Increased Public Activity

FISA Safety Bulletin

Update – the FLS design team have created a “Big Trucks – Don’t Block Entrance” sign to help combat the issue of menace parking. This was as a result of the FISA Forest Haulage WG raising parking in forest access/egress points as an increasingly common issue that creates a menace to timber haulage operations. The sign is freely available to download below for the industry to utilise as required.   

As we move out of lock down and into summer, this year will see staycations and a related increase in public interaction with forests. This is great but creates issues when interfacing with operations.

Members of the FISA Forest Haulage WG have reported incidents of walkers and cyclists casually passing working timber trucks. Simply erecting up signs and hoping that they will be adhered to by members of the public is not enough. Managing public access needs serious consideration and does take quite a bit of planning and community engagement.

Sometimes we don’t do ourselves many favours as an industry with poor sign management.  Every time someone walks past a sign and there is nothing there, we de-sensitize them to signs we want them to pay attention to.

The Forest Haulage WG have drafted the attached bulletin which offers a refresh on guidance available to FWMs including links to useful video resource.