So what is all this going to do about the real problem which is the extra long days these folks work to move the wood in the short period of time they get to do it.15 Hour days would make anyone a little less attentive.Just sounds like more smoke to me? No mention of the roads,these guys start at 1 AM but usually thiers no hyway crew till 6 AM.

Their driver certification scheme concerns me.

Bringing it into the Advanced Education realm is another way of saying that the weeding out process is now going to be tied to the privileged that have the ability to finance post secondary education. It will create bureaucracy for the certification elimination of potential employees.

Most who have traditionally worked in the forest industry are not the post secondary type of people, and some of the most competent workers don't have their grade eight education much less the motivation or financial ability to go through a post secondary education.

I also have concerns with, "Over time, the BC Drivers Abstract should be used to track individual driver endorsements."

I think if drivers abstracts are to be tied to certification in any way then class #1 drivers abstracts should be separated from personal class #5 drivers abstracts. Many people in driving industry have sports cars and 4X4's that could attract police attention for selective enforcement that could eliminate a persons career. What if you get a seat belt fine while a passenger in a car driven by someone else, or get a speeding ticket driving a sports bike and this costs you certification for your professional driving career and therefore your bread and butter. The ignorant here will say to bad.

My thinking is you can not compare driving a 30 wheel highway tractor to driving a sports bike when using a drivers abstract to assess someone’s professional driving abilities. Why the two are on the same drivers abstract makes no sense when the implications do not include certification. Add in certification and it becomes a real problem of discrimination based on information that may have no basis on a persons professional ability.

If they wanted to discriminate against potential logging truck drivers because of their independent nature, than as far as I could support would be some kind of sticker that certifies as a drivers learning period. They could use one of the many of on-board computer technologies for monitoring your professional driving that is audited by DOT for your first year easily identifiable by your sticker. Small violations could involve coaching, and larger violations could involve sanctioning. Most large transportation companies have this in all their fleet vehicles. Most lease operators do not.

Making the system open to discrimination is not the way to go. Pro-active coaching, as well as professional driver monitoring are they proper way to proceed IMO.

How about people who come to BC to drive logging trucks during peak logging periods when drivers are at a premium. Are they to be certified before they can drive.

Truck drivers over-all in the past 10 years or more have been given a raw deal by Employers, and have been working long hours for little return on investment. Owner operators get it in the neck for Insurance, Maintenance, and other associated costs. Who benefits from their work.

(1) Logging contractors
(2) ICBC Through Premiums
(3) Government through taxes
(4) Truck Dealerships through truck sales, and repairs.
(5) Tire Companies who make big money on tire sales.
(6) The Sawmills who get thier logs delivered on time during a short logging season.
(7) Finiance Companies through *high* interest rates.
(8) Gas Companies through gas and diesel sales

All these people nail the truck drivers to the limit, without any thought or concern except for their own self interests.

From what I have heard over the years the truck loggers get very little in return except for in some cases abuse from the Contractors, Static from the Scales, Pressure from the finiance companies, Regulation from the Government, etc;

I have heard a number of instances where drivers have just parked thier trucks in a lot somewhere and went home and told everyone to shove-it.

Any changes to trucking in this area should have the safety of the trucking drivers as a number one priority, however it should also be tied into fair compensation for work performed. As little as possible **Red Tape** or Government interferance. Certainly any tracking of their Drivers abstract should be restricted to their trucks only., as the truck is their business.(Owner Operators)

There is an acute shortage of truck drivers in BC at this moment and specifically in this area. If people insist on making this a difficult business to get into, with little or no benefit when you get in, then these drivers will start to look to greener pastures, and the logging industrie in this area will be in for a rough ride.

Its time the Government and Civil Servants in the Country did something besides writing rules and regulations for every conceivable thing you can think about. Business should start to treat employees as assets rather than liabilities., and last but not least its time that Government and Civil Servants, and Business Managers get it through their heads that they are getting a free ride on the backs of the workers. The least they can do is try to help and be respectful.

A prime example of people not caring about drivers is the arbitrary closing of the Cameron St. Bridge with all the attendent driving difficulties that this created. Fully loaded logging trucks (and other trucks) making tight turns on busy intersections day and night 7 days a week. ( I assume that there must be some stress involved here)

While this is going on Fat Cat Politicians and High Profile business Managers wax philosophically about the state of the nation, and the TRX, NASDAQ, China Trade, Sport Centres,
NFL Hockey, and a Mexican Holidays.

But what are they doing to improve the driving conditions, especially in this town. Especially on the bypass and 5th, and 5th and Carney. I think that *nothing* sums it up quite nicely.

Because of politics and the constant bickering between different levels of Government all trying to get their hands on our tax dollars we cant get anything done.

If I was a truck driver I would look to Alberta for the next 10 years of employment and get out of Dodge.

The only reason the Cameron St. Bridge has not been repaired and up and running by now, is because the Mayor and Council refuse to repair it.
We know it can be repaired for a measly $724,000.00 and all we do is sit on our butts and whine about the *other* Governments who wont give us any money for a new bridge.

Anyone who used this bridge on a regular basis in the past, and now has to use an alternate route for the next 3 years should keep this in mind in 2008 which will be our next Municipal Election.

Excellent post Palopu. A lot of truck drivers are voters too.

I like the idea of treating employees as assets and not liabilities and have posted how that can be done in the past, so won't post it again, but it has a lot of merrit especially when one considers that we do not have a labour shortage, but rather a employer training shortage.

In a nutshell, we are seeing the outcome of WCB not being capable of doing the work that they ought to be doing. And now they changed their name to WorksafeBC, as if that is going to make any changes.

And, on top of that they have been farming out the work they are supposed to be doing to the various industry groups to try to get them to self police. So now a new group has to get up to snuff on safety stats, cause and effect of work practices, knowledge and skills assessment and transfer of same when they are lacking. The list is endless.

WCB, WorksafeBC or whatever they wish to call themselves needs to be audited and the information made public. Then we can look at what problems there may be, and fix those.

In the meantime, there will continue to be more deaths and serious injuries. Large companies and the manufacturing sector have had some success with that. Many small companies who barely know how to deal with their accounting requirements have major problems when it comes to safety.

“Currently there are contractors who are turning down work and equipment that is sitting idle due to the inability to find trained personnel. The potential damage to the industry and provincial economy is very real,” warns Harris.

They are leaving her to go to Alberta where the working conditions are no different. It has nothing to do with going from an unsafe location to a safe location. It has to do with going to where there is a greater cahnce of more work.

That being said, we need to work out how to put safer systems in place. It goes far beyond looking at drivers. When the contractors are pushing for longer hours of driving time than the feds suggest and the truckers association for shorter driving time, guess who needs the safety certification!!!!!!

You got that right Owl. I agree wholeheartedly. My suggestion for going to Alberta was to work in something other than the trucking industry and still make a good living, the Oil Patch, Warehousing, Construction, and the like.