Safety and environmental protection are two key priorities for the forestry industry. The workforce requires skills to support safe work practices, including for working with heavy trees, operating large equipment and navigating isolated work environments.
In September 2018, the Australian Forest Products Association (AFPA) and the Australian Forest Contractors Association (AFCA) committed to the Safe and Skilled program. As the key forest industry safety training program, it requires that forest workers hold a statement of attainment in nationally endorsed units of competency relevant to forest operations.
To uphold strong safety standards as well as environmental protection procedures, all workers must hold a statement of attainment for the following units (or their predecessors) relevant to their job role:
OR one of the following:
In addition to these general requirements, operators must also hold a statement of attainment for a unit (or its predecessor) related to any hazardous activity they are conducting.
The list of Safe and Skilled approved units are reviewed annually by ForestWorks to include changes resulting from updates to the Forest and Wood Products Training Package.
Current approved unit/s can be found in the table below. Appropriate predecessor unit/s for each of these are outlined in the list of Safe and Skilled Approved Units of Competency.
Last updated 18/2/22