B.C. LUMBER WORKER ) afety. dations v accident prevention contained ire as follows: or the inclusion in trade union n shall not be guilty of a breach ‘k under conditions which violate . Also that a workman discharged refused redress under the griey- a e. te enable greater fre- vide an increase in the penalty for imum of $50, and a maximum of authority to issue stop orders for out resolution of the Board. {o furnish the Board with data on statistical records. anied on plant inspections when- or member of the plant safety een various government safety Jaw. given First Aid Attendants to y be trained and authorized to cotics. lid Attendants with this training ith 75 men or more and over 10 doctor. able to the Division of Industrial ird to occupational diseases. expansion of the Rehabilitation 5 make expenditure necessary for innual limitation of $75,000. gaged to assist injured workmen in useful occupations. engaged to assist amputation be extended to aid the orphans in industrial accidents. horize the appointment of an Advocate in Victoria to assist SLOAN REPORT EXPOSES: Had Worst Records In1951 _ Camps, Mills Without Safety Plans “The logging industry is still a challenge to all those in | the forefront of the fight to reduce the annual toll of-death |and injuries in that industry.” This significant sentence is found in the report of Chief Compensation as submitted results. The Commissioner’s conclu- sions are based on a comprehen- sive statistical analysis of acci- dent records. In this connection he states, “The small operators present, as yet, a very real and pressing problem.” When Safety Worked | Im one year, 45 member firms | of the B.C. Loggers Associa- tion reported 9,067 employees worked 16,298,874 man-hours with a frequency rate of 137.0. In the same year, 422 other logging operators reported 4,036 employees worked 5,590, 408 man-hours with a_fre- quency rate of 174.05. (Little. | or no safety programs.) The Association had 31 fatals and the rest of the industry had 20 fatals. The B.C. Lumber Manufac- turers’ Association’s 14,681 em- ployees worked 27,369,672 man- hours with a frequency rate of 60.57 and with 3 fatals, The rest of the industry em- ploying 9,223 with 14,453,017 man-hours had a frequency rate of 110.63 and 13 fatals. (Little attention to safety.) The Commissioner examined the evidence submitted by the IWA and the Board with regard to the imposition of penalties in cases where the safety regula- tions are persistently broken. He reviews the evidence given by witnesses to the effect that the Board should not seek to disci- pline a workman for non-observ- anee of the regulations. It was argued before the Commissioner that this was the responsibility of supervisors and management working in cooperation with union leaders. Policeman Needed In this connection he states: Let us examine a case in which the analogy may not be exact, but reasonably close. A trucking com- pany employs a number of truck drivers, several of whom are known to management to drive in excess of the speed-limit. I can understand that management, or the fleet supervisor, would not re- port these drivers to the police and ask that they be prosecuted. "No doubt these drivers would be®admonished, and if continuing to disregard the traffic laws, would be discharged. i "Let us assume, however, that a police officer sees one of these drivers exceeding the speed-limit, or going through a red light, or ONT MONKEY WITH ELECTRICAL WIRING CALL AW ELECTRICIAN / Justice Sloan on Workmen’s to the B.C. Legislature. It follows his words of praise for willing cooperation already achieved between labor and management with impressive violating some other traffic regu- lation. Is he to go to the employer and ask management to discipline this driver by an admonition? or is be to prosecute him for these violations? The answer is, of course, obvious. "A number of the Board's Regu- lations directed to the workmen are not solely for his own -protec- tion, but are for the protection of his, fellow-workmen as well. In thatssense they are analgous to traffic regulations in that they are designed to regulate the conduct of the individual to protect others... “But what about a Board In- Spector? Assume he is inspecting an operation and finds several workmen disobeying Regulations and creating a hazardous siluation for themselves and others. What is he to do? report this condition to the super- visér and request its discontinu- ance. \ "If, after this warning, nothing is done to meet his request, then 1 see no reason why the recalcitant workmen should not be prosccut- ed. The supervisor could also be prosecuted, unless the Inspector was satisfied that be had done everything reasonably possible to bring the workmen into line short of discharging them. “I can quile appreciate the diffi- culties management is facing in some operations where, for in- stance, thé discharge of a work- man would result in Union oppo- sition and the invocation of the grievance procedures in Union agreements. "The Board, however, it seems to me, could and should exercise its police powers against the indi- vidual workman who believes it is his inalienable right to so con- duct himself at his work that his death, and perhaps that of his fellow-workmen, is the inevitable result of his failure to abide by the safety regulations. “It is my opinion that the Board is not fulfilling this function in putting, in some instances, an impossible burden on manage- ment.” The Commissioner likewise re- views the penalties to which the employer is subject for breaches of the Regulations. Penalties Proposed In summary it may be said that he proposes to put teeth into the accident - prevention regulations by indicating his "His first step, it seems, is to | support of actions of the Board which would penalize careless employers by: (a) Stop orders. (b) Penalty assessments. (c) Charging cost of acci- dent to employer. (a) Fines by court proceed- ings ($50 to $500). The worker who is persist- ently careless should, in his opinion, be penalized by: (a) Disallowance of compen- sation claim. (b) Fines ‘by court proceed- ings ($50 to $500). (©) No grievance procedure for dismissal. Act. If adopted by the Legislature, the Commissioner’s plan will place British Columbia on the same footing as 38 other coun- tries in the world, including Great Britain, ‘Australia and New Zea- land, as well as seven of , the American States. Under the existing, regulations which permit farmers to make | application voluntarily for cover- age, 72 B.C, farmers applied in 1950. The pay-roll assessed for purposes of compensation on B.C. farms in 1949 was $289,018. No Rate Estimate The total asséssed pay-roll for the period under examination was $3,671,000, the total claim cost was $70,590, with an averagé cost rate of $1.92 per $100. The 1951 rate was $3.00 per $100 but no estimate can be formed of the | probable rate under a compulsory scheme. In British Columbia, the num- ber of persons engaged in agri- cultural pursuits is 79,000, but the ratio of self-employed to em- ployed cannot be determined from existing statistics. |, Accidents on the farms annual- ly exceed 1000, and the total for Canada approximates over 40,- 000 each year. Experts who testified before the Commissioner, stated that the reasons which originally prompt- 'W. C.B. COVERAGE URGED FOR FARM LABOR Rapid increase of accidénts resulting from the mecha- nization of agriculture was the main reason advanced by Chief Justice Sloan for the recommendation to the B.C. Legislature that agricultural employees be granted com- pulsory protection under the Workmen’s Compensation ed farmers to oppose compulsory compensation have largely dis- appeared. Farming Now Dangerous The nature of farming has un- dergone a change. Actually the farm was never a safe place of employment, and under modern conditions takes high rank among the dangerous occupations. It was claimed, that as farm- ing has become a mechanized in- dustry, there is no logical reason why a farm laborer operating trucks, tractors, power binders, combines, threshing machines, and various kinds of electrical equipment should not be covered in the same way as a city work- man operating somewhat similar machines in a factory. The Commissioner stated: “I am quite sure that such coverage will result in a very real reduction of the present too-high rate of accidents on the farms. “This will follow from the’ acti- vities of the Accident Prevention Division of the Board in carrying out an educational program now, lacking in this field, from inspec- tion and betterment of hazardous conditions, and from the develop-’ . ment of safe: practices by the farm operators themselves in order to reduce assessment rates.” 1950 Coast log (folded FALLING & BUCKING OCCUPATION: HEAD FALLER EXPERIENCE: 6 YEARS. DATE: SEPTEMBER 28, 1951. A power saw falling team felled a tree to strike a leaner in an effort to dislodge it. The butt of the leaner was carried along in the direction of the falling tree. The leaner whipped and fell at right angles to its intended direction. The top struck one of the falling team and killed him. belay Se a ato ais