SPRING SAFETY CONFERENGE The IWA Spring Regional Safety and Health Conference will be held April 11- 12, in the Yellowhead Inn, 1445 W. Central Street, Prince George. Registration will commence at 7:30 p.m. on April 10th until 8:30 p.m., and will resume at 8:15 to 8:45 on April 11. Conference proceedings commence at 9:00 a.m. both days and will conclude at 5:00 p.m. on the 12. LOGGING MUSICAL A two-act, narrated musical portraying the history of British Columbia’s logging tradition is currently being performed to audiences throughout the Province by Barry Hall & The Scandihoogians. “A Haywire Show” intertwines folk music; poetry and recitations to transport you back ‘to the time when loggers; camp cooks; donkeypunchers and highriggers spent their lives in the woods of B.C. and their rolls in town. This exciting and entertaining musical pays hommage to the men and women who carved out a way of life in the wilderness of British Columbia. The musical will be showing March 24-29 at Presentation House, 209 West 4th Ave., North Vancouver. Tickets are $4.50 adults; $3.50 seniors and juniors. For reservations call Presentation House 986-4011. Barry’s father was a scandiavian immi- grant who logged in B.C. during the early 20’s and 30’s and Barry grew up within the logging tradition. Barry has spent almost two years researching and writing the songs performed and collecting the true life stories recounted in the show. Barry has been playing and singing since the early 50’s, having performed at both Vancouver Folk Festivals, and is well known and respected for his musical talents. Sheila Baker, a newcomer to folk music plays rhythm guitar and banjo in addition to operating and overseeing the sound equipment. She is featured as solo vocalist in several songs in the show. Tom Sullivan is a Vancouver-born per- former having appeared with “The Other People” throughout the region. Tom plays bass in the show and the song ‘Plain Old Logger,’ which gets the show rolling, is one of many songs written and composed by Tom, himself an ex-logger. Dick Clements, who narrates the show, came to Vancouver in 1971. He has appeared in stage productions in England and Alberta as well as City Stage and the Playhouse in Vancouver. He has also appeared in episodes of The Beachcombers and The House of Pride. BURSARIES AVAILABLE The Canadian Labour Congress has announced that 24 bursaries will be avail- able for children of trade unionists starting post-secondary education, again in 1980. The awards, two per province or territory, are offered in co-operation with Carling O'Keefe. The bursaries are $500 each. Eligible candidates must be sons or davghters, or official wards, of workers, living or dead who are (or were) members in good standing of any union affiliated to, or chartered by the Canadian Labour Congress. The candi- dates must be Canadians. The deadline for applications is March 31, 1980. 10/Lumber Worker/March, 1980 Applicants for the awards must be grad- uating from a secondary school and intending to continue their education in an approved institution such as a university, technological institute, community college or CEGEP, teachers’ college or nursing school. Application forms are available from any Canadian Labour Congress regional office or from the CLC Education Department, 2841 Riverside Drive, Ottawa, Ontario. Applications must be post-marked no later than March 31, 1980. The selection of successful applicants will be made by a committee appointed by the CLC. The decisions of the committee are final. NO TRUTH IN THEORY By VERNA LEDGER Regional Safety Director Why is it when the economy of a country begins to sour the ultra conservative ele- ments in society start to creep out of the woodwork? We begin to hear that all of the ills, and particularly the expenses of our social structure, are the fault of some group or other. It is usually the forewarning that ethnic groups, the poor, the sick or workers will be blamed for all of our problems. This trend to the “right” does not even overlook the field of safety and health. “Workers” become the scapegoats and are blamed for “unsafe acts,” which are said to cause 85, 90 or 95% of all accidents, depend- ing on who is doing the speaking. Excuses are found for increases in fatalities and injuries and workers are accused of being careless and thus responsible for their own deaths and injuries. There are many theories of causation of accidents but probably the oldest and most deeply entrenched is the “unsafe act the- ory.” But as Robert Sass, Saskatchewan’s Director of Occupational Health & Safety has said, “the unsafe act theory has never been supported by scientific study.” Unfortunately however unscientific it may be, the theory runs rampant. Propo- nents of this theory have nothing to say about the way in which work is organized, about machinery and euqipment. Their answer is to scare the “unsafe workers” and discipline them into behaving. This approach results in the traditional accident prevention program which treats the workers as passive and emphasizes their so-called stupidities, rather than their strength, power and intelligence. It lets everyone off the hook but the worker. When the IWA recently protested the increased number of fatalities and injuries in the Forest Industry we were told by those supposedly “in the know,” that workers’ “unsafe acts’’ were the reason for the increase. It was even stated that fatalities are inherent in our industry and therefore “Srreversible.” A negative statementif I ever heard one. We believe this is a cop-out, we know that deaths and serious injuries in the forest industry can be prevented if we honestly analyze the “real reasons” accidents occur and then seek solutions. Engineering con- trols of the hazard must of course remain a priority, but training must also be consid- ered one of major solutions to the high rate of accidents and injury. Inexperience has been shown to be one of the prime contribu- tors to the fatalities, particularly in the logging section of the industry. While the WCB Regulations require job safety training in a somewhat loosely written regulation, it is obvious there has been a general lack of thorough induction and training in many areas of the industry. We are presently aware of-a logging school located on Vancouver Island at Malaspino College, which runs a two-week voluntary course for chokermen. The train- ing is conducted for the most part in a logging area and terrain under conditions similar to most logging areas on the coast. One forest industry company now hires most of their chokermen from this school and has found that not only has theirinjury frequency been drastically reduced, but they appear to have less turnover in their crews. Obviously, the training builds a more satisfied and stable workforce. The IWA will continue to urge the Government and busi- ness to set up more of these logging training schools throughout B.C. In the manufacturing section of the forest industry lack of training or job safety induction is also a princpal contributor to work-caused injuries. Most joint accident prevention programs carry rather elaborate sections on job safety training, but many are simply “paper tigers.’’ They exist on paper only. : Training, however is only one of the areas of solution to the “real causes” of accidents. Design of production, speed of production, equipment maintenance and equipment design are some of the physical factors we must examine for solutions. As well, we must proceed in a progressive direction and consider the mental and physical environ- mental stresses placed on a worker, and their ultimate response when faced with a hazard. Noise for example may mistakenly be considered a natural part of the work environment and may be ignored in acci- dent investigation. Dust, fumes, vibration, poor illumination, shift work, length of work schedule, monotony, etc. are seldom, if ever, consider- ed as contributing factors in.an accident investigation, yet all of these factors con- tribute to a worker’s general discomfort and stress. At times there may even be the synergistic effect of all or many of these elements existing in one workplace. Acting together to have a detrimental effect on worker’s physical and mental responses when confronted with a hazardous situation. Proponents of the “unsafe act” or unsafe worker” theories would do well to discon- tinue their neagative attitudes and get on with seeking the “real solutions.” The “unsafe act theory” may save money but it doesn’t save lives. PLANT MOVE IRES STEEL The United Steelworkers of America has again sent a brief to B.C. Labour Minister Jack Heinrich seeking his intervention to prevent a transfer of work from a B.C. plant. Tom Pearce, president of Steelworkers Local 3376, representing 210 employees at the windsor Machine Co. Ltd. plant in Langley, said the company plans to shift production of a key part in its small chain- saw parts to Ontario or the U.S. due to high freight rates and Canadian tariffs. The Steelworkers also asked Heinrich to investigate the layoffs of 250 workers at American Can Co. of Canadain Vancouver, which the union said were caused by the company sending work to other parts of Canada.