Forestry Machine Operator Training

Forestry is one of the only industries in the UK that has few facilities for operator training..

Jim pointed out that he had tried an earlier training programme and learned from his mistakes. He soon found out that when taking on trainees from other areas, once they achieved a reasonable level of competency, they started looking for work with contractors nearer to home.

He found this disappointing as he had invested considerable time and money in the project only to see no return whatsoever. Seventeen candidates met his criteria, and after whittling it down to fourteen, he started to interview the potential applicants.

A final six were selected with three on a reserve list.

Two used John Deere Forwarders were bought, and put through the workshop, a 2004 1410D and a 2011 1910E to be used purely as training machines. The trainees are to start at separate times over the coming months so that they could work on a one-to-one training regime.

Jim laid out his training programme and I was impressed by the way he had structured it.

A trainee spends the first three days on a simulator, which had been donated by John Deere and introduced to the health and safety aspect of the work by going through risk assessments. This is so they understand working and site constraints, emergency procedures and exactly what is expected of them by their employer and Forest Works Manager.

Once the apprentices have completed this stage to Jim’s satisfaction, the next step is one to one tuition on a forwarder at the workshop and yard near Daily. This involves daily maintenance, refuelling, loading, traversing the forest track and unloading the forwarder.

This is continued until a proficient level of crane and driving competency is achieved before progressing on to a hilly field which furthers development in off- road operation. They are also shown how to carry out minor repairs safely, like replacing hydraulic hoses, so they have a good general knowledge of the equipment they are using.

After four to five weeks, the trainees then go out onto one of Jim’s less challenging forestry sites where they start to operate one of the more modern forwarders, under the watchful eye and in radio contact with an experienced forwarder/harvester operator. The final step, once they make satisfactory progress, is to take the First Aid + F course so they are trained to deal with medical emergencies.

Another trainee then takes over the yard machine and the training programme starts over. I met 35-year-old trainee Mark Swanson who was operating a Komatsu 860.4 forwarder. Mark is from a group that Jim had advertised a few months previously and had been selected from over seventy applicants.

Mark had been trying for ages to get a start in forestry and could not believe his luck when Jim selected him at the interview.

“This is a fantastic opportunity, and I thoroughly appreciate the time and money Jim has spent on my training. It is a dream come true, and I wake up every morning and look forward to coming to work. I am working alongside another forwarder operator and keep in radio contact; he has been brilliant by offering some useful hints and tips and are incredibly supportive.”

Jim has been lucky as most of the trainees are from agricultural type backgrounds so are not afraid of demanding work or getting their hands dirty. An interesting point is that none of the applicants were unemployed, every one of them was making a career change. The 1910 was being serviced when I was there but trainee Rory Grey was using the 1410.

Jim his son Gary and son in law Rick are the instructors for the initial basic training on simulators and forwarder training in the yard, both keep a close eye on the trainees and are on hand to offer reassurance and encouragement.

Training each candidate occurs a considerable cost in both time and money. Until they reach a level of competency where they are productive workers, Jim pays just above minimum wage with no restriction on the hours they work. With the trainee’s salary, mentors’ expenses, equipment costs and fuel, it equates to a cost of around £20K per trainee before he starts to see any return on his investment.

It was good to see the support Jim has from other contractors who are in full support of what he is trying to do.

“Hat’s off to Jim Wilmer who once again is taking the lead in education in our industry” said Rob Cubby, owner of the Lake District based family business Fin Forest Logging. “This is not the first time Jim has put up his own time, resources, and hard-earned cash to try and inject some meaningful training and new, young blood into UK forestry.

“Over the years Jim has given me his time, knowledge, and advice, not for monetary gain but because he has a great passion for the industry and others who love it and want to excel within it. It is such a shame that yet again it is the contractor, the person at the sharp, real, and often very tough end of the job, who is pioneering training and employment.

“It is about time the government, the private sector timber buyers, sawmills, and forest management companies stood up and engaged properly. If they all had just a half of Jim Wilmer on their board of directors, forestry in the UK would be in a better situation. Look up and follow the lead Jim and his company are taking before it is too late.”

“Jim, I wish you all the best in this endeavour.”

Rob echoes what many of us think! If there are no educational facilities to train new recruits, then surely timber merchants, sawmills, wood processing plants, management companies, the government and forest bodies must help address this issue.

I asked Jim if he was getting any support with his program.

“John Deere have been helpful by supplying us with the training simulator but there has been no other help or financial assistance forthcoming so far from any other areas of the industry.”

“I have since resigned from CONFOR as I do not understand why they expected me to support an organisation that does not appear to offer any worthwhile support in addressing this impeding crisis. We are however contacting harvesting firms requesting their support. I am not just talking about doing something with this, I have taken the

bull by the horns and have this up and running but I need help and support from others within the industry and will be contacting these firms in the coming weeks.”

I can see Jim’s point and that he was at his wits end when speaking to him, as this is a crippling situation which he cannot afford but does not know what else to do. He has spent a lifetime building his business, starting out on a chainsaw and is immensely proud of what he has achieved. His ambition is to leave a successful business for his family to take over as many of them are actively involved in the day to day running of it.

I feel very strongly regarding this as in 2001 I was employed by the SRUC at the Barony College in Parkgate near Dumfries as a forest machine instructor. We were running a three-month training course where youngsters got the opportunity to learn how to operate a forwarder and took their FMOC test at the end of the course. I think when I was there, I had eight trainees on the forwarders, and I know that six are still working in the industry today.

At that time FLS Scotland, John Deere, Komatsu Forest and Ponsse were all happy to support the training by offering simulators and older used equipment for the trainees to use. They arranged site and factory visits to get more of an insight into the industry and NRW offered two one-year placements on forwarder and harvester operations to two students to enhance their skills further. We have gone backwards since then although our annual harvesting volumes have increased.

The next few years are going to be interesting, the demand for timber products will rise in line with forecast increased volumes becoming available, but as things stand, we will not have the required number of skilled operators to fell and extract the timber.

This is a chronic situation that is coming at us straight down the tracks, and yet there is still no industry wide initiative to properly address this problem. The big fear is that the sector continues to acknowledge this problem exists, but then do little or nothing to work together for the greater good. This is an industry wide problem that requires the collective effort of everyone in the sector and not just one contractor.

I have since contacted Confor, Mairi Gougeon (the MSP for Rural Affairs) and the SRUC to see if they intend to do anything to address this.

I have since had one reply from Professor Davy McCracken, BSc, PhD, FRSE, The Head Department of Integrated Land Management SRUC

“Thanks for your email to Hugh which he has passed on to me.”

“I head up the wider Department in which Hugh’s forestry and arboriculture team sit. And although I am not a forester, I have been managing that wider department for the last five years and am hence familiar with many forestry education and training needs.”

“The lack of training for Forestry Machine Operators – and the wider industry need for such operators – is something that we (and the wider Trees & Timber Skills Group chaired by Scottish Forestry) are well aware of.”

“Indeed, back in 2019 we worked with Scottish Forestry and Forestry & Land Scotland to run a pilot Forestry Machine Operator [FMO] Modern Apprenticeship [MA] programme. Part of the rationale behind this pilot was to help get a small number of additional trained operators into the industry, but the primary rationale was to consider what the associated costs were for training operators to a standard acceptable to the industry.”

“With regard to the latter, the total delivery costs for the small cohort of candidates [4 in our case] that could be put through such a bespoke course was in the region of c £12+K per candidate. And that was before factoring in the costs that FLS bore in providing access to facilities, equipment, and day-to-day candidate supervision [which were estimated at an additional £7K-£8K]. So roughly £20K per candidate and equivalent to the example you provide for Jim Wilmer below.”

“As you are aware, Skills Development Scotland [SDS] put tight requirements [around age and previous experience] on the amount of funding available for different MA candidates. In addition, the actual SDS Contribution Rate is £3,700 for the Level 5 MA and this has not changed for over 10 years [and so it has not kept pace with inflation and other costs].”

“The fundamental issue therefore was – and remains – that the gap in true delivery costs was too big for SDS to ever think of considering closing via directing additional public funding into such training. And even – as you recognise – if industry was willing to contribute access to equipment, without the ability to cover the true delivery costs borne by SRUC any such training remains unviable to run.”

“The only potential solution going forward would be for there to be some package of public and private funding which helped meet those true costs of delivery. Andy Leitch oversaw the pilot while he was at Scottish Forestry, and I am aware that he still recognises the issue in his role within CONFOR. We remain in contact with Andy over this and other – easier to tackle – forestry education and training needs.”

“FMO training is not an easy nut to crack and certainly not one that SRUC could ever crack on its own.”

I also got a reply from Richard Hunter, the Technical and Industry Support Manager at CONFOR

“It’s great to hear that Jim Wilmer is advertising and taking on new trainees.”

“I fully appreciate the taster sessions needed the next step and at the time that was not available. To help tackle this CONFOR has created a new company called Forestry Training Service UK with the aim of bringing together the successes you mentioned at the Barony but without the college bureaucracy that comes with it.”

“The FTS UK aim is to fill the gaps that other training providers struggle with such as FMO due to the high costs of running machinery etc. We have secured 80% of the funding needed to get the company underway and hope to have the remaining 20% just before Christmas.”

 “At the taster sessions I have run, and careers fairs I have attended, I always get good interest, and the degree apprenticeship run by Uni of Cumbria gets hundreds of applications for very few places. So, I know we can find the people but agree they need a route to enter the industry.”

 “I believe that FLS are planning to take on a couple of new operators on shortly.”

Update on Jim Wilmer and Sons Training Program

“Four of our trainees are out in the forest with their own machines and we are delighted with their progress. The fifth trainee decided that forestry was not for them after three weeks of training in the yard. Trainee number six will be starting just after the Christmas holidays.”

Since writing this I have visited the forestry training school in Valtimo in Finland and was in awe of the facilities and funding they have available for operator training. Practical courses are run by skilled ex-operators who can pass on their vast knowledge and experience to the trainees.

They understand in Finland that skills and knowledge are the key factors for effective and safe work.

Their methodology to forestry is different to ours, everyone is pulling in the same direction with the relevant bodies having a lot more common sense and a practical and workable approach to timber harvesting.

Operators are trained to such a high standard that they supervise themselves.

I appreciate their annual harvesting program is over six times larger than ours, but this is still no excuse when you consider the vast amount of funding available in the UK for other nonproductive areas of forestry.

It will be interesting to see what CONFOR’s Forestry Training Service UK will deliver towards operator training once it is up and running.

Forest Machine Magazine is written and edited by a forest professional with over 40 years hands on experience. We are dedicated to keeping you informed with all the latest news, views and reviews from our industry.

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