Forestry dying highlights ‘conflicting pressures’ | USAEMALL.com

The death of an experienced forestry worker who was struck by a falling tree highlights conflicting pressures between safety and environmental protection, a coroner says.

Raymond Penney, who had 45 years of experience in the industry, was using an excavator to bring down a hazardous old-growth tree in a coupe at Geeveston in southern Tasmania in 2021.

Its roots twisted during the process causing a regrowth tree to fall on him when he got out of the excavator, potentially in “the panic of the moment”.

Coroner Leigh Mackey said several failures contributed to Mr Penney’s death, including inappropriate machinery use, poor risk management and the absence of a manual tree-feller.

The coupe included a machinery exclusion zone, designed to protect one of four waterways.

When bringing down the old-growth tree, Mr Penney and a colleague believed they couldn’t enter the exclusion zone as part of the operation, Ms Mackey said.

Priority was inappropriately placed on environmental restrictions despite the safety concerns, she added.

“The facts of this matter highlight the pressures associated with modern forestry practices in this state,” Ms Mackey wrote in findings published on Friday.

There was a significant and justifiable importance on health and safety in the industry, as well as a commendable intention to protect the ecological values of forestry zones, she said.

“At times these aims can conflict,” Ms Mackey said.

Mr Penney could have survived if he had stayed in the excavator’s cabin, which is designed to protect operators from falling objects, the coroner found.

State-owned forestry company Sustainable Timber Tasmania brought in a safety code and improvements in systems in 2021 after Mr Penney’s death.

Among multiple recommendations, Ms Mackey said consideration should be given to merging practices and safety codes to ensure both aspects were in the one document.

Mr Penney was working for a contractor at the time under the oversight of Sustainable Timber Tasmania.

Ms Mackey also called for all forestry workers to be given practical demonstrations of the effectiveness of operator cabin protection systems.