Celebrating the best of 2023

Bob Logan, who is Chalmers’ Account Executive for Logging, and is also the chair of the PLC’s Southern Maine Log A Load Golf Tournament organizing Committee, once said in an interview with PLC that being a Supporting Member really gives Chalmers the opportunity to gain additional knowledge of the logging industry in order to build programs that can better help their businesses thrive and keep their employees safer. That dedication on the part of Chalmers is sincere, and it is appreciated.

Chalmers Insurance has been a valued partner for the the PLC since joining our organization, and we are pleased to present this year’s Supporting Member of the Year Award to the company.

The President’s Award is a discretionary award that is given by the current PLC President to recognize an individual or business that has had a major impact upon the PLC and the logging industry in Maine. This year we are pleased to announce that the recipient of the 2022 President’s Award is Andy Wood.

As most PLC Members and Supporting Members know, Andy recently retired after serving as a Safety Consultant in Forest Products for MEMIC since 1993, and so he was just starting out at MEMIC about the same time the first talk of establishing the PLC was beginning.

Andy was a logger before he worked as a safety consultant. He came out of college with a degree in forest management and went straight to work in Maine’s north woods up on the Canadian border as a production woodcutter. He did that and lived in logging camps for years, and eventually started his own logging company. He also got involved with early logger safety training efforts. When MEMIC was formed in 1993, they tapped Andy to come work with their logging clients, and many of us got to know him well over the next 30 years.

Rod Stanley, Director of Loss Control Services in Region 1 for MEMIC, worked with Andy throughout his career, and he recalls Andy was always very passionate about the logging industry and the importance of forest products businesses, and equally passionate about people in the industry not getting hurt. He put tremendous effort into the safety training programs he created, and even in retirement he remains committed to this industry, and some of us were happy to see him at the recent PLC Safety training in Passadumkeag.

As Rod told us recently, “Anyone who ever attended a training program of Andy Wood’s knows that he always did the homework and had the latest statistics and the most accurate information whether it was about chainsaws or felling techniques or trucking over the road rules, he just was always a consummate professional that way.”

Andy had high expectations, but as loggers we understood he pushed us because he cared about our safety and the safety of our employees. He wanted us to succeed, and to go home safely to our families every night.

Andy has been a valuable asset to the PLC as our own logger and fleet safety training programs have grown. He has stepped up many times to teach classes for us, appeared in PLC training videos, and has been only a phone call away anytime we need his assistance or expertise.

Andy’s entire career was focused on logger safety, and this award recognizes him for his service to the industry and a job well done.

We are grateful to him for all of us his time and effort to make Maine logging safer, and pleased to present the PLC President’s Award to Andy Wood.

Check out the equipment and job opportunities our members have listed on the PLC website at the LOGGING ZONE!

If you have equipment for sale, are looking to buy, are looking for employees, or are looking