-limits to dogs until TB Free advises that it is again safe to return. So please keep your dogs out of Berwick and Mt Allan until further notice. 5

6 Operations/Industry Processor-based production reporting Production reporting provides valuable information. Wenita value improvement manager, Mark Pearson, has been working with the Griffin 2 logging crew to evaluate collection of production data from the Waratah harvester head. To get useful data out of the harvester, it is essential that the cutting instruction setup (.APT) file is configured correctly. After a few iterations, a bit of trial and error and a lot of persistence from operator Marty Glassford, the predictive taper optimiser seems to be working properly and is producing the intended grades. Marty saves a production (.PRI) file at the end of each day and this is uploaded to STICKS, a cloud-based database that stores all the production data. By logging into STICKS, we can see what log grades have been produced, with length and diameter details, and see stand information such as average piece size and stem diameter. Wenita managers can compare this to pre-harvest expectations and make interventions as necessary. Marty and Shane Griffin can also log in and see how production is going. The intention is to roll out the system to the Griffin 1 crew next, followed hopefully by the Jones and Roxburgh crews. Forestry awards to be held in May Don t forget the Southern Wood Council Forestry Awards are coming up. This is going to be a huge event held in the Forsyth Barr Stadium on Friday, May 20. Most of you will know someone who is getting an award or receiving some form of skills recognition. Support your colleagues and workmates. If you haven t already pre-registered, go online and register at It is sure to be a great night! 6