The risk of serious injury or death has forced the closure of almost one in 10 forestry operations inspected so far in an industry-wide safety assessment. The assessment figures were released by Labour Minister Simon Bridges today after the country’s eighth forestry death this year.
Bay of Plenty forestry worker David Charles Beamsley, 63, from Murupara, was killed on Tuesday afternoon in what police said appeared to be a tree-felling accident at the Kaingaroa Forest.
In August, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) started inspecting every cable logging operation in the country to see how well they adhered to the new forestry code of practice, introduced in December last year. Inspectors had so far assessed 150 operations, or about half the roughly 330 in New Zealand, Mr Bridges said. Of those, 14 were shut down because there was imminent danger of serious injury or death. That means 9.3 per cent had potentially fatal or injurious health and safety failings. Inspectors also issued 182 enforcement notices, suggesting more than one safety shortcoming was identified at some of the 150 operators. Source: NZHerald