56 | FORESTRY FNR Forestry 2019 Crew of young leaders in the making Richard Loader FNR Forestry 2019 achieved Safetree Certification status, the very bastion of health and safety for the forestry sector in May last year. Aptly recognised at the 2021 Northland Forestry Awards, an unyielding health and safety culture underpinned by a focus on workplace training has played a significant role in the success of Northland silviculture specialist FNR Forestry 2019 Ltd (FNR). Operations Manager Anthony (Shorty) Murray received the region’s Training Company/ Contractor of the Year award on behalf of the company that has been his life for the last thirty years. “Shorty is a key part of the business and that’s why we put him forward for this award,” says Jeremy Parkinson, FNR’s Managing Director. “He’s a larger than life character, the boys love him and all the forest management companies like and respect him for what he has achieved. “He has a huge amount of experience and just a great way of imparting knowledge onto our trainees. “Our training and safety culture is very much the result of Shorty. He has instilled that in our crew leaders and senior members and that’s driven right down through the business.” Prior to Jeremy purchasing the business two and a half years ago, Shorty had also achieved a number of national training awards. “We believe we do a really good job of on-the-job training and that’s reflective of our ability to train the operator properly and thoroughly in the art and skill of using a chainsaw safely. “There’s a real shortage of chainsaw operators, not just in Northland but throughout New Zealand. “Many of the young people who have entered the forestry industry have left school early and chosen manual work as their career. “Being able to operate a chainsaw safely and efficiently is a really unique skill to have and the best way for these people to learn is on the job training. “They may not be great in the classrooms but if you instil the skills out in the forest and then reiterate that across their bookwork then they end up succeeding. “This is a great opportunity for them to get a skill-set and some qualifications that they can pick up and take anywhere in New Zealand to get a job in forestry.” Jeremy says that along with Shorty, FNR has a wider crew of young leaders coming through who all take the young trainees under their wing, encouraging through affirmation, while making suggestions for improvement. “It is an old school thorough way of training with a focus on technique and getting the process right. “Once you get the technique right you learn how to cut properly and over time efficiency comes. “Many of the young people who have entered the forestry industry have left school early and chosen manual work as their career. Being able to operate a chainsaw safely and efficiently is a really unique skill to have and the best way for these people to learn is on the job training.” “When we get audited out in the bush by the forestry companies that we contract to the feedback we always get is about the culture of our crew and how we do things. So the awards are a way of getting that news out there that we are the Northland Training Company of the Year and we have a good training record which reflects in your health and safety record and the crew culture.” Complementing success at the Northland Forestry Awards, in May last year FNR Forestry 2019 achieved Safetree Certification status, the very bastion of health and safety for the forestry sector. “We are very proud of that achievement and again Shorty has been a big part of that, along with our Health and Safety Manager/HR Manager Creole Wallace. The auditor who spent a couple of days with us commented that the Toolbox meeting he witnessed was the best he had ever attended in his time because of the interactive nature of the crew leaders querying the crew, bringing in engagement and talking about the process that we go through on the chain saw.” Based in Kaitaia and operating a team of 30 that swells to 50 during the peak winter months, FNR Forestry operates throughout the Far North, predominantly contracting to major forest managers in the region, including Summit Forests New Zealand Ltd, Hancock Forest Management (Manulife Investment Management) PF Olsen and New Zealand Forestry. “All those companies place a huge emphasis on health and safety, Safetree status and the training of your crew. “Last year we also went to Waimate in the South Island for a private client.” Looking ahead into the future, Jeremy says the company has developed a succession plan with one of the senior team members Alfred Preuss being groomed to eventually step into Shorty’s big boots as in-house trainer and assessor/ senior operations manager. “We also have a good core of crew leaders who work along side Alf including Philip Thaggard, and Neil Rouse who has a forestry degree and has been in silviculture for almost as long as Shorty.”
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