12 March 2014

A group tasked with felling the high rate of forestry deaths is taking time to learn how the job is done safely.

A three-person panel has started reviewing safety in an industry where one person dies every 10 weeks on average, visiting a number of forest managers and harvesting crews around Rotorua last week.

Independent Forestry Safety Review Panel member Mike Cosman says as well as trying to understand what goes wrong in incidents when someone is killed or badly hurt, the panel is also looking closely at safe worksites.

"It is important that the panel understands what good practice looks like as well as bad," he said.

Panel members also heard from someone who lost a family member in one of the incidents at a meeting to discuss their plans along with forestry business, union and government representatives.

Since the beginning of 2008, 33 people have died in work-related forestry and logging incidents. Ten of those deaths were in 2013.

The panel's look at the industry will have four broad lines of inquiry:

* hazards in the forest as a workplace

* people working in the forest

* the organisation of the forestry sector

* the role of the regulator.

Panel chairman George Adams says he's pleased at the level of engagement and passion in the forestry sector for the inquiry, while the third panel member, Hazel Armstrong, says the views of workers will be vital.

Source: www.nzcity.co.nz