50 | FORESTRY Skipps Logging T T Richard Loader Four operating values in the frame Skipps Logging has a team of 20 across two cable harvesting logging crews and array of mechanised harvesting machines. T T to page 52 Logging crews operate in a high-risk environment and a strong focus on health and safety is paramount, but Waikato based Skipps Logging has taken that to a new level by introducing staff well-being into its team culture. Skipps Logging was founded by Tom and Mandie Skipps in 2007 who have grown the business to a team of 20 across two cable harvesting logging crews and array of mechanised harvesting machines. The couple have a passion for health, safety and wellbeing and have made that a focus of the Skipps Logging culture. ‘Our mission is for everyone to come home safely each day and the crews have introduced four operating values into the business to make sure that happens: Safety 1st, safety leads the business from top to bottom; Standing In The Gap, which is about working as a team and putting others’ needs ahead of our own; Positive Attitude, no stinking thinking, just have to get on and do it; Speaking Up which is having the courage to tell another bushman, who might be a lot more senior, that they’re not doing something right, or it’s speaking up to say you didn’t get much sleep and not up to falling trees today. We have a toolbox meeting every morning and the foreman will always ask, Is everyone ok?” Mandie says the wellbeing side of the team culture is based on the idea that if the mind is good, everything else will be good. “Ten years ago, we launched the Biggest Bush Loser, which was all about looking after our crews and one of the guys lost 19kgs. Off the back of that we started a Daily Kick Start at the end of the toolbox meeting. It’s a two-minute exercise session where the guys run a hundred metres, do some star jumps, run a hundred metres back, do some press-ups and stretches. They get puffed and a little bit fitter, but the idea is to get the blood pumping around the brain and be more alert and ready to start the day out in a high-risk environment. The crews have embraced this initiative because it’s such a short thing and it’s fun. It’s another good way of creating that positive environment and a bit of bonding.” your industry’s local accounting specialists. C R A I G M U N R O F O R E S T Y C O N T R A C T I N G S P E C I A L I S T 0 9 4 7 0 4 4 4 C A T A P U L T P A R T N E R S . C O . N Z C A • Trucks • Air Conditioning • Machines • Auto Electrical 021 0293 9238
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