SafeTree

Fiona’s blog: Strong interest in certification at recent workshops

Safetree has been running free workshops to help people find out more about what’s involved in becoming a Safetree Certified Contractor.

The workshops are for crew owners, or people working for forest owners/managers who want to support their crews to become certified. We are also encouraging crew foremen to attend, to learn about certification and how it can help them become better crew leaders.

Feedback from the workshops has been extremely positive, with a high percentage of attendees saying they intend to begin the certification process.

Attendees are also being given a ‘taster’ of the Safetree leadership training that has been developed by the Learning Wave.

The workshops will continue in June, running in Rotorua, Masterton and Balcultha.

See more or register

Ford Ranger recall

Ford has begun a recall of its Ranger utility trucks.

The recall is due to brake hoses “not meeting specification” in 4×4 and Hi-Rider models built from March 2016 to July 2018, and both front brake hoses and some calipers not meeting specification in all models manufactured from March to April 2018.

We are aware of one forestry company that has an issue with one of its Ford Ranger vehicles. See the safety alert.

Those with questions about their vehicle can call 0800 FORD NZ.

H&S Awards

The psychologist who helped create Safetree’s Growing our Safety Culture programme has been honoured at the NZ Workplace H&S Awards.

Dr Hillary Bennett was given the Lifetime Achievement Award for her contribution to improving safety culture and safety leadership in forestry and other industries.

Dr Bennett developed the Growing our Safety Culture programme with support from forestry companies. The programme helps ensure workers are involved in decision-making about health and safety and also improves front-line leadership.

The programme was also a finalist at the awards in the Leadership of an Industry category.

See more about the programme.

Working in bad weather

Winter is nearly here. So it’s a good time to remind crews that when weather conditions become too bad – too rainy, cold or windy – they need to stop work and/or find another task to do. This includes when:

• The wind is blowing things off the trees or around (e.g. wind is bending trees, debris is being blown down or you can’t walk against the wind).
• Wind plus soil conditions make it unsafe (e.g. wet weather has made trees unstable).
• Other weather conditions make it unsafe. (e.g. heavy rain stops you looking up to check for tree movement or you don’t have the right gear to stay warm and dry).

These tips come from Safetree’s tailgate meeting cards.

See all the cards

Safetree videos now available to download

Safetree’s videos can now be downloaded so you can show them on sites where there is no internet coverage.

Downloading is easy. Click the ‘Watch the video’ icon to open the video. The download button is under the picture – shown above under the heading Download.