West Fraser Hinton 2007 SFI Audit Summary Report

Dbebb

Informations

• Publié par: Unjio
• Nombre de lectures: 26
• Langue: English

Extrait

kpmg

 WestFraser Mills Ltd. – Hinton Wood Products – November 2007

In November 2007, an audit team from KPMG Performance Registrar Inc. (KPMG PRI) carried out a combined ISO 14001/SFI/CSA Z809 audit of West Fraser Mills Ltd. – Hinton Wood Products (West Fraser Hinton) against the ® requirements of the ISO 14001, Sustainable Forestry Initiative(SFI) and CSA Z809 standards.This Certification Summary Report provides an overview of the process and KPMG’s findings.

Background The majority of West Fraser’s B.C. and Alberta woodlands operations are currently included within the scope of multisite ISO 14001:2004 and SFI (20022004 version) certificates issued by KPMG PRI.The Company’s existing ISO 14001 certification is valid until June 21, 2008, while its SFI certification expires August 29, 2010. On December 31, 2004, West Fraser acquired the assets (mills and woodlands) of Weldwood of Canada Ltd. (Weldwood).The Company has recently decided to expand the scope of its existing ISO 14001 and SFI certifications to include all of the legacy Weldwood woodlands operations, including West Fraser Hinton.

Description of West Fraser – Hinton Wood Products

The Hinton Wood Products woodlands department manages coniferous and deciduous timber harvesting under a Forest Management Agreement (FMA #8800025) centered around Hinton, Alberta on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains and adjacent to Jasper National Park.The Operation has 3 a combined allowable annual cut (AAC) of 1,942,289 m /yr, which includes 3 3 1,772,840 m/yr and 169,449 m/yr of coniferous and deciduous volume respectively.

Deciduous timber harvested from the FMA is currently sold to an oriented strand board (OSB) facility in Edson, while spruce, pine and balsam fir saw logs are delivered to the Hinton sawmill.Hinton Wood Products may also, from time to time (depending on market circumstances) bring in additional pulp volume (this is wood that currently above approved utilization standards). Otherthan the wood delivered as part of the approved AAC, the Operation currently purchases very little additional wood from third parties 3 (normally < 20,000 mannually).

The largest portion of the FMA timber inventory (approximately 70%) is comprised of mature and overmature pine trees, while the remainder is spruce (20%), aspen (5%), and other minor species (balsam fir, larch, etc.). The mountain pine beetle (MPB), which has recently started to spread into Alberta from B.C., and poses a significant risk to the forests within the Hinton FMA.

West Fraser’s Hinton woodlands operation first obtained ISO 14001 and CSA Z809 sustainable forest management (SFM) certification in December 2000. In2007, the Operation also sought and achieved registration to the SFI standard.

kpmg

Findings – West Fraser Mills Ltd. – Hinton Wood Products – November 2007

Audit Scope

The SFI portion of the audit was conducted against the requirements of the 20052009 edition of the SFI standard, and incorporated a full scope assessment against the SFI program objectives for:  Land management;  Procurement of wood and wood fiber;  Forestry research, science and technology;  Training and education;  Legal and regulatory compliance;  Public and landowner involvement in the practice of sustainable forestry, and;  Management review and continual improvement.

The ISO 14001 and CSA Z809 portions of the audit included a full scope assessment of the West Fraser Hinton SFM system against all of the elements included in the ISO 14001:2004 and CSA Z80902 standards.

The Audit  Audit TeamThe audit was conducted by Dave Bebb, RPF (BC & Alta), – CEA(SFM), EMS(LA) and Byron Grundberg, RPF (Alta), CEA(SFM).Dave is an employee of KPMG PRI and has conducted audits under a variety of standards including SFI, ISO 14001, CSA Z809 and FSC.Byron is a consultant to KPMG PRI with considerable forest management auditing experience in Alberta.  Combined ISO 14001/SFI/CSA Z809 Audit– The audit involved an onsite assessment of all elements of the Hinton Wood Products SFM system, and included visits to several field sites (9 roads, 11 cutblocks and 9 silviculture sites) to evaluate SFM system implementation and the adequacy of forest management plans and practices.  Hinton Wood Products SFI Program Representative– Aaron Jones (the West Fraser Hinton Stewardship, Public & Aboriginal Affairs Coordinator) served as the Company’s SFI program representative during the audit.

Audit Objectives The following audit objectives were included within the scope of the audit: (1) a combined ISO 14001/SFI scope expansion audit to include the addition of West Fraser’s Hinton Wood Products operation within the scope of the Company’s existing ISO 14001 and SFI certifications, and (2) a CSA Z809 transfer assessment to transition the Operation’s existing CSA Z809 certification from the Quality Management Institute (QMI) to KPMG PRI.

Use of Substitute SFI Indicators The SFI portion of the audit involved an assessment of conformance against all of the performance measures and indicators included in the 20052009 version of the SFI standard. Noneof the indicators included in the SFI standard were modified or substituted for the purpose of this audit.

Page 2

Types of audit findings

Major nonconformities:

Are pervasive or critical to the achievement of the SFM Objectives.

Minor nonconformities:

Are isolated incidents that are noncritical to the achievement of SFM Objectives.

All nonconformities require the development of a corrective action plan within 30 days of the audit, which must be fully implemented by the operation within 3 months.

Major nonconformities must be addressed immediately or certification cannot be achieved / maintained.

Opportunities for Improvement: Are not nonconformities but are comments on specific areas of the SFM System where improvements can be made.

kpmg

Findings – West Fraser Mills Ltd. – Hinton Wood Products – November 2007

Page 3

Audit Conclusions The audit found that the SFM system developed, implemented and maintained by West Fraser Ltd. – Hinton Wood Products:  Was in full conformance with the requirements of the ISO 14001, CSA Z809 and SFI requirements included within the scope of the audit, except where noted otherwise in this report;  Has been effectively implemented, and;  Is sufficient to systematically meet the commitments included within the Company’s environmental and SFM policies, provided that the system continues Forest harvesting at West Fraser’s Hinton Wood Products woodlands to be implemented and maintained as required. operation is highly mechanized, relying As a result, a decision has been reached by KPMG PRI to register West Fraser Ltd. – on the use of a variety of logging equipment to help optimize the value of Hinton Wood Products to the ISO 14001, CSA Z809 and SFI standards. each log harvested.In the above picture, a fellerbuncher is seen felling a road rightofway in advance of onblock road Good Practices construction. A number of good practices were identified during the course of the audit.Examples included:  West Fraser Hinton has made a significant effort to refocus its current harvesting efforts towards lodgepole pine stands that are at greater risk to infestation by the mountain pine beetle.  The Operation has undertaken a recent initiative that is intended to help streamline the EMS, reduce the number of procedures involved and make it easier for staff to understand and implement.  The 1999 Detailed Forest Management Plan (DFMP), although now somewhat dated, has aged very well compared to many other plans of its era.  West Fraser Hinton is a founding member of the Foothills Model Forest, and works closely with the organization on a large variety of research projects.  The Operation maintains a very comprehensive public communication and consultation program. West Fraser Hinton has made a  West Fraser Hinton maintains a 1800 number that concerned stakeholders can significant effort to refocus its current call to lodge complaints regarding the Operation’s forest practices. harvesting efforts towards lodgepole pine stands that are at greater risk to  The Operation maintains a “Special Places in the Forest” program that provides an infestation by the mountain pine beetle. avenue for members of the public to nominate areas for special management This has necessitated the redesign of and/or protection. several compartment operating plans (such as the area depicted above) in an effort to better target susceptible stands. Followup on Open Nonconformities from Previous Audits At the time of this assessment there were a total of 5 open nonconformities (referred to as system weaknesses in the applicable audit reports) from the 2006 ISO 14001 and CSA Z809 audits conducted by QMI.The audit team reviewed the implementation of the action plans developed by West Fraser Hinton to address these issues, and found

kpmg

Findings – West Fraser Mills Ltd. – Hinton Wood Products – November 2007

Page 4

that they had been effectively implemented.As a result, all of the nonconformities identified during the 2006 QMI audits have now been closed. Areas of Nonconformity A total of 2 minor nonconformities were identified during the 2007 ISO 14001/SFI/CSA Z809 audit of West Fraser’s Hinton Wood Products woodlands operation. Theseincluded.  The Operation’s road construction and stream crossing SOP requires that stream crossings be repaired based on their ranking in the stream crossing database and annual stream crossing report.Remedial works are to be inspected by the Company Supervisor and/or Senior Biologist to ensure that the remedial work has There is a significant amount of oil and gas exploration and development on the been completed satisfactorily.This inspection is required to be completed prior to West Fraser Hinton FMA area.Much of the contractor moving equipment out of the area, and is to be documented on a the Operation’s annual purchase wood is stream crossing repair sheet.However, the audit found that the Operation had not obtained from this source.West Fraser implemented this procedure as written.Although the Operations Supervisor staff expend considerable effort in working with local oil and gas operators responsible for implementing the road and crossing maintenance program in attempting to coordinate their activities conducts informal inspections of the repair work completed by contractors, these and reduce the overall industrial footprint are not always completed before the equipment leaves the site.In addition, we on the FMA area. found that the stream crossing repair sheet had not been used to document the required inspections in several instances.  The West Fraser Hinton Operations Manual requires that documented inspections be completed for each cutblock at least once per month.Where cutblocks are active for more than one month, both interim and final inspections are required.In situations where a cutblock is active for less than one month, only a final inspection is required.In addition, Alberta Sustainable Resource Development (SRD) requires that final inspections be completed for all cutblocks and that these be available for SRD inspection upon request.However, an office review of cutblock inspection records found that the required Operations Inspections forms had not been completed for 4 out of the 5 cutblocks sampled. Corrective action plans to address the above nonconformities were developed by West Fraser and approved by KPMG PRI prior to the decision to grant ISO 14001, SFI and CSA Z809 certification West Fraser’s Hinton Wood Products operation being made. The next surveillance audit will include a followup assessment of these issues to confirm that the corrective action plans developed to address them have been implemented as required. Opportunities for Improvement A total of 5 opportunities for improvement were also identified during the audit.The next surveillance audit will include a followup assessment of these issues to assess the Operation’s progress towards addressing them.

Contacts: Mike Alexander, RPF, CEA (604) 6913401 David Bebb, RPF, CEA (604) 6913451 Chris RidleyThomas, RPBio, CEA (604) 6913088

This report may only be reproduced by the intended client, West Fraser Mills Ltd., with the express consent of KPMG. Information in this issue is of a general nature with respect to audit findings and is not intended to be acted upon without appropriate professional advice.© 2007 KPMG. All rights reserved.

Through KPMG PRI, KPMG’s Vancouver based forestry specialist group is accredited to register forest companies to ISO 14001, CSASFM and SFI certification standards. The group is lead by Mike Alexander and consists of a highly qualified team of professional foresters and industry experts.