Mangoihe has had "very minor scrapes and little stuff" but never a serious accident.
Tree felling is the most dangerous part of the job. At Matariki, with an average tree height of 38m, the "red zone" for keeping clear from a tree being felled was twice the tree height, 76m. It was important to have experienced workers with new ones. The team working the Farley C block had only two with less than two years' experience - the rest all had four to 30 years "in the bush".
It was easier to control what was happening when there were fewer young guys, Mr McDougall said.
Workers were kitted out with safety gear - hard hats with flaps, high-visibility jackets, gloves, steel-capped boots with spiked soles, and chaps, ear muffs and eye protection for those using a chainsaw.
The "breaking out" team was hooking logs to cables to be swung over to the working platform. It was a group of three - the head breaker outer was a senior, and there was also an intermediate and a junior. They carried a "talkie tooter" to signal to the hauler around the corner in a tooted version of morse code. The tooter doubles as a radio, and they also had a second radio and a backpack with a first aid kit.
There were four radios among the crew, and anyone felling trees wore a radio harness, known to workers as a bra, attached to his body. "Communication is a big thing in forestry. If you can talk to each other it's lot safer and everyone knows where everyone is."
All the workers have mandatory drug tests twice a year. They need to be alert on the job, and fatigue or inattention can be a killer.
There's a helicopter landing site nearby, in case of emergencies.
They're all being progressively trained, and are paid to attend night classes. They also have training on the job, and there are awards nights when they reach a new level.
They don't get to fell trees on their own until they have reached New Zealand Qualifications Authority level four, and they have a buddy system and a culture of working as a tight team.
"It's everyone's job to help your mate, and tell him if he is doing something wrong," Mr McDougall said. "If you are not sure, call up or leave it alone. You're not going to get told off for asking for help ..."
If people took risks either the individual or the whole crew was stood down. And as well as the company's rules there were health and safety audits by forest owners monthly and quarterly, and national guidelines and legislation to abide by.
There were lots of good reasons to be safety conscious, Mr McDougall said. As well as being the right way to operate it helped to keep good staff and to get contracts from forest owners like Rayonier.