Review chairman George Adams said at a panel meeting with industry stakeholders in Balclutha yesterday the sector had a fatality rate six times higher than the rest of New Zealand's industry and 10 serious injuries were occurring a month.
''The rate is horrific,'' he said.
''It is per capita the most dangerous industry in the country.''
The review was funded by the New Zealand Forest Owners Association, the Forestry Industry Contractors Association (FICA) and the New Zealand Farm Forestry Association and was aided by WorkSafe New Zealand, the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Enterprise, and ACC.
The panel was taking a holistic look at the industry and its dangers and was assessing the ''root and branch'' cause of serious injuries, Mr Adams said.
The panel would also hold meetings in Christchurch, Nelson, Rotorua, Gisborne and Whangarei and would publish its recommendations in September.
It was possible that legislative change could result from the panel's recommendations, he said.
''We are looking at four big areas - the organisation of work, the work itself, the people doing the work and regulation.''
During the meeting, logger and former forestry inspector Warren Black, of Oamaru, told those present that the industry should be proactive in legislating itself in the same way as the forestry industry in British Columbia, in Canada.
City Forests chief executive Grant Dodson said an increase in the number of experienced WorkSafe inspectors would also increase safety in the industry.
''They need to get out there and find the ratbags,'' he said.
''Target cowboy crews.''
There was only one inspector in Otago and Southland at present, although two more were being trained.
FICA spokesman John Stulen said, in an emailed release yesterday, that the review's consultation document was ''full of union-prompted innuendo and fiction''.
''The panel has failed to get root cause analysis of the very accidents that brought about the call for a review,'' he said.
''Where are the facts about hours of work across industry? What are the rates of pay? What are the underlying causes of accidents?
"Where and when do they happen, and to whom? Without these facts to support a conversation with our industry there is not much reliable to go on.''
However, those at yesterday's meeting thought the document covered most of their concerns.
Review panel member Hazel Armstrong said she did not believe there were ''any gaps in the consultation document'' based on the reaction of those at the meeting.
The meetings were one part of the panel's consultation process, but a ''good cross-section'' of the industry was there.
''They weren't holding back and they fully expressed their views,'' she said.
She believed that new ''benchmarks'' for safety could be set in the industry and those attending the meetings had the knowledge and skill to set them.
New Zealand Council of Trade Unions president Helen Kelly said FICA's response to the consultation document was ''unfortunate and disappointing''.
''We are very concerned that this type of behaviour may mean that workers do not feel able to come forward and voice their concerns about the realities of unsafe practices within the forestry industry,'' she said.
The review panel's meetings will be held during the next three weeks, before it collates its findings and presents them to the review's industry panels.
