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FICA E-newsletter - February 2025

In our first FICA update for 2025, we're covering:Market Update Tairawhiti Contractors Meeting 11 February GDC Councillors Hear Contractor's Voice Immigration NZ Settings FICA Board Meeting Gisborne ACoP Review Hear from our Sponsors TLC Insurance Brandt Waratah...

Insurance designed by FICA contractors, for FICA contractors

Starting out as a family-owned New Zealand business 26 years ago, TLC Insurance has had a strong connection with forestry from the start.Original owner and TLC Insurance founder Keith Penny had played rugby with logging contractor Paul Olsen (Olsen Forest Management / OFM) in their earlier years, and had built a friendship that lasted beyond the rugby field.Wanting to provide the forestry industry with insurance that catered to the needs of contractors throughout New Zealand, Keith engaged Paul ...

GDC Hear Contractors Voice

FICA hosted a number of GDC Councillors at Stirling Logging in forest near Wharerata (located just in the Hawkes Bay) this month. There was good engagement with the Councillors, who seemed sympathetic to forestry.Key messages wereForestry is a significant contributor to the economy in TairawhitiForestry employees are highly skilled people that are well paidUnder the current NES CF rules, contractors are pulling a lot of unmerchantable volume that poses little riskThere is considerable diffe...

ACOP Review Update February 2025

In mid-January WorkSafe released an updated draft of the ACoP with a plan to have the new ACoP rolled out by March 2025. There were several major changes:It was written for PCBUs rather than employers, contractors and workers;There was a big shift away from mandatory instruction to recommendations;There was a significant shift away from the current format and a plan only to have it available electronically and not hard copy. This was at odds with industry’s expectation that the current AC...

Immigration NZ Settings

FICA submitted a joint submission with FOA on 11 October 2024. The Government announced changes 22 December. The changes move the needle in the right direction for a lot of employers, but it won’t go far enough for the forestry sector:Two years of experience will still be problematicThey are not proposing to remove the English language requirementThe home country stand-down (12 months) will still apply The government is not going to change its position on 1 to 3 above. Understandably they don�...

Tairawhiti Contractors Meeting 11 February

Another meeting was held with Tairawhiti Contractors in Gisborne on 11 February. Unfortunately, the GDC compliance team for good reason were unable to present at the meeting and have taken a rain check until next month.The general mood in the meeting was that while there has been good engagement between contractors, the GDC, the Mayor, Forest Managers and other stakeholders, the changes at the coal face have been glacial with a small tinge of green shoots. Thanks to Waratah for sponsoring t...

Market Update February 2025

In summary the market is still delicately balanced between supply and demand. The Chinese market is starting to get back into gear after Chinese New Year (CNY), inventory has grown from around 3 million mid-January to in excess of 4 million post CNY which may put pressure on CFR prices.Demand in China still remains soft and unlikely to improve and there is still much uncertainty regarding what Trump will do with tariffs. Despite this, one exporter I spoke to believes tariffs will not affect dema...

Immigration NZ Roundup - January 2025

Here is the latest Immigration Roundup from Immigration NZ....

FICA E-newsletter - December 2024

In our last FICA update for 2024, we're covering:Market Update Waitomo Fuel Outlook Tairawhiti Contractors Meeting 27 November Earthwork Qualifications - Unit Standards ACOP Review gets the hurry up FSC Audit Feedback Requests Registration of Interest – Production Thinning Opportunity Northern SouthlandPaySauce payroll update for ContractorsChristmas / New Year PeriodThis will be the final newsletter for the year. With most operations shutting down this week and n...

ACOP Review FICA Only Workshop

As you are aware FISC, FICA and FOA had the opportunity to co-host the Hon Brooke van Velden Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety in Rotorua as part of the recent Health and Safety Reform Roadshow, on behalf of the forestry sector. The industry expressed a desire to see the Approved Code of Practice (ACoP) review completed given it has been progressing slowly for an extended period of time.It looks like the Minister took that feedback on board and has directed WorkSafe to move quickly to c...

Earthworks Qualifications Standards

FICA met with the GDC to discuss environmental accreditation of contractors and training of operators potentially using the new earthworks standards currently being developed. The standards are currently being developed by Greg Steele - see links below. ...

FSC Audit Feedback Requests

As you may be aware a significant proportion of the NZ Forest Estate is FSC certified. Of the 1,757,451 net stocked area, 1,186,776 or 67% is certified.The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an international, non-governmental organisation dedicated to promoting responsible management of the world’s forests. FSC's certification system enables businesses (including investors) and consumers to choose wood, paper and other forest products made with materials that support responsible for...

Tairawhiti Contractors Meeting 27 November

Tairawhiti Contractors met on 27 November as a follow up to the 5 September meeting. There was a good turn-out and Rowan thought a very productive meeting. FICA outlined the progress since the last meeting 5 September. This included the meeting with EWC and the Mayor to communicate key messages, the Mayor’s visit to the forest to meet with contractors, a number of discussions with MPI regarding the NES CF slash review and the impact on contractors, discussions with FGR/Universit...

ACoP Feedback Events

WorkSafe have been updating the forestry guidance (ACoP Review) and are looking for feedback from industry. Below is an initial draft of sections on:Managing risk, and the contracting chainManaging healthHarvesting (in part)Mechanised harvestingSteep slope harvestingMachine-assisted harvestingManual fellingThe draft includes an introduction that details all the sections in the final guidance, which are still to come and which you will also have the chance to give feedback on....

Further changes to improve AEWV processing efficiency

The Government has made further changes to assist with efficient processing across the Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) scheme.When applying for or renewing accreditation, employers no longer need to provide evidence about their staff and AEWV employees completing the Employment New Zealand learning modules with their application.Employers will still need to confirm that staff involved in recruitment have completed them, and that new AEWV employees have been offered paid time to do the modul...

Data analysis of all recorded manual tree falling fatalities 2013 to 2023

In the 10 years to 2023, too many New Zealanders have left home to work on a commercial forestry site and not made it home to their families at the end of the day. While increased use of mechanisation has reduced the risks to forestry workers, a considerable cohort of manual tree fallers put themselves in harm's way to harvest trees for mills around New Zealand and the worldwide export market.This report will analyse tree-falling fatalities so the industry can identify ways to make safety improv...

Safety Alert - Seatbelts

Wearing your seatbelt is a legal requirement and an MFM (NZ) Life-Saving Rule. You must wear your seat belt at all times in a moving vehicle. A recent incident involving a passenger not wearing a seat belt has resulted in a serious injury. Whether you travel 10 metres or 100 kilometres, you must wear your seatbelt in a moving vehicle or machine. Do not move your vehicle until you and all of your passengers are securely buckled in. Non-seat belt fatalities account for 30% of overall motor ve...

FICA E-newsletter - November 2024

In our latest FICA update, we're covering:Market Update Rotovegas / AGM Wrap Up Have Your Say - New NES-CF Slash StandardsFalling From Heights Improvement Notices MBIE / Immigration / Labour Inspectorate Quarterly Meetings FICA Meets with SafeTree Auditors Gisborne Mayor Hears Contractor's Voice Mike Hurring Training School Hard Work Drives Success - Blake Roigard at Thomassen LoggingPaySauce payroll update for ContractorsAB Equipment / Tigercat Nelson For...

Have your say - NES-CF slash standards

FICA has its say on the new NES-CF slash standards, are you interested in having your say?You might be aware that the Government is looking to improve slash management standards in the NES-CF to clarify rules around low-risk slash.MPI have been engaging with a range of forestry and council people to understand potential options.MPI have heard a number of things about the effect of the current (‘new’) slash standard on harvesting, with some reference to the impact on harvesting contractors.FI...

Managing and removing access in Immigration Online

It is now easier for accredited employers to manage access to records in their enhanced Immigration Online account.All employers now have an ‘Access Administrator’ role. The user with this role can view, manage and remove anyone’s access to their organisation’s records.By default, the Access Administrator role has been allocated to the user with current organisation-sharing permission who made the most recent accreditation application.Access Administrators can transfer their role to anot...

GDC Mayor Rehette Stoltz hears Contractor's Voice

Gisborne District Council (GDC) Mayor (Rehette Stoltz) and her deputy John Wharehinga visited Wayne McEwan’s (Black Stump Logging) during the month. Those that also attended were Blake Spiers, and new FICA members Ricky Kuru, Rodney McIndoe and Arana Kuru. Unfortunately Ian Diak was unable to attend.The visit was a real success, and both Rehette and Josh engaged well with the members. The members did a really good job getting the key messages across that were raised at the Contractor meet...

AB Equipment Nelson Forestry Field Day

FICA attended the AB Equipment field day in Nelson in October. The report below is from Mark Hill Forestry Product Manager, AB Equipment.Proceedings kicked off Wednesday night with a Dinner at Smugglers Bar & Restaurant, kindly sponsored by Tigercat & AB Equipment (Pete Dudson) where 44 people attended.Thursday morning, we visited an Endurance Logging Yarder Crew site where we saw a Tigercat LS855C Feller Buncher being tethered on a Timbermax T20HD Winch, Sumitomo SH350 Processor &a...

Joint Submission on Health and Safety Reform

FISC on behalf of the Industry has made on online submission that FICA supports. Here is a copy of the submission:In 2013, forestry’s safety performance was so bad that we were killing people at a rate of one per month for that entire year. A decade later, forestry’s safety performance has improved dramatically, with reductions in both fatalities and serious harm. Without a doubt, the industry still has significant room to improve. But it has learnt a lot over the last 10 years – a period ...

Hard Work Drives Success - Blake Roigard at Thomassen Logging

BLAKE ROIGARD loves his job working in the Kinleith Forest for one of the largest forestry contractors in New Zealand.The 23-year-old has been working for Thomassen Logging Ltd based in Taupō since he left school nearly six years ago.“I’ve climbed the ladder quite quickly there. I was always quite keen to progress, to get better, and started learning how to operate the machines while I was still doing manual falling,” says Blake.“I guess showing initia...

Special Update - WorkSafe position on Handrails and Guarding

As you may be aware, FICA has been working closely with Worksafe to ensure their Strategy and Sector Plan for Forestry is prioritised correctly using robust data.One area that has had some attention is Worksafe’s Fall from Heights (FFH).I’m pleased to announce there has been a change in Worksafe’s position, the text in italics below is from the Worksafe Forestry Sector Coordination Group. The WorkSafe Forestry Sector Coordination Group are now able to confirm the following:Excavators ...