A new series of machine-assisted felling training videos are now available, giving forestry workers practical guidance on carrying out this high-risk work safely.
The videos have been released by Wairarapa-based Farman Turkington Forestry Ltd (FTFL) in partnership with Safetree and Competenz.
Machine-assisted felling is typically used when a tree needs to be felled against its natural lean or where obstacles such as buildings, fences, power lines or waterways mean greater control over the tree’s direction of fall is needed.
The training resources were developed following the death of machine-assisted faller, Steven Whare, in January 2021.
Steven was killed while working on a difficult macrocarpa shelterbelt when he was struck by a broken branch from a neighbouring tree.
Following investigations into the incident, FTFL entered into a court-approved enforceable undertaking with WorkSafe. The undertaking required the company to carry out activities aimed at raising awareness of both the incident, and the risks associated with machine-assisted felling.
The company was also required to assist in improving relevant unit standards and guidance material to reflect lessons learned from the fatality. The new video series forms part of that work.
“The Courts and WorkSafe gave us an enforcement undertaking, which meant that rather than just a straight-out fine, they said, ‘look, we agree that there are some things that can be improved here in our industry, and we’re going to give you two years to go away and develop new training resources, new unit standards and try to make sure this never happens again’,” says FTFL Director Guy Farman.
He says he believes it was an appropriate way to deal with the incident.
“Most definitely. We really struggled that Steve was at a workplace and he was following the rules and he was still killed, so we took a long time to come to grips with that.
“I thought, crikey, there’s got to be something wrong. There’s got to be some gaps in our training and there’s got to be some gaps in the rules for that to happen. We changed our own procedures straight away.”
Steven’s family have been part of the process.
“We spoke to Steve’s whānau about it. We said we think there’s grounds here to change the whole industry, to make sure a tragedy like this never happens again, and they were 100% behind it and said out of this horrific thing, there might be something positive that can come from it.
“We and they didn’t want any other families to go through the same thing ever again.”
They were kept informed through the process, and shown the draft videos before they went live.
“They were more than happy with them, and they sent some really nice messages to us and out of everything, that was probably the thing that meant the most. It was just great that they were behind it and supportive of it and it’s something for Steve’s memory.”
Guy says the idea of an enforceable undertaking was new to him, but thinks it is a good approach.
“Our lawyer told us about them. Then it went to the courts and the judge...
