Media and public relations

This week, the Australian Forest Contractors Association (AFCA) opened Expressions of Interest inviting forest contracting businesses from across Australia to participate in the ForestFit Certification pilot.

"AFCA is excited to have reached this point in the ForestFit project, and the certification pilot is key to testing the standards and criteria with a range of different forest contracting businesses before the national rollout” said AFCA’s General Manager, Ms Stacey Gardiner.

AFCA is working in partnership with Ernst and Young to deliver the certification pilot. The standards and criteria to be piloted align with industry standards and regulatory requirements to create a certification program that promotes best practice implementation and risk management. 

The industry-led development of the certification standards and criteria, where possible, align with existing schemes, regulatory requirements, Australian Standards and industry codes of practice.

"One of the key objectives of the ForestFit certification is to create efficiencies and opportunities for a 'deemed to comply’ with existing auditing programs and schemes, ultimately reducing costs while providing confidence that certified businesses are operating to a high standard” Ms Gardiner added.

The certification Standards to be piloted are:

• Standard 1: General requirements (mandatory)
• Standard 2: Business sustainability
• Standard 3: Work, health and safety
• Standard 4: Environmental practices