Forest Talk

A significant fall in forestry injury claims reflect the sector’s sustained improvements in safety performance and injury prevention.  Forestry’s injury claims have fallen by around 34% since 2018. ACC has highlighted the Forest Industry Safety Council (FISC) as a strong example of what can be achieved when an industry takes collective responsibility for injury prevention, with co-ordinated, long-term efforts contributing to improved safety outcomes.<..... more

Peering through the dense Reporoa fog at H&R Harvesting's operation, we see a Cat 336GC excavator running the aggressive new Woodsman Pro 566.

It is carving through the trees like a wolf through sheep. If that phrase sounds familiar, that's because we used it for the other new generation Woodsman Pro, the 560 thinning head, when it was released in December 2024 at Jensen Logging.

The 560 is a bare-bones speed machine without a top saw, designed..... more

Darryl Heron’s journey into science started at the movies.  As a teenager growing up in South Africa, he was captivated by the 1995 film Outbreak, which tells the tale of scientists racing to contain a deadly virus.  “Hollywood saved the world in two hours,” he laughs. “But it sparked something real for me — the idea science could make a difference.”

Picturing a future studying viruses such as HIV and Ebola, Darryl started a microbiology de..... more

The Wood Processors and Manufacturers Association of New Zealand (WPMA) has welcomed a new pathway to help large industrial gas users transition away from natural gas.  The opportunity comes as a result of the Government’s launch of the Gas Transition Loan Guarantee Scheme. WPMA says the initiative offers a practical and timely solution for manufacturers facing uncertainty around the future availability and cost of natural gas.

“The insecurity c..... more

The NZ Forestry High-Potential Incidents (HiPo) Group is a finalist in the ‘collaboration’ category of the Safeguard New Zealand Workplace Health and Safety Awards 2026.

The HiPo group brings together seven forest owners and managers, representing around 45% of the forestry industry. They share quarterly data on high-potential health and safety incidents to identify trends and benchmark best practice, with an eye to reducing serious harm in the secto..... more

Twice in the last 12 months Tony Hill has needed machinery in a hurry. Both times it was TDF Solutions he called.  There was a reason why he made the first-up call. Five years previously, he had met TDF Solutions co-owner Frankie Davidson. At the time, Tony was running a harvesting crew for Kuru Contracting, but had expressed to Frankie his desire to run his own crew. They exchanged numbers, but for the next five years, neither man picked up the phone..... more