of the first lessons in box-
. guard position, many an
qtapped into dropping his
fi to disaster.

Jamber of accidents to men
vigilant enough, to escape
to industrial life and be

en a feeling of relief and
of workmen that had so
aed against the threats and
And the next day.a welder

yo have not heard it. There
its truth or its wisdom.

year's laboring, there is
and lessen care. The ap-
4 promise of joyous relaxa-
ctumstances often lure too
ir guard. Attention is dis-
id the inevitable accident

ness and sincerity to keep
e hazards of industry, the
of recreation so that the
hppy one and not an anni-
rtthe for you or your family.

*
ot
ipusation Board

i
Dijtretary
, Commissioner

them.

The idea for this article oc-
curred while driving the Island
Highway. There were signs for
curves, hills, softshoulders, turns,
and schools; signs for speed lim-
its, and a centre line for lanes.
All hazards were clearly marked.
The thought occurred to me that
in the woods there also are signs
for our protection, clearly mark-
ed, and most of them placed there
by Mother Nature herself.

Ignoring Signs
Overlooking these signs, or

worse still, ignoring them,
is the cause of a lot of accidents
in the woods. So, too, is failing
to understand them. Would the
man who fails to follow signs in
the woods overlook or ignore
them on the highway? He well
knows .what the results would be.
BUT— .

Does the faller always look up
for suspended chunks, or snags,
leaning in the path of the tree to
be felled; dées he check his get-

Cc. LUMBER WORKER

IT PAYS TO WATCH THE SIGNS:

By JAMES ROUGHTON, B.C. Loggers’ Ass’n

Signs everywhere. I mean man-made ones for our pro-
tection and guidance. You see them on streets, around
buildings, and in offices. Generally speaking, we follow

away path, watch for rotten tops
or hollow butts? The signs are
clear to the experienced man.

Does the chokerman look for
suspended. or loose logs? The
signs are quite plain if you are
looking for them.

Does the chaser test the lay of
the pile for loose logs? The signs
should be clear. 3

Does the loader look for loose

bark, for swinging tongs? Again
the signs are easily read if he is
alert.
. Rock bluffs, steep _sidehills,
snow, ice and wind. They are
mote of the signs provided by
Mother Nature.

Sign Signals

Then there are the man-made

signs which we call signals. The
engineer must act exactly in ac--
cordance with these signs. So
must the whistle punk and the
vigging crew; the truck driver
backing into the landing must
watch for them and obey them.
Any failure to give correctly, to
relay correctly, or to read cor-
rectly any of these signs means
trouble. Just as it does on the
highway.

One should go on almost indefi-
nitely. ‘All of us depend on the
use of signs and it is especially -
necessary to look for, read cor-
rectly and obey signs when you
are working in the woods.

(From British Columbia Lum-
berman, October, 1953.)

ARTHRITIS
CAUSES
PROBED

OTTAWA (CPA)—Univers-
ity and hospital reesarch cen-
tres in Montreal are carrying
out investigation of causes and
methods of preventing arth-
ritis, the world’s leading crip-
pler, Health Minister Martin
has announced.

The research, supported by
federal health grants, will seek
new methods of prevention and
treatment of the disease. Mr.
Martin said that public health
authorities estimate that rheuma-
tic diseases of various kinds
strike more people than cancer,
heart disease, diabetes and tuber-
culosis combined:

Rheumatic fever is a dangerous
disease among children, causing
many deaths, but in most in-
stances arthritis and rheumatism
cripple and disable without kill-
ing, said the Minister. More than
half the disability is among per-
sons under 45 years of age. In
addition to all the problems which
these diseases bring to the indi-
vidual, arthritis and rheumatism
represent a severe economic loss

to the nation,

hat, and good calks.

SLIPPING AND FALLING is a common accident cause, as a matter of fact, the most common.
Here a bucker shows the proper method of handling a light power saw. Note his gloves, safety

NEEDL

His report cites type accidents
and outlines the practicable rem-
edies in each instance. He states:

Ladders

An excerpt from a recent Form
7 states: “Workman was descend-

ing

MBER THS —UW 16V WEATHER
WEE To CANES TERS WORK TOGETHER

WAVE A THOUEMT FOR THEMEKT GUY -
REMOVE TWE WAZARO/

W.C.B. Regulations 65 to 87
inclusive cover
construction and care of ladders.

ladder from flatear to deck | None-the-less, it is not unusual

when ladder broke and he fell 8
| feet to the tracks below.”

completely the

smooth floor areas, etc.

for us to find on our plant tours
ladders made of unsuitable ma-
terial, without treads set in or
without filler blocks, without
safety feet or spikes, or with odd
sized pieces scabbed on .the side
rails for reinforcing. We occas-
ionally see properly constructed
ladders being used up side down.

Even in plants where good lad-
ders are the rule, we find an odd
one in out of the way places
which have long since passed
their safe usagé. When found,
these should be immediately des-
troyed to prevent them being used
for one of those “just-a-minute”
jobs with the ull too frequent un-
happy result.

Slipping

Another excerpt states: “While
wheeling a barrow of rubbish up
a gangway, stepped on wet sur-
face, slipped and fell.” In the
past ramps were made much
afer by adding cross strips with
narrow gaps left for the wheels
if used for barrows, etc.

More recently the advent of
non-slip materials and paints has
provided a practical, convenient
way to greatly reduce the hazards
of slipping on ramps, stairways,
Many
such places which were relatively
safe during dry weather will now
become treacherous throughout
the wet winter months, An added
advantage of the use of such ma-
terials is the greatly reduced
maintenance of the surfaces so

treated.

ESS HAZARDS REVEALED

Accident reports from sawmills indicate some long-
standing causes of frequent accidents, which with some
attention may be eliminated, it is suggested by the Safety
Director of the BCLMA, in a recent warning bulletin.

Housekeeping

This excerpt states: “Stepped
on small knot which threw work-
man off 14 inch high platform.
Although poor housekeeping
rarely is so apparently the prim-
ary cause of accidents, it is all too
often a contributing factor in
many of our injury reports.

Experience has proven beyond
all possible doubt that as long as
tools, materials of any descrip-
tion or just plain debris are left
lying around in work. areas or
passageways, a constant hazard
exists.

THINK of SAFETY
Before you go too bar f