PLC Member Weekly Update March 24, 2023

PLC 2023 Logger and Fleet Safety Trainings 2023

Trainings start next Thursday May 30 in Denmark!

*Members please note – The Rumford and Passadumkeag trainings are already full!

The PLC is pleased to offer Logger, Fleet and CPR Training for its members’ employees in person for 2023, March 30-May 24!

Dues Waived for 2024: If your company attends PLC Spring Training with at least 50% of its employees you will not have to pay PLC dues for 2024!

Please review our Logger and Fleet offerings and return registration forms as soon as possible, but no later than March 24, 2023 to ensure there is room for your employees at the chosen location/s. For schedule and registration info CLICK HERE.

IF YOU PREFER TO REGISTER ON PAPER CLICK HERE

Don’t delay! Register now!

PLC Mud Season Reminder 2023

Mud season is now upon us, and that means many of you are facing the annual challenges of temporarily laying off employees or being laid off yourself.

Following extensive efforts by the PLC in 2018, laid off loggers will once again be granted up to a 6 week work search waiver while on unemployment, as long as they are able to provide a definite recall date to Maine’s Bureau of Unemployment Compensation.

The most important steps for logging contractors and employees to follow in order to take advantage of the waiver are the following:

1. A company provides an employee with a recall date.

2. The employee contacts the Bureau at 1-800-593-7660 selects option 2 and tells them the name of the company employing them and the recall date the company has given them. The employment representative will provide the necessary information needed for your work search waiver period and any guidance needed for future weekly claims for benefits.

3. The Bureau sends separation paperwork to the Company, at which point the Company will verify the recall date on the paperwork. 

4.  Phone lines are open from 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM Monday through Friday. Monday’s are busiest at the unemployment office and tend to slow down each day following. Currently, the average wait times for phone calls are below 3 minutes, so please be patient and a representative will help you.

5.  For online self-service, click HERE. There are zero wait times and this option is available 7 days a week. Select “Create ReEmployME Account” if you do not already have an account created from prior years, or “Claimant Login” if you have filed through the ReEmployME system sometime within the last three years. Then select the “Unemployment Claim” tab at the top of your screen and go to “File Unemployment Claim.” Follow the prompts on the screen to file a new claim, or reopen an existing claim. The department is manually putting in a waiver through that date and will consider an extension as needed at that time.

Any questions may be directed to the Bureau at 1-800-593-7660.

Click here for more unemployment information and guidance

Register Now!

PLC Annual Meeting May 4-5 2023

Registration is now open for the 2023 PLC Annual Meeting, Dinner and Log A Load Auction,May 4-5 2023 at the Harborside Hotel in Bar Harbor – the same location as last year. Don’t delay, register now by clicking the link below!

Rooms are already available to book so why not reserve a room now?

Click here to book a room or use: https://www.opalcollection.com/harborside/stay/

Group Code: MEPL050423

Steps to reserve a room at the Harborside Hotel:

1. Click on Link (can also type in the group code)
2. At the top of the web site modify the dates of your stay – 1 or 2 nights
3. You will not be charged until the event and the resort fee will be waived

 Questions? Email office@maineloggers.com

REGISTER FOR THE MEETING

PLC 2023 Award Nominations Needed!

Do you know a person or business involved in the logging industry who ought to be recognized for service to the community, outstanding professionalism or service to the industry? If you do, please NOMINATE THEM for one of the PLC’s annual awards.

PLC Logging Contractor of the Year Award – The PLC Logging Contractor of the Year award recognizes a PLC Logging Contractor for their commitment to the sustainability of the industry and logging as a profession.

PLC Community Service Award – This Award is given annually to a PLC member, Supporting Member or affiliated organization that has demonstrated a significant commitment to giving back to their community.

PLC Supporting Member of the Year Award – The PLC Supporting Member of the Year Award is presented annually to a PLC Supporting Member who has demonstrated an unprecedented commitment to logging contractors in Maine.

Nominations should be received no later than April 14, 2023

*The list of previous award winners is available here: PLC Awards List 2015-2022.

NOMINATION FORM HERE

ALC Annual Meeting 2023 in Maine!

Reserve Rooms Now!

Save the Date for the 2023 American Loggers Council Conference and Membership Meeting at the Sunday River Resort in Newry, Maine October 3-6!

American Loggers Council President and long-time PLC Board Member Andy Irish and his wife Kathy look forward to hosting timber industry representatives for the peak “Leaf Peeping” season. More details will be coming soon!

For guests who would like to reserve a room online CLICK HERE

For guests who would like to call to book their reservation lease call 800-207-2365 and refer to Group Code 86B5IN

Welcome New Preferred Supporting Member: Rinaldi Energy

Rinaldi Energy joined the PLC as a new Supporting Member in March of 2023. Rinaldi Energy is a wholesale, commercial and residential fuel supplier operating out of Saco, ME. Delivering Diesel, Gasoline, Heating Oil and Kerosene throughout the state, with extensive knowledge and experience in the fuel industry – the Team at Rinaldi Energy recognizes what businesses need from their fuel supplier. Whatever the situation calls for, Rinaldi Energy has the tools, the strategies, and the capacity to make sure our customers are supplied for success. Visit www.rinaldienergy.com or contact Dimitri Skinsacos at (207) 756-4104 to learn more.

PLC Members Only!

Equipment Cost Calculators Available

Members,

With expenses rising rapidly in the industry we know you are struggling to get a handle on your costs. This is a great time to utilize the cost calculators created in 2021 for PLC Members.

These new, easy to use, logging equipment and log trucking cost calculators are available on the PLC Members Only section of our web site You may access this private section of the web site with your member login or set up a login HERE.

These calculators allow you to quickly estimate the hourly cost of operation for any piece of your equipment.

DISCLAIMER: These calculators are being made available for your business use as a member benefit. They produce equipment estimates and are not official products of the PLC nor should they be used for negotiation purposes.

PLC Online Store

PLC Upcoming Meetings

PLC Annual Meeting/Full Board Meeting

May 4-5

Bar Harbor, ME

PLC Jan. 24 2023 Safety Committee Meeting Minutes Available

READ THE MINUTES HERE

NEXT MEETING OCT. 2023

Reminder on Electronic Submission of OSHA Form 300A Data

OSHA is reminding employers to submit their 2022 OSHA Form 300A (Summary of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses) data by March 2, 2023.

Who is required to submit Form 300A data?

• Establishments with 250 or more employees that are required to keep OSHA injury and illness records.
• Establishments with 20 to 249 employees in designated industries.
• Establishments under Federal OSHA jurisdiction can use the ITA Coverage Application to determine if they are required to electronically report their injury and illness information to OSHA. Establishments under State Plan jurisdiction should contact their State Plan. 

How to submit Form 300A data:

As part of the Department of Labor’s IT modernization and security enhancement efforts, the Injury Tracking Application transitioned its login procedure to Login.gov — a secure sign-in service used by many government agencies. Current and new account holders need to create a Login.govaccount to submit their 2022 injury and illness data. Detailed guidance on how to carry out this change is available as a job aid and video.

If you have questions, visit the FAQs webpage. If the FAQs don’t address your questions, complete the Help Request Form located on the page. Thank you for your cooperation. 

Office of Statistical Analysis 
Occupational Safety and Health Administration 
U.S. Department of Labor

NEW Featured HumpDay Safety Video – Ergonomics

CPR/First Aid/Bloodborne Pathogens certification: Did you know your employees are required to have this training every two years? If your employees need this training in 2023, contact Jessica at Jessica@maineloggers.com or 207-688-8195 and the PLC will schedule training in your area. THIS TRAINING IS FREE TO MEMBERS!

Now FREE to Maine Loggers! A $300 value!

LEARN MORE

Guidelines for Companies to Drug Test Employees Not Mandated by FMCSA

Before a company can start drug testing employees not mandated by FMCSA (commercial truck drivers), it must have a policy approved by the Maine Department of Labor (DOL). LEARN MORE

Motor carriers and drivers using ONE PLUS ELDs (n/k/a 1 PL Logs) have 60 days to replace the revoked devices with compliant ELDs.

On February 8, 2023, FMCSA removed the following device from the list of registered ELDs due to the company’s failure to meet the minimum requirements established in 49 CFR part 395, subpart B, appendix A.

ELD Name: ONE PLUS ELD (n/k/a 1 PL Logs)
ELD Model number: ORS
ELD Identifier: ORS160
ELD Provider: ONE PLUS ELD (n/k/a 1 PL LOGS)
ELD Registration ID: 8J3V

Introducing NEFF’s Climate-Smart Forestry Partnership: A Win for the Forests, Climate, and Communities of New England

 Wednesday, April 26 | 1—2:30 p.m. | Register Now

*Featuring panelist Ted Wright, Executive Director of the Trust to Conserve Northeast Forestlands

Over the next five years, New England Forestry Foundation will anchor a regional incentive program to build New England’s climate-smart, forest-based economy while protecting ecosystem health and biodiversity. The transformational scale of this pilot project is made possible by a $30 million investment awarded by the USDA’s Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities program.

NEFF welcomes you to join them and their USDA partners for an informational webinar and panel discussion detailing our plans for:

• Implementing forest management practices that store more carbon in the forest and in wood products substituted for fossil fuel-based materials,
• Quantifying the resulting carbon gains, and
• Building markets for climate-smart forest products

Panelists will include Richard Campbell of the American Forest Foundation’s Family Forest Carbon Program, Ted Wright of the Trust to Conserve Northeast Forestlands, Jeff Spiritos of Spiritos Properties, and Dan Hudnut of Wagner Forest Management, Ltd.

Please register in advance: bit.ly/Climate-Smart-Zoom

March 2023 News

Maine Loggers – March 21, 2023

Woods Wise Wire – March 21, 2023

Haix is looking for 100 wear testers!

Lexington, Kentucky, March 3, 2023: HAIX^® will be conducting a weartest giveaway to select 100 participants to test their choice of cut protective boots. HAIX will give chosen participants the choice between three models of HAIX^® Protector boots. HAIX^® wants tree care workers to feel the HAIX^® quality difference. That’s it. And what better way to do that than by giving 100 tree care workers the chance to get a free pair of HAIX^® boots on their feet. HAIX^® wants each chosen participant to put our shoes through their paces. And then, after wearing them on the job for 4 weeks, give us their feedback.

Timber Harvesting & Forest Operations notes UMaine role in PERSEUS project

TRUCKING DISCOUNTS THROUGH THE ALC!

PLC Members, because the PLC is a member of the American Loggers Council YOU are entitled to special discounts on truck purchases! Click on the brand names below to learn more!

PETERBILT

WESTERN STAR

INTERNATIONAL

—

Fabian Oil Discount

Traction Heavy Duty Special

Wallingford’s Discounts

Maine Trailer Discounts

PLC Members get a 5% discount on culverts purchased at Treeline and Frank Martin & Sons

Hale Trailer discounts for PLC Members on new trailer purchases! Call Neal at 207-232-7969 for details!

Cross Arena Discounts for PLC! 

PLC Classified Section

Check out the equipment and job opportunities our members have listed at the LOGGING ZONE! If you have equipment for sale, are looking to buy, are looking for employees, or