Logging supervisors oversee and coordinate the activities of workers engaged in logging operations. Also known as bush foreman/forewomen, they are employed by logging companies, contractors and government agencies. You supervise all activities related to harvesting and delivering lumber. This even includes the construction of logging roads. The crews you manage operate a variety of equipment: large tree-harvesting machines, skidders that haul away the felled trees, log loaders, logging trucks and road construction equipment.
Your primary responsibility is to make sure that the job is done in line with the plan set out by management. Logging contractors are contracted to deliver a certain number of truck loads each day. It's your job to make sure that production and quality is maintained at the agreed level and that the lumber is delivered at or below budget, without damage to the environment or danger to the crew. Part of your job is also to prepare production reports.
In many cases, you oversee the activities of crews working in several locations over several square kilometres. You draw up a schedule, ensure the workers and equipment get to the right spot, and then visit them on-site to make sure everything is going as planned.
You resolve problems and recommend ways to improve work methods and safety. You talk to management and to forestry technicians regarding procedures, schedules and plans, and inform the main office of any absenteeism. You can also call for replacements and new recruits which you then train.
In a good year, you may work nine or ten out of twelve months, stopping only in those spring and fall months when the ground becomes too muddy. You are likely to be paid a seasonal salary, although in some companies the salary may be annual.
It is not always possible to move between jobs in the forest zones in eastern and central Canada, and those in western Canada, because of the different skills required in each area. If you do well, however, you can be promoted into more senior management positions in your region.
This work will appeal to you if you are dynamic and more comfortable in the bush than indoors. Since you have to gain the trust and respect of both the crew and the management, a high degree of honesty and integrity is important. You must be comfortable working without close supervision. You need to be firm but good natured, and have the ability to talk easily with your crew. You also have to e comfortable with heavy machinery and equipment.
Even though you may not enjoy paperwork, there is a certain amount you will have to process in this job. You also have to work long hours. A typical day might extend from 4:30 or 5:00 in the morning to late hours in the evening. This is because the crews you supervise work in shifts, twenty-four hours a day.
What You Need
Many companies hire inexperienced workers at an entry level position and then train them. You are gradually trained to use different equipment, until you have a well-rounded set of skills. However, this is becoming less common than once was the case.
151 Slater Street
Suite 1005
Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5H3
Tel. (613) 234-2242