Forestry & Environmental Reduction Equipment Committee (FEREC)

Product Focus

The Forestry & Environmental Reduction Equipment Committee (FEREC) serves the needs of AEM member companies who manufacture high-speed grinders (horizontal & tub), stump grinders, whole tree chippers, brush (hand fed) chippers, mulching attachments, flail delimber/debarker machinery, and low-speed shredders.

Mission

The Committee aids machine manufacturer efforts to meet the safety and productivity needs of material reduction equipment operators and owners.

Bureau Activities

The group, formed in 2013, addresses issues of interest to member manufacturers of size reduction equipment and their major component suppliers. This includes technical and safety topics, advocating with Standards Development Organizations (SDO's) in North America and Worldwide on standards issues, advocating with government agency rulemaking processes, and working in other issues of interest to the member firms and their machine operators/owners.

Some current projects are:

• Operator Safety Manual for handfed (brush) chippers - published 2016.
• An Operator Safety Manual for high speed grinders - work underway, target publish date Q3 2021
• An Operator Safety Manual for mulching machinery - in queue for late 2021.
• Through an ad hoc committee, propose needed safety pictorial graphics for decals,  for machine fed (whole tree) chippers, for high-speed grinders, and for handfed chippers.  Finished graphics will be added to AEM's Safety Pictorial Database - work now in progress.
• Support of ISO TC23/SC15 US Technical Advisory Group (US TAG) work developing new standards for machine fed chippers, horizontal/tub grinders, and mulching equipment - SAE (ANSI) Standard Work Group is formed.
• The study of options available to eliminate or reduce the hazard of thrown objects from chipping, grinding, mulching, and debarking equipment, and prepare industry consensus machine operating best practice documents.

The FEREC typically meets in person twice each year, with online meetings held if needed at other times.  Meetings are usually held in conjunction with AEM's Forestry Equipment Council (FoEC), and/or ISO TC23/SC15 US Technical Advisory Group (TAG), and MTC4 SAE Standard Group meetings.

History

Organized as an AEM Product Council in 2013.