The management of Holbrook Dyson Logging Ltd. and Newcastle Timber Ltd. would like to extend our best wishes for a happy and safe holiday season.
2020 has been an interesting year for both companies – coming off a 9-month strike, operations restarted at HDL just as the Covid-19 pandemic started in North America
This created a new level of uncertainty and risk for our employees and our operations in general; however, we implemented our Covid-19 Safety Protocol Plan, and implemented the appropriate PPE and guidelines to keep everyone healthy – we want to thank everyone for their diligence at work and at home to ensure exposures to the virus were / are reduced
In March, operations commenced in Headbay; wrapping up the 2019 program and getting going on 2020 which also included heli support load and haul operations in Houston River – in November we started on a fresh block in Leiner Creek
HDL’s operations at Englewood were again reduced due to a lack of cutting permits, so Headbay certainly helps take up the slack
As well, we were able to build road and log second growth for Atli Forest Resources from March to April which enabled us to get more people back to work
NTL as usual started up in May in Compton Creek finishing the 2019 program and getting started on new blocks in the back of Compton – fortunately all the work was close together – we were on schedule to complete the 2020 program until the snow pushed us out in early November. MIFO even gave us some incremental volume to load and haul as they pushed to increase their deliveries prior to the year end
While August was wetter than past years some downtime was taken; but the fire hazard didn’t reach levels we have seen in recent years which was a positive
Safety, as always, continues to be the prime focus at HDL & NTL and we commend our employees for making safety a priority, especially where we have new/young workers employed at the operations. Both operations underwent successful verification audits (conducted by a BCFSC auditor) during the year. Again, we scored high marks on both audits and were commended by the Council’s auditor on maintaining a consistent, high level of safety performance. Thank you to all our crews and supervisors for continuing to make HDL/NTL a safe place to work!
While both NTL & HDL went through a rash of incidents earlier in the year, we had no major incidents from September onwards. While we became a safety focus for WFP, we implemented a Safety Improvement Plan and refocused our efforts on improving safety. The effort from our crews and management contributed to our improvement greatly. As well, our Injury Mgmt / Return to Work Program again worked successfully to get 4 workers back to regular duties.
It is anticipated 2021 will be another busy year. HDL will be in Headbay and Englewood and if stumpage rates don’t go crazy, we will hopefully harvest some 2G in the Spring. NTL will continue operations in Upper Adams while the weather permits and again at MIFO in 2021.
Finally, check out HDL and NTL’s websites, Facebook page, Instagram and Twitter….. there are lots of great photos of our operations and promotion of the forest industry!!! HDL reached a milestone with over 10,000 Instagram followers thanks to Red Toque Creative.
Thank you for your efforts in 2020 to make HDL and NTL a great place to work!
We wish you and your families a very Merry Christmas and a healthy and safe New Year!
