Safety day: Environmental Forestry Ltd

21 August 2025

Katie Johnston (pictured) represented CIRAS at this year's Environmental Forestry Ltd safety day. Her account of the event highlights the benefits of bringing safety to life.

Katie Johnston of CIRAS presenting at Environmental Forestry Ltd safety day

As a stakeholder manager for CIRAS, my favourite part of the job is to get out and meet people in person, whether that’s our reps, management teams or frontline staff. I also lead on advocating for our supply chain members. I was delighted that Environmental Forestry Ltd (EFL) invited me back to attend their annual safety day on 25 July.

The event brings together EFL staff, contractors, supply chain partners, and industry colleagues to revisit key safety topics, ask questions, and exchange ideas. It reinforces the everyday awareness, habits, and shared responsibility that help build a strong and lasting safety culture.

Why was I invited? EFL saw the benefit in being able to have conversations with staff about the type of hazards they encounter daily. It’s important to raise awareness about all the reporting options available, talking to staff about when they may use them, and about the types of issues they do or don’t raise concerns about.

From my perspective, this presents a valuable opportunity to discuss where CIRAS fits in with other reporting channels and the occasions where we might be able to help. It’s always interesting to learn more about the routines of staff when they go on site, and to better understand the reality of our members’ work lives.

We discussed issues including driving to and from site and the associated risks. This is possibly the most hazardous part of the day, especially driving home when tired. Other issues were access points and difficulty in finding suitable parking, access to welfare facilities, having to carry heavy equipment to the actual work site, and more. Topics such as the difference between a near miss and a close call also came up.

Workshops and games

This was an interactive event. The participants were grouped into six teams at the start of the day. Each team then worked through six hands-on workshops, with CIRAS being one of them.

These were the other sessions.

Digger dash. The aim of the game was to pass a log through a series of obstacles carefully, using the excavator and timber grab, without knocking any tennis balls from boundary cones. This raised awareness of the challenges machine operators face.
Climb and rescue. This involved a scenario of recovering an unconscious casualty from a tree.
Major bleeds. A first aid workshop on managing major bleeds.
Chipper agility. How to navigate an obstacle course with a Forst XR8 woodchipper.
Stands from a range of EFL’s suppliers, with live demos of their tools and equipment.
At lunchtime there was an additional presentation from the Arboricultural Association, which also had a stand there.

All participants took part in the workshops and got into the spirit of the day. It’s an effective way for staff to come together to review and update key skills and safety information that will support them in their jobs and so they can continue to get home safe every day.

It’s a privilege to be asked to attend events like these. There’s no substitute for getting out and meeting people in person. This helps me to improve my knowledge, and it challenges me to think of new and interactive ways to get people thinking about challenging when they think something is unsafe, reporting safety concerns, and having safety conversations.

Scroll to the end of this page for photos of the safety day.

If you are hosting a safety day, a health and wellbeing day, staff conference, or any other event – please invite us along.

See who your stakeholder manager is in the MyCIRAS area of the website.