Steelworkers Host BC Forest Fatality Summit

Monday, December 05, 2005 04:10 AM

With 40 forest-industry fatalities this year and another 98 serious injuries, pressure to address safety concerns in the province's #1 sector is reaching a fever-pitch.

Last week, the BC Federation of Labour threw its weight behind efforts to make change, and the major forest companies also pledged to work together.

Today, the United Steelworkers-IWA is sponsoring a one day summit in downtown Vancouver aimed at harnessing the momentum. Local 1-424 President, Frank Everitt says invitations have been sent out to government officials, unions locals, major forestry operations and trucking associations around the province. Both Labour Minister, Mike de Jong, and Forests Minister Rich Coleman, have confirmed their attendance.

Everitt says, "I'm hoping that the industry and the union and the contractors and government will be able to jointly agree on a process that starts to reduce the maiming of people and, certainly, reduces the deaths in the industry."

Former IWA-Canada President Jack Munro will moderate the conference and the union plans to present a list of demands to end forest fatalities:

1. more timely investigations into serious accidents and workplace fatalities

2. the establishment of industry implementation committee(s) with the authority to order immediate workplace changes

3. increased monitoring and enforcement activities by the Workers Compensation Board

4. ensure the WCB Act is clarified or ammended to make Licensees solely responsible for safety at logging operations

5. aggressively pursue full enforcement of Bill C-45 (Westray Bill) (click here, for more info)

6. the declaration of a "Day of Mourning" every time there is a fatality in the sector

For his part, Frank Everitt admits it has apparently taken this year's staggering death toll to prompt action. "I think that's certainly the catalyst, it's sad to say that's what it is, " he says, "We've got to do a better job, so that people get to go home with all of their arms and legs and alive at the end of the day."

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Posted on Monday, December 05, 2005 04:10 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: owl on December 5 2005 10:26 AM

The last time the union got upset at these issues the government created a task force which created the BC Forest Safety Council.

The task force's report was completed almost two years ago. It took six months after that for the task force to sit and think about creating a body to implement the recommendations of the task force .... the BC Forest Safety Council was created about 1.5 years ago as a result. It was to be a lean and mean machine and has so far been neither.

No one at any level of authority that can make this happen is really serious about this issue. It gets passed on as "safety is everyone's business" which, when translated, actually means that the workers take prime responsibility.

Workers do not set road standards, do not set hauling standards, do not set compliance standards, etc.

The WCB has taken over a decade and a half to implement a faller certification programme. Now the difference is that we have fallers who have been certified to be "safe" fallers dying in the woods at the same rate as non certified fallers did before.

Little did anyone, while creating this new level of compliance, wish to address the issue that most fallers know how to "safely" fall a tree, and that the real reason is that some will just not do it because they are being pushed to produce and they feel the risk is worth the money they take home.

What we need is a WCB which has suffcient manpower to enforce the situation in the field as well as in the head offices of licensees to ensure that licensees don't pass the buck to their sub contractors as they are doing.

To ensure forest safety in the woods, the Ministry of Forests has primary responsibility and they must ensure that everyone from the the licensees down work safely by ensuring contracts are properly written and administered, with the assistance of WCB to ensure compliance.

The "big boys" have repeatedly shown they are incapable of doing in the field what they have managed to do reasonably well in the mills, thus effective policing is the last resort.

Posted by: owl on December 5 2005 10:49 AM

Now for my thoughts on the actions the Union wants:

1. more timely investigations … the task force identified that two years ago and nothing has changed. This is an after the fact action and is not going to make any change unless the coroner makes recommendations for change which will be implemented pronto.
2. Industry implementation committees – WCB has this authority and can fine substantially and order changes in practices immediately by writing up orders without having to resort to work by committee. Imagine creating a committee to hand out traffic tickets or decide whether to impound a car when the driver is intoxicated when individual police officers already have that capacity. Unions are no less bureaucratic than the government they are petitioning.
3. Increase monitoring and enforcement by WCB – YES!!! They have cut their staff to the bone and would have to start hiring to do that effectively.
4. Ensure WCB Act is clarified or amended …… yes, and I understand that is in the works … it takes about 18 months to get changes to regs through Parliament …. And probably 18 months for WCB to write them so that they do not end up the same way that the smoking in pubs ended up. In addition, the same needs to be done with MoF.
5. Bill C-45 is a completely different matter. It would have to be sown that companies show a flagrant disregard for safety. At a time when the standard is to pass the buck via contract and the government itself can be shown to be in the same state of mind as the licensees, it would be very difficult and expensive to win a case in court. Companies do not set different stumpage rates throughout the year, for instance, which is part of the problem. The government is complicit in this case and any good lawyer representing a licensee taken to criminal court under Bill C-45 will get egg all over the government’s face.
6. The declaration of a day of morning – that is a good idea if it is properly handled, including the possibility of a full work stoppage … however, that being said, who will such a work stoppage actually hurt – it simply means that for the remaining working days of the year, everyone will be working that much harder to try to produce the same. So, no work stoppage, but front page on every single newspaper in the province, headline news story on every single radio station and TV news cast for the full day. It needs to be “in your face” to the entire population of this province. Nothing less will be effective. At the rate we are going this year, I believe that will be about one day a week on average ……

In summary, we already have the tools, we just are not supportive of using them to the fullest extent ……

Posted by: fedup on December 5 2005 4:17 PM

Workers in the bush work long hours travel long distances to get to work and have to get more done in a day then ever not hard to believe they get a little tired and every once in a while someone will get hurt.I think if you talk to any of them they would love to make a decent wage and not have to work under these conditions but it is never going to be a 9 to 5 job get breakfest and dinner with the family.Now all I see is more politics for them to deal with and no real help in the bush.I guess its good that these mills will have all the wood in the forest turned to lumber in 10 years because they may not find a new gerneration willing to put up with these working conditions.