Third Degree Coming on Forestry Soon
The opportunity for forest industry leaders to get their message across about the state of the industry’s health and safety awareness may be coming shortly. TV3’s Third Degree programme has been canvassing opinions in the forest. In the next few weeks we’ll see if they balance the views or choose to take sides. A number of forest company CEOs have been interviewed since the media chose to draw attention to union claims about deaths in forest workplaces.
In news items in recent months, the media has highlighted aspects from the union perspective, focused on painting a picture of fatigued and pressurised workers with few rights. In doing this, the media has failed to balance the ledger with issues that our industry leaders have repeatedly highlighted in interviews. The story about safety interventions which have for over three years been focused on the key areas of tree-falling and breaking out with considerable success in reducing serious harm accidents. Or the story about empowered employees working in high performance teams who have active systems in place to ensure safety in every task during the day. Or the story about crews who have been working above and beyond their daily work tasks by analysing safety culture factors affecting their work.
It’s scheduled to go to air sometime in the next few weeks. The Third Degree programme is broadcast at 8:30pm every Wednesday night.
