Arboriculture and Forestry Advisory Group (AFAG)- Rural
Industries Group gains AFAG seat
Thursday, 01 April 2010
The Rural Industries Group now has a seat
on the Health and Safety Executive's (HSE) Arboriculture and
Forestry Advisory Group (AFAG). For the benefit of non-foresters,
AFAG functions as a project group of HSE's Agriculture Industry
Advisory Committee (AIAC). Most will know of AFAG via the excellent
AFAG Guides/Checklists on various tree work operations on the
HSE
website. But apart from developing guides, the group also
provides an active industry forum.
The December meeting of the group was attended by one of HSE's
big hitters, Marcia Davies.
Updates on group projects included:
- reducing chainsaw accidents
- rigging and dismantling in arboriculture
- machine assisted takedown
- pesticides in tree planting
- and much more.
Proposals for new projects included standards for Alpine
tractors, dealing with large trees and use of cranes in
arboriculture.
Graham Munford commented:
"As one of the Foresters on the Rural
Industries Group Committee, I represent the committee. I am also
involved with the subsidiary 'Training and Certification'
Group."
Read more on the HSE
website.