Forestry is called New Zealand's deadliest industry for good reason. It claims more than its fair share of victims _ among them 23-year-old Wanganui man, Reece Reid, who was crushed by a tree last November. As the casualty list mounts, LYDIA ANDERSON investigates what is being done to make the job safer
Within the forestry industry, momentum is building and pressure is growing: something has to change to stop more deaths.
Analysis published by the Chief Coroner's office this month shows the forestry sector has the nation's highest rate of workplace-injury deaths.
The analysis of six years of forestry-related deaths, including logging-truck fatalities, showed there was an average of five fatalities a year between July 2007 and August 2013.
It found 39 per cent of the deaths resulted from tree-felling accidents and almost a quarter were due to "breaking-out" incidents.
The number of serious incidents was also on the rise. The 188 serious-harm notifications last year were the highest number in five years.
A coroner's joint inquest into five Bay of Plenty deaths and a sector-led safety review will be carried out next year, in the hope of casting light on health and safety issues and making recommendations for change.
It follows calls for an independent inquiry into the sector's obvious safety failings - and claims the grisly stats reflect decades of slipping standards resulting from a deregulated industry.
However the Government has refused to hold its own inquiry, with Labour Minister Simon Bridges saying an approved code of practice for the industry implemented last December would make a difference once bedded in.
The new code aims to make forestry safer by setting standards around tree felling and breaking out - which involves the gathering and hauling of logs to skid sites. It will include practical aspects such as safe working hours, how workers signal to each other in the forest, and ensuring they adhere to safe retreating distances.
Responsibility for worker safety is a contested issue within the industry - which exports billions of dollars in timber each year and comprises hundreds of logging contractor operations nationwide.
Forest Industry Contractors Association chief executive John Stulen said the industry had made big improvements from 2005 to 2012, reducing reported injuries from about 450 a year to 320.
Initiatives have included random drug testing, a forestry action plan, on-site safety training and reviews of codes of practice.
Mr Stulen links the spike in fatalities to a big lift in production to meet rising overseas demand, particularly from China.
Mr Bridges says a number of Government initiatives are under way to increase workplace health and safety, including the Forestry Sector Action plan, the Approved Code of Practice for Safety and Health in Forest Operations, the Safer Forest Harvesting Project, and safety inspectors assessing every logging contracting operation.
However, Mr Stulen said inspectors were under-resourced, with numbers falling since the 1990s.
Opposition politicians and unions have called for a corporate manslaughter charge to be introduced, whereby negligent forestry companies could face greatly increased fines or jail time for senior managers.
In the Palmerston North District Court this month, Taupo-based forestry contracting company Great Lake Harvesting was fined a reduced amount of $34,000, following the death of Wanganui man Reece Reid, an inexperienced crew member who was felling trees without proper supervision or training.
The company was charged under the Health and Safety in Employment Act with failing to ensure the safety of an employee.
Judge Gregory Ross reduced the fine from an initial $67,500 because of the company's precarious financial position.
Chief Coroner Judge Neil MacLean says the joint Bay of Plenty inquests next March will provide a clearer picture of the issues contributing to forestry-related deaths.
"It's a very cost-effective and sensible way of getting not just the immediate facts from the witnesses and the people involved, but also then a broader expert perspective on what conclusions perhaps could be drawn from those facts - or, more importantly, whether there are any sensible recommendations that perhaps could be made."
Forest Owners' Association senior policy analyst Glen Mackie says he hopes the sector review can also highlight structural safety issues and find solutions to prevent more workers from being harmed.
A shortlist of personnel for the review panel has been finalised, and will include a worker representative.
The review is expected to get under way before the end of this year and could be completed as early as March, he says.