“Technology is vital in many new safety improvements in the forest industry – and the upcoming Forest Safety Summit will be showcasing them and the people who established them,” says Forest Industry Engineering Association event manager, Gordon Thomson.
Since early December, FIEA has been extremely busy with Safety Summit registrations. The industry response has been huge, says Thomson. Forest industry leaders have been very proactive in safety even before health and safety laws were reformed he added.
“At our March conference people will see technology is key to new safety advances that industry leaders have made. The speed of adoption by practical forestry people has been encouraging. Many innovators have already provided safety outcomes for their teams and clients. So, the case studies they will bring are proven to deliver results,” adds Thomson.
“For the first time, FIEA has teamed up with the Forest Industry Safety Council (FISC) to organise a workshop as part of the Safety Summit,” says Thomson. “Working with Fiona Ewing of FISC has led us to include a series of workshops and panel sessions for people to interact – from the forest floor to the CEOs.”
Two key technology speakers are:
• Richard Lawler, director of rengineering, forestry for John Deere Forestry from USA. Richard has worked closely with developments in steep slope harvesting in both North America and New Zealand.
• Jim French is an industry solutions specialist across Australasia for Teletrac Navman. For over 20 years he has shared his passion for GPS asset tracking with practical contractors to satisfy their needs.
The summit runs 1st & 2nd March 2017 in Rotorua at the Distinction Hotel. The following week it moves to the Bayview Eden Hotel in Melbourne running on 7th &8th March. For full details go here
