FEW DRUG PROBLEMS IN NELSON FORESTRY SECTOR

Nelson forestry workers are not heavy cannabis users but the industry can
not afford to be complacent, says Weyerhaeuser managing director Nick Roberts.

"I don't think we can sit on our hands, given the issue is a problem for
the national industry," he said today .

Mr Roberts' remarks follow comments by former Occupational Safety and
Health worker Mark Field, of Rotorua, who says unskilled North Island
forestry workers are often paid in drugs.

Mr Fielder, health and safety manager at Rotorua's Waiariki Institute of
Technology, said he based his conclusions on anecdotal evidence from
forestry operations in Te Kuiti and Northland.

Getting any closer to the problem and investigating further would have put
him at risk, he said.

Pirate sub-contractors who paid workers in cannabis were largely working in
silviculture operations - clearing, planting, pruning and thinning - and
used young, inexperienced workers who were often beneficiaries, he said.

Mr Roberts said the industry had focused on the issue since a Canterbury
University study last year found that 59 percent of 165 North Island
silviculturalists and harvesters were regular or heavy cannabis users.

Forest companies and subcontractors are being urged to adopt an
industry-wide anti-drugs programme put together by the Forest Owners
Association. The $70,000 programme will be launched in October.

"In terms of Nelson, I can't say the industry has any serious problems," Mr
Roberts said.

He said Weyerhaeuser had instigated its own drug and alcohol programme, and
wanted forestry contractors to copy it within their own businesses.

"We can't be too complacent about the problem."

Nelson Occupational Safety and Health manager Brian Stratford said drugs
and alcohol had not been implicated in any notified forestry accidents in
Nelson.

The issue had come up in the fishing and seasonal harvesting industries, he
said.

"We have noticed anyone contracting to forest owners is strict on health
and safety, and brook no deviations from the standards."

Nelson Wood Industries Union representative Jan Noonan said contractors
addressed the issue of drugs in the forestry industry last year.

"A few of the contractors decided to get in and clean things up, and I
think a few workers were suspended on suspicion of using drugs."

Mr Fielder's revelation is a serious one in an industry that is one of the
most deadly in New Zealand for workers.

The national average for workplace fatalities from 1985 to 1994 was five
per 100,000 people a year, but for forestry the figure was 121 deaths per
100,000, Occupational Safety and Health spokesman Justin Brownlie said today .

In addition, one in every 10 forestry workers was seriously injured each year.

Mr Fielder said the safety statistics for black market workers were even worse.

"These people are inexperienced and untrained, and especially in the
planting and pruning areas are working in a very demanding job."