| Term | Explanation |
|---|---|
| ACOP/Approved code of practice | Sets out WorkSafe's expectations about how to comply with legal duties imposed by HSWA and regulations. Other practices can be used to achieve compliance as long as the level of health and safety is equivalent to, or higher, to that in an ACOP. |
| AS/NZS – Australian/New Zealand Standard | A reference to an Australian/New Zealand Standard, described by numerals and a title. |
| ATV/all-terrain vehicle | A smaller vehicle that has been designed for off-road use and includes quad bikes, side-by-sides and other purpose-built off-road utility vehicles. They may also be called a light utility vehicle (LUV) |
| Business or undertaking | The usual meanings are:
|
| CPEng | A Chartered Professional Engineer (often written as CPEng) is an experienced engineer who has been assessed as meeting a quality mark of competence. |
| Chain shot | The high-speed ejection of a piece of chain when a chain used in mechanised harvesting breaks. |
| Chute | The area on a hauler landing where stems are landed during extraction. |
| Close supervision | Direct and constant one-on-one supervision. |
| Competent person | Someone who can consistently demonstrate the skill and knowledge derived from experience and/or training for the type of work the person is tasked to do. |
| Contracting PCBU/Principal | A PCBU that engages another PCBU to do work for them (other than as an employee, apprentice, trainee or volunteer. |
| Contractor | A PCBU that has been engaged to do work by another PCBU (other than as an employee, apprentice, trainee or volunteer). Contractors and their employees are classed as workers of the contracting PCBU/principal. |
| Control measure | A way of eliminating or minimising risks to health and safety. |
| Danger triangle | The area below the chute in a cable logging operation. |
| Detent | Detent is a type of switch that uses a mechanism to hold it in a specific position until a force is applied to release it. |
| Driving trees | To fell a tree into one or more trees to bring those trees down. |
| Duty | A legal obligation to act responsibly according to the law. |
| Duty holder | A person who has a duty under HSWA. There are four types of duty holders – PCBUs, officers, workers and other persons at workplaces. |
| Eliminate | To remove the sources of harm (for example, equipment, substances or work processes). |
| Emergency | An uncontrolled event that has caused, or could cause:
|
| Exclusion zone | A designated area in which others, apart from the operator, are excluded. An exclusion zone is established by separation distances (usually two tree-lengths), physical barriers, or by scheduling activities at different times. |
| Exposure monitoring | Measures and evaluates what your workers are being exposed to while they are at work. This can be:
|
| Extraction | The pulling, carrying (forwarding), shovelling, or hauling of logs from the felling point to a landing by machinery. |
| Fall restraint device | A device used to prevent a person falling while working at height. This is usually made up of a harness and lanyard system. |
| Fatigue | A physiological state where someone is unable to mentally and physically function as they usually would. This is caused by four main factors:
|
| Falling object protective structures (FOPS) | A structure meeting an ISO standard designed to be attached to, or form part of, mobile equipment for the purpose of reducing the possibility that an operator seated beneath the structure in the driving position being harmed if the FOPS receive a blow from a falling object. |
| Faller (feller) | The person who cuts or chops a standing tree or part of a standing tree to bring down that tree. |
| Fell (felling) | To cut, chop, push, or pull down a standing tree or part of a standing tree. |
| Forestry operations | All activities involved in establishing, maintaining, harvesting, and processing of wood products on a forestry site. |
| Gut-hooked | A stem that has had a strop attached towards the middle of the stem which could cause the stem to swing or end-for-end during extraction. |
| Hazard | Anything that can cause harm. Under HSWA, hazard is defined as 'includes a person's behaviour where that behaviour has the potential to cause death, injury, or illness to a person (whether or not that behaviour results from physical or mental fatigue, drugs, alcohol, traumatic shock, or another temporary condition that affects a person's behaviour'. |
| Hazardous substances | Any product or chemical that has properties that are explosive, flammable, oxidising, toxic, corrosive or toxic to the environment. |
| Health | A person's physical and psychological health. |
| Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA) | The key work health and safety legislation in New Zealand. HSWA applies to all work and workplaces unless specifically excluded. You can find the full text of the Act on the New Zealand Legislation website. |
| Health monitoring | Looks at whether a worker's health is being harmed because of what they are being exposed to while at work (for example, hearing tests). |
| Hung-up tree | A cut tree caught in or lodged against another preventing it from falling to the ground. |
| Impairment | A reduction of a person's ability to think or act as the result of drug or alcohol use, mental fatigue, stress, health conditions, or traumatic shock. |
| Industry qualifications | Skill/unit standards registered with the New Zealand Qualifications Authority where assessment has been carried out and competence verified. |
| ISO | The International Organisation for Standardisation – an organisation that develops and publishes international standards that ensure quality and safety in products and services. |
| Manual felling | The felling of a tree by a method that requires the faller to stand at the base of a tree to carry out the tree felling operation. |
| Mobile plant | Mobile plant is plant that is powered or self-propelled, such as vehicles and equipment. Examples include bulldozers, quad bikes, mobile cranes, forklifts, elevating work platforms, tractors, and vehicles like cars, vans and trucks used for work. |
| Minimise | To take steps that protect the health and safety of people by reducing the likelihood of an event occurring, reducing the level of harm to people if it does occur, or both. |
| Must | Indicates a legal requirement that must be complied with. |
| Officer | A person who has the ability to significantly influence the management of a PCBU. This includes, for example, company directors and chief executives. Officers must exercise due diligence to ensure the PCBU meets its health and safety obligations. |
| Operator | A worker who operates some form of machinery. |
| Overlapping duties | When a PCBU shares duties with other PCBUs in relation to the same matter. When two or more PCBUs' duties overlap, the PCBUs must consult, co-operate and co-ordinate with each other. |
| Other persons at the workplace |
Includes workplace visitors and casual volunteers (who are not volunteer workers). These people have their own health and safety duties to take reasonable care to keep themselves safe and to not harm others at a workplace. |
| PCBU | Person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU). In most cases a PCBU will be a business entity, such as a company. However, an individual carrying out business as a sole trader or self-employed person is also a PCBU. A PCBU does not include workers or officers of a PCBU, volunteer associations with no employees, or home occupiers that employ or engage a tradesperson to carry out residential work. |
| Plant | Includes:
|
| Personal protective equipment (PPE) | Anything used or worn by a person (including clothing) to minimise risks to the person's health and safety. This may include – but is not limited to:
|
| Principal | See Contracting PCBU. |
| RCA Road controlling authority | For public roads, the RCA is usually a local council (for local roads) or NZTA (for state highways). |
| Risks | Arise from people being exposed to a hazard (a source of harm). |
| Rollover protective structure (ROPS) | A structure meeting an ISO standard, designed to be attached to or form part of mobile plant for the purpose of reducing the possibility of an operator (when also wearing a seatbelt) from being injured if the machine rolls over. |
| RT | Radio telephone |
| Sailer | A piece of broken wood (branch or top) resting in the canopy of a tree which may become dislodged. |
| Subcontractor | PCBUs hired by a contractor to work or provide services on their behalf. Sometimes subcontractors are referred to as suppliers. |
| Worker | An individual who carries out work in any capacity for a PCBU. A worker may be an employee, a contractor or sub-contractor, an employee of a contractor or sub-contractor, an employee of a labour hire company, an outworker (including a homeworker), an apprentice or a trainee, a person gaining work experience or on a work trial, or a volunteer worker. Workers can be at any level (for example, managers are workers too). A PCBU is also a worker if the PCBU is an individual who carries out work in that business or undertaking. |
| Workplace | Any place where a worker goes or is likely to be while at work, or where work is being carried out or is customarily carried out. Most duties under HSWA relate to the conduct of work. However, some duties are linked to workplaces. |
| Upstream PCBUs | PCBUs who design, manufacture, import or supply plant, substances or structures, or who install, construct or commission plant or structures. 'Design' includes the:
|
Last updated