One Fatal Forestry Accident A Month

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30557, 28 September 1964, Page 19

One Fatal Forestry Accident A Month

(New Zealand Press Association)

ROTORUA, Sept. 27.

There has been an average of more than one forestry fatality a month over the last 18 months in New Zealand, according to a report prepared for the seventh session of the Asia-Pacific Forestry Commission, being held in Rotorua. “Accident prevention continues to be a major problem and, over the last 18 months, there have been 19 fatal accidents,” says Mr J. J. Spiers, New Zealand Forest Service, in a progress report to the committee on forest working techniques and training of forest workers. Eight of the fatalities had occurred in the Rotorua region, which employed by far the greatest number of workers and where “a high rate of productivity and the application of various types of incentive payment could be a contributing factor.” During Thinning “Laterly, thinning operation have figures prominently in these statistics and emphasise the fact that these need adequate supervision from experienced officers,” says Mr Spiers. “With logging work, the larger companies and the Forest Service are well aware of the dangers and have taken steps to form safety committees with the personnel of their companies and, in some

cases, safety booklets for distribution to the workers have been published.

“These can be most useful in making new workers aware of the potential dangers on the job. On the whole, the most severe accidents have occurred among the more experienced workers whose familiarity with danger has tended to make them more complacent.”