Press
Release ECE/TIM/00/3
Geneva, 18 January 2000
Safety first!
Acute danger for workers clearing windblown forests
"Forest
operations in wind damaged forests are highly dangerous even for well-equipped and trained
professionals," according to Mr. Thomas Grünenfelder (Swiss Forest Agency), leader
of the Joint FAO/ECE/ILO Team of Specialists on Acute Forest Damage. Following the 1990
storms 31 forest workers were killed in Switzerland while performing sanitation cuttings
and over 50 in Germany. Many of these were forest owners performing dangerous logging
without the necessary technical and safety skills and equipment. Already two lives have
been lost in Switzerland during the forest cleanup following the December 1999
storms.
The forest cleanup will take many months. UNDER
NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD THE PUBLIC ENTER ANY WINDBLOWN FOREST STANDS. Extreme caution
should be exercised both now and in the future to avoid accidents from leaning trees and
falling trees and branches. Furthermore forest workers and forest owners should receive
special training in harvesting windblown timber and safety before starting work in
clearing damaged stands.
A Manual on acute forest damage:
managing the impact of sudden and severe forest damage (ECE/TIM/DP/7) is available on
the ECE Timber Committee website dedicated to following the storm damage at:
www.unece.org/trade/timber. This manual to help foresters faced with storm damage was
prepared by a team of specialists under the Joint FAO/ECE/ILO Committee on Forest
Technology, Management and Training, led by Mr. Grünenfelder. It contains detailed
advice on 1. initial actions following storm damage, 2. damage survey and
reporting, 3. action planning, 4. harvesting operations, 5. marketing
windblown timber, 6. reforestation, and 7. evaluation of actions undertaken in
response to acute forest damage.
"Clearance of windblow" is a
section in the 1998 ILO Code of Practice on Safety and Health in Forestry Work,
(ILO Publications, International Labour Office, CH-1211 Geneva 22, Switzerland. Contact
Mr. Peter Poschen, Forestry and Wood Industries Specialist, ILO, Geneva, +(41 22) 799
6188).
For further information please contact:
Mr. Kit Prins
Chief, Timber Section
Palais des Nations, room 456
United Nations Economic Commission
for Europe (UN/ECE)
CH - 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Telephone: +(41 22) 917 2874
Fax: +(41 22) 917 0041
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: http://www.unece.org/trade/timber