Forest Practices Code, Part 1: Timber Harvesting and haulage in Forestry Corporation of NSW softwood plantations.

The Forest Practices Code includes all the relevant conditions of the Plantation and Reafforestation Code (P&R Code) that relate to harvesting and haulage. The rules in this code apply to all timber plantation harvesting and haulage operations managed by Forests NSW (state forests). There are two types of information in the Forest Practices Code: i. Instructions that are backed by legislation. ii. Guidelines that Forestry Corporation believe are best practice – operations may be permitted to vary from these guidelines only with Forestry Corporation’s approval. (‘should’ = a recommended course of action; ‘may’ = an optional course of action; ‘must’, ‘requires’ or ‘mandatory’ = a legal or Forestry Corporation requirement which must be complied with). Forestry Corporation welcomes the adoption of these standards on privately owned forests and land.
Sections of the Code follow: 2) Keeping Safe (containing reccomandations and prescriptions on incident reports, duty of care, and in general risk management during operations); 3) Environment protection (ruling include minimization of soil movement, conditions to buffer zones of a drainage feature, biosecurity measures, cultural and natural heritage protection); 4) Wet weather controls; 5) Roads; 6) Harvesting (ruling include compulsory operational plans, approval for moving operations, minimization of water runoff in the harvesting operation design, etc.); 7) At roadside (includes Log landings and stockpiles, truck loading, etc.); 8) Hauling the logs; 9) Use of fuels and other hazardous chemicals (rules on storage, labelling and spills); 10) Fire prevention