Forest Industry slams TV portrayal of loggers

MEDIA RELEASE – WOODCO – 2 July 2009

Forest Industry slams TV portrayal of loggers

New Zealand’s peak industry body for the forest and wood products industry has slammed the portrayal of logging in Canada in the TV show titled “Axmen” and aired on TV3 on Wednesday night.

The Chair of WoodCo, Doug Ducker, said, “People watching the TV show would be well-informed to know that forestry work in New Zealand is conducted as part of a modern and safety conscious industry, where our harvesting and forestry crews work as teams of talented, well-trained and skilled operators  following agreed workplace standards.  An example would see a typical work crew having a quick ‘tailgate’ meeting every morning where workers and their mates make sure new risks are identified, contained and reduced wherever and whenever possible.”

The irony is that the forestry sector in New Zealand is better known by those associated with it as a progressive and strong team-based workplace which has a strong safety culture – to the envy of other rurally-based industries.  “There is a growing intolerance to any workers who are not prepared to be part of a pro-safety culture out there in the forestry workplace”, said the spokesman Doug Ducker.

“There is not much reality in the portrayal on the TV shows, possibly because TV is more about entertainment and producers want to shock, not inform people about how forestry work is really undertaken.”

WoodCo is the peak industry body for the entire forestry and forest products sector throughout New Zealand.  It represents the collective interests of forest owners, forest contractors and the wood processing / manufacturing sectors.

ENDS

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