ist Issue September, 1966 THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER A HORRIBLE — AND NEEDLESS DEATH On July 22, 1966 a mill- wright hired the previous day by the Netherlands Overseas Lumber Co., Prince George was killed when caught by a chain underneath the log deck after completing repairs to a malfunctioning air cylinder. Regional Safety Director Andy Smith investigated the fatality and made the follow- ing observations: “Working under conditions as they existed in this opera- tion greater care should have been taken and a new em- ployee should not have been allowed to work alone. More- over, working from a step-- ladder is an unsafe practice at any time because of the inherent danger of loss of balance.” The “Lumber Worker” visited the site of the accident and the following pictures show the sequence of events which lead to the death of the 32-year old workman; who was married and the father of two children. (1) Reversible log deck chains and log conveyor having log stops activated by air cylinder seen in (2). 5 5 a a Geiss : ‘ » A MEETING of Regional Safety Council Officers and Local Union Safety Directors was held in Woodworkers’ House on August 6 to discuss the possible updating of the Regional safety program. Pictured above are: Regional President J. A. Moore; Safety Council Officers A. G. Ingram, R. Davis, H. Delmage, Sister P. Ewles; Local Union Safety Directors B. Thompson (1-71), J. Mumm (1-80), A. G. Ingram (1-85), B. Doherty (1-118), E. Ewert (1-217), M. Major (1-357), K. Lidberg (1-363), W. Buker (1-367), J. Munro (1-405), R. Ross (1-417), G. Director Andy Smith. Hurlbert (1-424), and Regional Safety RIGHTS UNDER CORONERS ACT By GIL INGRAM Regional Safety Council Chairman For many years the Region- al Safety Council and Local Unions have been concerned in the manner that inquests are conducted. At almost every Safety Conference there have been resolutions protest- ing in one way or the other the futility of holding or at- tending inquests. This feeling of frustration is solely the result of Coron- ers or R.C.M.P. using differ- ent procedures. There is no doubt that many Locals do not understand their rights as laid down in the Coroners Act while attending inquests on behalf of their Local Union. You should notify the Coroner and the Officer in Charge that you are the Union representa- tive and request the right un- der the Act to participate in questioning all witnesses. Section 23 of the Coroners Act reads: Any person whose inter- ests may be affected by any of the evidence likely to be adduced at an inquest may appear personally or by coun- sel at the inquest and may tender evidence and call wit- nesses and may examine, cross- examine, or re-examine wit- nesses, as the case may be, and he may obtain from the Cor- oner a summons directed to any witness whom he desires to call R.S. 1948, c. 70, s. 23. The following. are some things we protest under pres- ent Coroners Inquests: 1. The selection of a Cor- oners’ Jury by the police is in many cases a mockery; they will issue a summons to any- one available. At inquests for a logging or sawmill fatality you will find in the majority of cases that no one is experi- enced in this type of work. We log deck floor. (4) Workman was caught and crushed between chain and = 9 en has no view of the under-side of the log deck where millwright was killed. are of the opinion that in the selection of a Jury that every effort should be made to pro- vide qualified experienced persons who understand the industry concerned. 2. When witnesses are call- ed to give evidence all other witnesses are in the same room and under this procedure it is almost impossible to bring out constructive points that could result in an accident of this kind not happening again. We believe that witnesses should not listen to statements of pre- vious witnesses as this influ- ences them to answer ques- tions as previously answered by others. 3. At some inquests the police pick Personnel Men, Assistant Personnel or other Company Officials to act on Jury Duty for a fatality in their own operation. Under this procedure may we sug- gest that they pick the Union Safety Committee or employ- ees of the Company tor Jury Duty. 4. Almost immediately after a fatality a full investigation is conducted on the job by Company, Union Officials, W.C.B., Police and the Joint Safety Committee. To my knowledge never have any of these persons been called as a witness to give their findings. We are becoming more con- cerned as the fatality list shows very little improve- ment. Too many of our mem- bers are giving their lives to the Woodworking Industry and most accidents should never have happened. What is the cause? Is it necessary to die in order to make a liy- ing? Is your name the next one to add to the list? It is my opinion that some or all of the following are fatality causes: © Speed - up and increase production. : e Trying to maintain produc- tion quotas in bad terrain the same as is done in good ground. ¢ Working short handed yet trying to produce as much as a full crew. e Failure to move a safe dis- tance to avoid being hit, ° The most important point of all is the total disregard to working safely .. , —ignoring all safety pro- cedures, and —the failure to do or ap- proach the job from the safest position. There are still too many foremen and supervisors who show a complete lack of inter- est in the welfare and safety of those employees under their supervision.