Just months ago a young girl lost her arm at this plant, you would assume during this investigation Work safe investigators would have undertaken a site inspection and observed the area were guard should be placed which could have prevented another serious injury. Now the Mill is in compliance as employees placed a guard after the fact? very disappointing.

Don’t jump to hasty conclusions you don’t know the full story it may of had at the time been identified as having adequate guarding in place or the employee could have gotten to close to the rollers and sucked in I have had it happen to me and it happens so fast you do not have time to react.

I agree with Dearth. Don’t jump to conclusions. Parallel55 works just as hard if not harder than most mills to keep their employees safe! Bad choices are sometimes made and accidents happen. Everyone that works in a mill atmosphere must be alert at all times! BE SAFE!

Where is their Saftey Commmity or do they have one?
Cheers

From having worked in sawmills alot of conveyor returns arent gauarded past the pinch points (tail spools) becauyse its impractical to do so and guarding does not prevent someone from getting pulled into the return anyway..This is especially a problem with the drag chain conveyors. One solution (if any OH&S advisors are reading this..) is to install emergency shut off pull chords running the length of the return. Its been a while since ive been in the saw mills (outside of my industy which is mining that falls under seperate regulation) but this is also a regulatory requirment under 12.28 of the WCB OH&S regs.. I personally know people who have been caught by drag chain conveyors and sucked into the returns (they survived!). If there was an emergency shut off chord in place or a set back guard installed for the lenght of the conveyor i probalby wouldnt be talking about this..

Northman I’m not sure when and where you worked b but it’s always practical. Every mill I have worked at including the one I’m at now has tail boots around all drums. Emergency chords won’t help because of how fast it happens. Theses people need more training and supervision. Companies are unwilling to spend the money and invest the right amount of time in training.

“WorkSafe says the guard satisfied their safety concerns and the mill is in compliance.”

Apparently the area where the guard was installed after the incident wasn’t safe, or a new guard wouldn’t have been needed.

In regards to East Fraser (Parallel 55) in Mackenzie….this is the SECOND time someone has lost an arm to the SAME piece of equipment….so I guarantee safety isn’t first and foremost at this plant.

When I worked there…a number of years ago…I personally witnessed 2 incidents where people got their arms caught in conveyor tail drums, A hand caught between a trim end and the bottom of a conveyor, a finger tip taken off by a saw, and a forearm crushed by one of the rip saws. All injuries were preventable and NOT all of the injuries could be chalked up to company negligence.

I know its a cliché but when you point a finger at someone else, there are 3 more pointing right back at you. YOU are ultimately responsible for your own safety and YOU need to be incredibly pro-active towards safety. Don’t be afraid to speak up if you see unsafe acts. You might just prevent a tragedy.