Logging Plant Operator
What the work is
Operates plant to fell trees and move, transport and load logs onto trucks for forestry conservation and production purposes.
Would you enjoy the work?
These are the main tasks in the official description. Mark how each one sounds to you.
- Prepares and positions logging plant for operation
- Operates logging plant to hold, lift and cut trees
- Operates attachments to lift, swing, release and sort trees and logs, and operates auxiliary plant such as chipping machines and log splitting machines
- Feeds felled trees into processors to strip limbs and cut logs, and loads logs onto stockpiles and onto trucks
- Keeps log tallies and writes work reports
- Services logging plant and performs minor repairs
Try it
A simulation and a case study from this kind of work, set in a broadacre cropping farm in harvest season, and a plantation forest nearby where logging crews work. They are fictional.
The kind of days you could have
Good days
- A long straight run across a golden paddock with the grain tank filling and the radio on
- Beating the storm by an hour and getting the last of the crop into the shed
- A forest coupe cleared so tidily that the planner stops to say so
Hard days
- Harvest nights when the dew comes down late and the work seems to go on forever
- A breakdown in the middle of the busiest week, a long way from the workshop
- Dust, heat, flies and long days alone in the cab
Written by Career Calling as a general guide. Real roles vary by employer and place.
Work a mission
Step into a simulated workplace in this field, with a brief from your manager.
Description and tasks: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Occupation Standard Classification for Australia, 2024, Version 1.0 (opens another site), occupation 741132, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. The skill guide above is our plain English summary.