International Safety Specialists to focus on Forestry

Media Release
1st December 2014

For Immediate Release

International Safety Specialists to focus on Forestry

The Forest Industry Engineering Association (FIEA) has just announced it’s flagship forest safety conference series will be extended to include Australia in March 2015. The event sold out in November 2013 so is being doubled in size. It will run at the Distinction Hotel in Rotorua on 3-4th March and at the Bayview Eden Hotel in Melbourne on 10-11th March.

“We are pleased to have secured the services of four internationally recognised forest safety specialists for the 2015 Safety Summit series,” says FIEA spokesman John Stulen. “Each one of our keynote speakers brings a different set of specialist skills vital to making positive safety change for people in forest industries across Australia and New Zealand.”

Reynold Hert, CEO, BC Forest Safety, British Columbia, Canada

His organisation has an excellent track record in facilitating safety improvement. He joined the BC Forest Safety Council as Chief Executive Officer in March 2009. Reynold brings to the Council a firm belief that safe businesses are the best businesses. He believes forestry operations that integrate safety as a way of doing business can see improved results including fewer injuries, lower costs, higher productivity and better worker morale.

Wiremu Lee Edmonds, Safety Champion, Tuakiri

Wiremu Lee Edmonds ancestral bloodlines link him to various tribes within the North Island of New Zealand and extend into England and Sweden. In 2010 Wiremu became a leading facilitator of the Safety Culture Tree to forest principles, contractors and logging crews throughout NZ. Wiremu has a powerful message on forest safety and is actively involved throughout New Zealand delivering keynote speeches, developing and facilitating leadership initiatives in the cooperate sector.

Ivan Pupulidy, Director of the Office of Learning, US Forest Service, USA

In 1995, Ivan became a US Forest Service Lead Plane Pilot for wild land fire operations and later became a Regional Aviation Safety Manager. Ivan completed several internationally recognized courses in safety program management and accident investigation and completed a Master’s of Science Degree in Human Factors and Systems Safety at Lund University, Sweden. He will deliver a unique presentation from his focus on safety in forest fire-fighting in the US.

Steven Falk Steven Falk, Founder and President, Switchback Systems, British Columbia, CANADA

Switchback's secret strength is its commitment to team. Steven has had the privilege to give leadership to this growing innovative team since 2010. Steven says,”We believe people can change and that true, sustainable success is found in the power of team. Our Switchback Foundation leads participants through the fascinating process of understanding how our stored memories form our core values and how our core values direct our thoughts that ultimately produce the actions by which we are judged.“ Previous to Switchback, Steve operated a successful counselling and private consulting practice on Vancouver Island in Canada for 21 years.

The four keynote speakers will be complemented by a series of local industry speakers and safety specialists to keep a focus on the real needs of local forest companies and contractors. The conference content is deliberately directed at offering real value to logging contractor owners and their crew leaders. Senior forest managers and supervisors are also a key part of the target audience.

Full details of our upcoming Forest Industry Safety Summit conference programmes and registration details can be found here: http://forestsafety2015.com

About Forest Industry Contractors Association (FIEA)

Our group is completely focused on hosting technical conference programmes for people from all shapes and sizes of forest and wood products companies. We provide conference attendance and participation for people working in both New Zealand and Australian operations. We offer an independent forum to allow people across companies to evaluate new tools, techniques and technologies for business improvement.

With the extent of our industry coverage the networking and learning opportunities with at our conferences with leading local and international technology providers is also a significant benefit to leaders, managers supervisors and workers alike. FIEA is well recognised as providing one of the most effective vehicles for technology transfer for forest products companies.

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