Excellence in Health & Safety, Lumber Grading, and Environmental Leadership Celebrated at AFPA Awards Dinner

Jasper, September 24, 2009 – As part of its annual general meeting and conference, Alberta’s forest products industry recognized and celebrated the excellence of AFPA member companies, contractors and employees during its annual awards dinner held at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge. The Alberta Forest Products Association presented awards in health and safety, and lumber grading excellence as well as EnviroVista Awards and FORESTCARE certifications.

Health and Safety Awards

The Health and Safety awards recognize superior performance in forest industry health and safety. Recipients are chosen based upon a series of criteria that includes participation in the Partnerships program, audit results and on-the-job performance. The Health and Safety Excellence Awards are for 2008, while the Outstanding Achievement in Health and Safety is for top performers over a three-year period, 2006-2008. One additional AFPA award, the President’s Award for Health and Safety Performance, is given to an AFPA member company that has demonstrated overall, unsurpassed performance over the period 2006 to 2008.

Carola von Sass, AFPA Director, Health and Safety said, "These award recipients are leaders in the forest industry’s ongoing efforts to demonstrate excellence in health and safety endeavors, for our employees, our contractors, their families and Albertans."

2009 Health and Safety Awards

EnviroVista Awards

Administered by Alberta Environment, this voluntary program provides Alberta industrial and manufacturing facilities and municipal water operations operating under an Alberta Environment approval permit with recognition for their environmental excellence.

To qualify as an EnviroVista Leader, a facility must demonstrate a minimum five years of approved emissions performance, have an audited environmental management system in place and no Alberta Environment prosecutions in the past five years. To remain an EnviroVista Leader,  program participants have to renew their status every year. To qualify as an EnviroVista Champion, a facility must first meet Leader criteria and in addition commit to a Stewardship Agreement.

Keith Murray, AFPA Director , Policy and Regulation said, "Alberta’s forest companies are leaders in environmental stewardship. We are pleased that Alberta Environment acknowledges the efforts of our member companies and are proud to recognize them as partners in responsible forestry." 

FORESTCARE Certifications

The AFPA created FORESTCARE with its members and community stakeholders in 1990. It was one of the first third-party auditing programs related to forest management and operational practices. FORESTCARE is an ethic on which AFPA members conduct their business. It reflects a pledge by our member companies to lead progressive operations and continuously improve performance.

Today there are a number of internationally-recognized, third-party audited certification systems in the Canadian forest sector. The three most well-known are the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) Sustainable Forest Management Standard, the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) certification, and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Certification. While not a certification system like these, FORESTCARE provides the framework for AFPA-member companies to move toward certification. In fact, many AFPA member-companies maintain their FORESTCARE certification even once they have achieved sustainable forest management certification.

Keith Murray, AFPA Director,f Policy and Regulation said, "The continuing efforts of Alberta’s forest companies to pursue FORESTCARE, in addition to other independent third-party auditing programs, demonstrates of the quality and comprehensiveness of this program, and the value that recipients, and their customers, see in meeting the three key values – Care for the Forest, Care for the Environment, and Care for the Community. We are pleased to recognize Millar Western for their commitment to Alberta’s forests."

EnviroVista Award / FORESTCARE Recipients

Lumber Grading Awards

A lumber grade is the quality control standard, and is seen on every piece of Alberta-made dimensional lumber engineered wood applications, finger-joined and other glued lumber products. Lumber grading is linked to building codes, safety codes and CSA standards. Skilled employees at the mill site inspect and grade each piece of lumber produced. The Alberta Forest Products Association is the primary certification agency in Alberta, responsible for ensuring the quality control of each piece of stamped lumber originating from its members. Each year, the AFPA recognizes lumber graders that attain the highest certificate exam marks in four categories.

The following awards are for the highest marks achieved in the AFPA Lumber Grade Schools held throughout Alberta.

Lumber Grading Award Recipients

The "AA" Category was devised to challenge grading professionals to excel in their craft, by writing the exam without the use of any reference material. This category was created to recognize the continually increasing level of expertise in the Alberta forest products industry.

Norm Dupuis, AFPA Director, Grade Bureau congratulated winners, saying, "The level of excellence shown by our award winners is a testament to the dedication of our member companies’ quality assurance process, ensuring the lumber products supplied to consumers meet their building needs and code requirements."

Dupuis added, "Through the skilled application of the lumber grade rules, our lumber graders provide consumers within Alberta, North America and around the world with reliable information that allows them to select those lumber products that will meet their specific needs."

All of these award recipients illustrate the commitment of the forest industry to our forests, our communities, our employees, our natural environment and to Albertans. Members of the Alberta Forest Products Association believe this is what stewardship and accountability is all about.