Forest Safety Ombudsman Named

Thursday, March 16, 2006 03:30 PM

The Forest Safety Ombudsman is...former Skeena MLA Roger Harris.

Harris now has the task of trying to identify the contributing factors to the high injury and fatality rates in the bush. He doesn't have the power to force any changes, but he can make some recommendations to companies.

The whole idea of a forest safety ombudsman was to give workers a place where they could air their concerns without fear of reprisal from their employer.

As a former employee of Macmillan Bloedel, Harris has knowledge of the issues.

The Forest Safety Ombudsman's position is part of an overall strategy developed by the B.C. Forest Safety Council last fall in co operation with industry and government.

In 2005 there were 43 fatalities and 113 serious injuries in the forest industry.
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Posted on Thursday, March 16, 2006 03:30 PM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: YamaDooPolCat on March 16 2006 10:01 PM

Where have the accidents been happening? In the Mac Blo coastal world or in the rest of the province?
The two worlds are as different as open pit mining and underground mining.

Posted by: camoose on March 17 2006 12:11 AM

Looks like another pork barrel job for an ex MLA

Posted by: owl on March 17 2006 9:05 AM

Actually MacBlo was taken over by Weyerhaeuser some time ago, so the MacBlo world is appropriately fictitious.

Locally we have had many trucking accidents, partly due for the simple reason that there has been 40% or so more trcuking than in previous years. I am not sure what the accident RATE is, which is the important measure.

I do know much better what the accident RATE is with respect to fallers. While there are fallers in the interior, and there have been faller deaths and serious injuries in the interior, hand falling is predominately a coastal issue. You should also know that since the advent of the BCFSC, ALL deaths due to forestry work have been included in the statistics. One important one that was included last year was the death of 5 (I believe) fallers who died while flying during their working hours.

Flying and hand falling are a fact of life on the coast and are both dangerous. In fact, hand falling is the second most dangerous work category in BC if not throughout the world. Crab fishing, I believe is number one. Both far ahead of police work and serving in the US armed forces (prior to Iraq).