Licence to Operate - KPI

IO6: Licence to operate

Impact KPI-9 Social licence to operate, standards and traceability

By 2019 Scion has supported the industry to enhance its social licence to operate.

Leading indicator
Progress
By 2016 Scion and the forestry industry will have identified how Scion can assist the industry in meeting its targets for improving worker safety.

The Forest Industry Safety Committee (FISC) signed a 2-year contract to manage and develop the IRIS database for the NZFOA to record health and safety incidents within the industry.
A critical analysis and synthesis was completed of the current conceptual and methodological approaches to safety, health and wellbeing of people within the NZ forestry industry.
A pilot trial of a new accident investigation process was initiated; planning is underway to bring the developers of the ‘Learning Review Process’ to NZ (September 2016) to participate in industry workshops with the support of FISC.
By 2016 the benefits and risks of genetic modification research will have been quantified and presented to the forest industry, government and other key stakeholders for an informed decision on its future.
Input continued into biotechnology debate occurring in New Zealand on the potential benefits of biotechnology and current road-blocks in the regulatory framework on biotechnology. This occurred through interactions with schools, the public, government, regional councils and industry players. Business cases on several technology options have been used in some of these presentations.
By 2017 Scion and its research partners will have supported the implementation of the National Environmental Standard for plantation forestry.
The new Planted Forests Portal http://www.nzplantedforests.org was developed with MPI, NZFOA and FFA. It provides comprehensive information on NZ planted forests in one place in a very easily accessible format, which will support the sector’s licence to operate.
On-going - support wood products and bioproducts industries to grow and develop by addressing domestic standards that create artificial barriers to products accessing markets or applications. 
Scion was an active member of the NZS3603 and AS/NZ1604 Standards committees. We contributed to having our structural grades recognised in the Chinese timber standard GB50005.
Biodegradation Plant upgrade will be fully operational by end of 2016.
The method validation for migration testing methods in accordance with European food contact material regulations was completed allowing the appropriate assessment of Scion products.
Near field communication tag and isotope testing were selected as two technologies for traceability trials across Scion. These technologies can be applied in wood processing, packaging or composites.