Sappi Forests Marks a Year of Progress and Reinforces Commitment to Safer Forestry Operations

Forestry remains one of South Africa’s most demanding and high-risk sectors, shaped by challenging terrains, unpredictable weather and intensive manual labour. For the thousands of employees and contractors working in the South African Forestry industry, safety is not simply a protocol, it is a discipline that underpins every decision, every shift and every task in the field.

The sector’s risk profile is well recognised internationally. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), forestry harvesting activities account for between 38% and 90% of all accidents reported in global forestry operations. In South Africa, the national forestry and logging workforce increased from 36 767 employees in 2019 to 39 087 in 2023, according to Statistics South Africa’s Quarterly Employment Statistics (QES). These figures illustrate the urgent need for proactive safety cultures that evolve in line with industry pressures, rural contexts and environmental volatility.

Against this backdrop, Sappi Forests has recorded a year of encouraging progress across its operations. Regional teams in KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga collectively reached several record-setting lost-time injury (LTI) free milestones, reflecting a deepened culture of care, where open communication, leadership engagement and continuous improvement builds commitment. In regions such as the Zululand Coastal, KZN South, KZN Midlands, Highveld, Barberton and Ngodwana areas, teams have achieved multi-million-hour periods without LTIs, demonstrating what is possible when safety becomes embedded in day-to-day behaviour rather than limited to compliance checklists.

“These milestones are a reflection of what happens when safety becomes part of the culture, not merely a requirement,” says Duane Roothman, Vice President of Sappi Forests. “It is about leadership, accountability and the confidence to speak up before something goes wrong and preferably before it goes wrong.”

Sappi Forests attributes much of its progress to an evolving approach that combines targeted behaviour-change programmes with strong on-the-ground leadership. One of the most influential of these is the STBA (Stop and Think Before You Act) programme, a behavioural-safety initiative designed specifically for rural, multilingual teams. Using relatable storytelling and clear reflection prompts, the programme encourages workers to pause and assess risks before acting, helping bridge language and barriers that often affect frontline safety communication. By combining expert technical insight with on-the-ground engagement across our forestry operations, Sappi was able to co-create a practical behaviour-change solution. Through active listening and incorporating feedback from the workforce throughout the process, the initiative fostered early ownership and embedded the principles of accountability and care from the outset.

Daily engagement practices have also strengthened safety ownership. The “Safety Walk, Safety Talk” method has been rolled out across operations to ensure that safety conversations become part of routine interaction between supervisors, employees and contractors. These engagements are designed not only to identify risks in real time, but also to foster shared responsibility in both workplace and home environments.

Leadership development continues to form another cornerstone of Sappi’s safety efforts. Through values-based interventions and reflective leadership sessions, operational leaders are supported in creating environments where safety conversations are encouraged, lessons are openly shared and vigilance is promoted at every level of the organisation. This culture is further reinforced by Sappi’s eight Life-Saving Rules, clear and non-negotiable standards developed through years of incident analysis, aimed at ensuring that both routine and high-risk activities are carried out safely and consistently.

“Safety is not a static concept, it evolves with our people, our environment and our industry,” says Roothman. “We are committed to ensuring that every one of our teams feels supported, equipped and empowered to work safely. Recognising lead indicators remain paramount in driving continuous improvement and guides proactive interventions, as much as positive reinforcement of the correct behaviour builds confidence and accelerates culture change. The success of behaviour based safety culture, is very visible when the same culture starts gaining traction at home and in communities.

As global forestry shifts toward increased mechanisation, climate resilience and integrated safety systems, South Africa’s sector is under renewed pressure to adopt future-focused approaches. Recent findings from the FAO, ILO and UNECE report, Occupational Safety and Health in the Future of Forestry Work, call for the industry to strengthen behavioural safety, embed continuous learning and invest in technologies that reduce manual risk exposure.

For Sappi Forests, the progress of the past year reflects meaningful steps forward, but not a finish line. At the core of a dedicated safety philosophy is a simple principle that everyone can relate to: every employee should return home safely at the end of each day. Sappi is firm in its view that zero accidents is a very attainable goal, achieved through shared responsibility, consistent awareness and unwavering personal commitment.

“At Sappi Forests, we have learned that safety is never a destination,” Roothman concludes. “It is a daily commitment shaped by accountability, reflection and shared responsibility. While we are proud of what our teams have achieved, we remain focused on doing more, because when safety becomes a shared value across the industry, everyone benefits.”