Safety in forestry operations: Harvesting and haulage

What it contains

Forestry operations workers are at high risk of serious injury and death. People have been seriously injured or killed from felling trees, attaching cables to logs and loading logs onto trucks. Many of these risks also apply to all workers in Victorian forest environments. This document tells you:

• who the industry standard applies to and what it covers
• how to identify high risk practices, reduced risk and preferred solutions
• how a forest operator’s work practices or management systems may be audited
• who is responsible for forestry workers’ health and safety
• how to systematically approach risk management
• essential occupational health and safety requirements
• health and safety factors affecting road planning, coupe preparation and access
• how to provide the highest level of protection for workers when harvesting timber, including trees with fire, insect, wind or snow damage
• how to provide the highest level of protection for forestry workers during log extraction, log landings, loading, transport and unloading
• how to provide the highest level of protection for forestry workers during infield processing
• the recommended processes of inspecting and maintaining forest machinery
• how to identify, manage, reduce or eliminate other common hazards for forestry workers