22 The Mainline OPL & Professional Qualification OPL REVIEW Current News and Educational Opportunities for OPL Qualification February 2025 Oregon Professional Logger (OPL) administered by AOL OPL UPDATES—Latest news about OPL requirements and NEW individual qualification 2-YEAR ‘BRIDGE’ to NEW INDIVIDUAL OPL EXPIRED DECEMBER 31 For individuals and companies to complete new OPL Rule, OPL-QP and OPL-CE • 2023 OPL Rule Change. In January 2023, the OPL Standard Rule changed to require at least one individual person qualification, employed by the company. At that time, AOL granted a 2-year ‘Bridge’ (2023–2024) to every current OPL company and their self-designated individual QP person(s). • ‘Bridge’ gave temporary individual qualification. During 2023–24, more than 700 individuals—and their 524 employer companies—were given a temporary 2-year ‘Bridge’ that automatically-qualified them all under the new 2023 OPL Standard. This 2-year grace period offered time needed to complete new core courses for their person who would be the company’s employed Qualified Professional (QP), as well as fulfilling all the new OPL Rule requirements. • Temporary 2-year ‘Bridge’ has ended. Following the ‘Bridge’ expiring on December 31, 2024, both individual and company OPL-qualification now requires full-compliance with the 2023 OPL Standard (requirements shown below). • OPL credential for SFI-certified wood products. OPL is a voluntary professional standard that qualifies Oregon logging and forest contract individuals—and their employer company—in a program of continuing education in forest practices, safety, business, and sustainable forestry. Administered by AOL, OPL complies with Oregon’s Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) certified forest product program. WHAT TO DO? Any company seeking OPL-qualification—but has not yet finished all new OPL Rule tasks— should proceed to complete all individual and company requirements • What if your OPL Rule requirements are incomplete in January? The 2-year OPL ‘Bridge’ period expired December 31—and beginning in 2025, all the new individual person and company OPL Rule requirements must be met. If the new OPL Rule requirements are not now completed, then the individual and company are not OPL-qualified. And, the OPL Directory listing online for both company and their employed individual QP has been removed from the Directory. › In this situation, the company and individual QP should proceed to complete all the OPL Rule requirements (shown below). › Once the one-time core OPL requirements are completed and verified by AOL, the company and individual OPL-qualification and OPL Directory listing would be re-established. › At press-time (12/13/24), over 320 QP individuals and 280 companies had completed OPL-qualification with the new OPL Rule— and dozens more are in-progress to get the job done. WHY THE OPL RULE CHANGE in 2023? Requiring an individual trained person, a Qualified Professional (QP) • Individual person OPL Rules for logger training required by SFI purchasers. AOL in 2023 had to revise OPL to meet the 2022 Sustainable Forestry Initiative Standard (SFI). Oregon SFI-certified mills and landowners in January 2023 began requiring individual logger training by OPL: › SFI requires OPL-Qualified Professional (QP) person to be employed by each OPL-qualified company logging contractor. › SFI requires that logging field operations be overseen by either an individual QP person, or an individual Onsite Supervisor (OS) person. › SFI requires that OPL Rules QP and OS logger training encompass the new coursework and continuing education. › OPL individual qualification now matches Washington and Idaho Pro-Logger programs. › AOL’s Board-approved OPL Standard Rule revision is communicated to members, since late-2022.
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