However, Labour Minister Simon Bridges says an approved code of practice for the industry implemented last December would make a difference once it has had time to "bed 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 like safe working hours, how workers signal to each other in the forest and ensuring workers adhere to safe retreating distances.
The shocking statistics
Forestry is called New Zealand's deadliest industry for good reason.
According to analysis published by the Chief Coroner's office this month, 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, shows there was an average of five fatalities a year between 2007 and 2013.
It found 39 per cent of the deaths were due to 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.
Ministry of Building, Innovation and Employment statistics detail eight forestry-related deaths already this year alone.
Who's responsible?
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 told the Weekend Herald the industry made big improvements from 2005 to 2012, reducing reported injuries from around 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 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 Palmerston North District Court earlier this month Taupo-based forestry contracting company Great Lake Harvesting was fined a reduced amount of $34,000, following the death of inexperienced crew member Reece Joseph Reid, 23, in Wairarapa last November. 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.
Council of Trade Unions (CTU) president Helen Kelly - who has led a crusade to improve industry standards - says she is very disappointed at the judge's "critical error" in not imposing the full fine.
"They don't discount fines in other areas based on ability to pay."
At present the maximum penalty for a negligent company is a $250,000 fine.
"Not a single forest owner has ever been prosecuted. It's the contractors that have been prosecuted," says Ms Kelly.
CTU will argue for that to change during submissions at the Bay of Plenty inquests.
However she says the best solution is to do more "before these guys get killed".
"The conditions under which these guys [in Bay of Plenty] were working was shocking. There wasn't a guy in that group being paid a living wage, they were all working long hours.
"The system has to be sorted out."
MBIE is "quick to blame" worker errors for accidents, instead of examining the system they work in, she says.
The Government's 2012 code of practice guidelines are "worse than the old ones" she says, because a number of explicit safety guidelines have been removed.
Looking ahead
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."
Both Ms Kelly and the Forest Owners' Association, which is leading the sector safety review, support the inquests.
Association senior policy analyst Glen Mackie says he hopes the sector review can also highlight safety issues and find solutions to prevent more workers from being harmed.
It's intended that the review panel 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.
He supports the Government's code of practice guidelines, developed in partnership with the industry.
"We think it's already had a significant impact on safety. It's been very well received by the industry and it's a significant step ahead.
"You've got to let it settle down - one of the ways these things work is you've got to change [forestry workplace] culture. You can't change culture immediately.
"If people don't follow the rules, that's where issues can come in. You've got to wait for it to be accepted."
