Growers are increasing Australians’ confidence in homegrown forest products with a fully certified supply chain and the backing of the nationally endorsed ForestFit™ Standard and certification scheme.
AFPA members have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Australian Forest Contractors Association (AFCA) to implement ForestFit™ to improve the management of critical risks, reduce costs and increase efficiencies for Growers and Contracting Businesses.
Lead AFPA member signatories are Forico, HQ Plantations, Midway, New Forests, OneFortyOne, Sustainable Forest Management, Timberlands Pacific and Western Australian Plantation Resources.
AFPA Chief Executive Officer Diana Hallam said, “AFPA welcomes the ForestFit™ MOU and the role it will play streamlining the strategic partnership between two critical sections of the supply chain in Growers and Contracting Businesses.”
ForestFit™ Project Manager with AFCA, Dionne Olsen said, “ForestFit™ provides a national Standard for Contracting Businesses to certify their business systems and manage their operational risk whilst supporting Growers to manage their commercial risk.”
Certification to the Standard provides assurance of performance and continuous improvement. The Standard is aligned to international management system standards ISO 9001: Quality, 45001: Occupational health and safety and 14001: Environment which have has been contextualised with criteria for operations including harvest, haulage, civil silviculture and minor forest products.
ForestFit™ sits in alignment with the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and Responsible Wood, creating a fully certified supply chain for Australia. It has established a Deemed to Comply with Responsible Wood which reduces audit duplication and downtime.