Transitioning to the new Approved Code of Practice

The Forestry Industry Safety Council has received inquiries from forest managers and contractors regarding the transition to the new forestry Approved Code of Practice (ACoP) launched today.
 
Worksafe advises that the key changes to the new ACoP are to:
 

* Bring it in line with the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015.

* Remove the prescriptive nature of the previous ACOP under the Health and Safety at Work legislation.

* Focus on the risks of an activity and provide guidance on how businesses may manage those risks.

* Restructure it to enable businesses to look up a specific activity (e.g. silviculture, manual felling, mechanised harvesting, etc), go directly to that subject area and find all the information they need.

* Provide more detail than the previous ACoP, but in an easier-to-navigate format.
  
Forest managers and contractors have also expressed concerns about having sufficient time to review the new ACoP and to align their policies and procedures appropriately.
 
WorkSafe has advised it will continue to work with forestry businesses and workers to understand the ACoP, which sets out best practice and industry examples for identifying and managing risks. The forestry sector is therefore able to undertake a comprehensive review of practices and align policies and procedures accordingly.
 
Learning modules will be available on WorkSafe's website once the updated guidance is published to support businesses and workers with putting the new ACoP into practice. 

We will let you know about further resources as they become available.

Joe Akari
FISC