The man behind the Tasmanian forest industry COVID-19 videos

Josh Turnball, Group Production Manager at Neville Smith Forest Products recently hosted a series of Tasmanian Forest Industry videos which were distributed to help the industry navigate COVID-19.

Josh was motivated to be part of the industry videos to help share his story.

“The motivation to be part of this opportunity came to me because I could really relate to others in the industry because I was adapting through COVID-19 just like them”, he said.

“For me, adapting to COVID-19 at the start was difficult. It was hard to find a work/home balance but maintaining communication and setting up boundaries with other people in the house helped me adapt successfully.

“Neville Smith Forest Products showed great leadership and gave us great direction during the situation.”

Speaking in front of a camera is not for everybody, but Josh said the filming process for the videos was amazing.

“I was approached about 4 days before we started filming,” he said.

“Despite the short notice, I give a big thumbs up to Claire Bennett Communications and MTSFilms for their work.

“There was no script involved and I was purely asked to share my situation.

“They did a brilliant job of reflecting the current reality.”

Josh said he has received positive feedback from peers, colleagues and friends about his appearance in the video series.

“There have been lots of phone calls, messages, and ‘Oi you’re the bloke from the videos!’” he said.

“It’s been great to hear people say that the videos were really relatable.”

Josh is back at work now but said work looks a bit different given there are still restrictions in place.

“I have adapted quite well to coming back to the office. Its great that things are starting to become more normalised again,” he said.

COVID-19 has been a trying time for everybody and there have been many challenges, difficulties and changes both personally and at work.

Josh said his biggest take away from the COVID-19 experience is his ability to be more versed in thinking outside the box.

“COVID-19 has introduced some great tools and platforms to enable us to have a greater influence on our business from a distance.

“I believe that some of the practices we have adopted during COVID-19 will become entrenched in our business going forward.”