6 rs B.C. LUMBER WORKER ore) a rae nes Officers Report Program Now Sweeping Province Review of the past year’s safety activities in the lum. ber industry on the part of the IWA, as contained in the District Officers’ Report to the 18th Annual District Con- vention, recorded another striking advance in the field of accident prevention. A The report received by the con- vention, and referred to the Offi- cers’ Report Committee, dealt with the subject of safety, as practiced by the Union, in the following terms: “Another year’s experience with the maintenance of a Safety Department, employing the full- time services of a Safety Direc- tor, under the auspices of the District Council, has given addi- tional proof that the part played by the Union in the field of acci- dent prevention has been neces- sary and of valuable protection to the membership. In the directions given by your officers to the work of this de- partment, one practical purpose has been kept in mind—the re- duction of fatal and crippling ac- cidents in the lumber industry. It is recognized that in the final analysis, the actual work of acci- dent prevention must be done by; the workers themselves under the conditions faced by them on the job. “The function of the Union at the District level is to undertake co-ordination and promotion of safety activities in the Local Unions, and to assist the Local Unions in forming active, and efficient job safety committees in every operation where possible. Departments Value It is found that the mainten- ance of a District Safety Depart- | ment serves several useful func- tions: (1) It gives the safety pi gram requirements a high prior- ity in the general program of the Union; (2) it enables the compilation of valuable informa- tion for the purposes of the Union, as gained from the gen- eral industrial experience; (3) it stimulates safety education by close cooperation with all acci- dent prevention efforts in the industry. During the past year the in- structions of the last District of a safety program in the In- terior has been carried out. The operation extended by the officers and members of the Local Unions has been praiseworthy. For the first time, the Interior employ- ers gave approval to modern safety practices and job safety organization. Job meetings were permitted on the employers’ time. District Safety Director spent al The response from the workers, tion in the safety program, low- ered the accident frequency rate in a substantial degree. B.C. In Lead Your officers wish to place on record the comment made by Mr. Ned Dearborn, President of the National Safety Council, during his last summer's inspection of They G es ot “Home Free” n ZS 5S ab lc a, = 5 ACCIDENT-FREE year recently completed by the employees of the B.C. Manufacturing. Co. Ltd., New Westminster, was made possible through the fine team work displayed by these Safety Com- mittee members, from left to right, back row: G. Lester, T. Baxter, G. Currie, C. Bodnar, W. Malloy, F. Poynting. Seated, left to right, W. Lingenfelter, Paul Sly, Secretary; S. Laidman, Manager; K. Convention regarding promotion SAPLING BY TRACTOR SNAPS UP... BROKEN STUMP STRIKES OPERATOR TURN HUNG upon STUN? 4 Holbeche, Bill Craig, Plant Superintendant; H. Wright, Chairman. large portion of his time in the Interior, assisting the Local Unions to lay a sound basis for the general establishment of job safety committees. Praiseworthy Cooperation The results of this activity have been encouraging. The co- CAT WHNCHING Loas iN, ‘Tig DIRECTION — Moves INTO THICKET TO RELEASE 1| in the industry at large indicates | that accidents of a fatal or seri- | efficient and energetic participa- who have suffered an appalling accident toll, shows definite prom- ise that the safety program for the Interior has taken root, and will now expand rapidly. The organization of safety commit- tees in the Interior operations will be continued, as rapidly as conditions permit. An over-all view of the prog- ress made by the safety program ously crippling nature, are being reduced, in relation to the man- hours of exposure, even although there has been a high level of production. Six operations have been re- ported as entirely free from com- pensable accidents during 1954. Many others have by means of the safety program in the B.C. lumber industry. He declared, and he repeated his statement before the Congress of the Safety Council in Chicago last autumn, that the lumber industry in Brit- ish Columbia led the continent in its safety program. In paying tribute to this achievement, he expressed the view that a large share of the credit properly. be- longed to the Union, for its full- scale participation.” Your Chance If you are 35, you haye an average of 17,000,000 min- utes to live. Take a chance to save a minute, you gain one minute and risk 17,000,- 000. It’s a sucker bet. Nature endow ears to hear in ors that he encounter; | reasoning that he | | an inner spirit ¢ and enthusiasm. ‘ Workers in Bri one of the most §, with an unusually | with opportunitiés) economic ambitio A common | these gifts of life, rights indicates a tion and disregard perpetuation of | An accident can limit his opph social standards. } Accidents can of natural senses’é of a continuing ab Workmen's Com CHRIS. W. PI E. V. ABLETT;, Dead... OCCUPATION: Cat Operator EXPERIENCE: 3 Years” AGE: 31. Fy The cat operator was yarding in heavy snow cover. A small turn of four logs hung up on a stump. To clear the turn the operator backed then swung into a thicket of small fir trees. He twisted the tractor to line up the winch drum. One tree that was bent under the tractor’s weight sprang up and struck the cab guard. : re It broke and the stump struck the driver and threw him out of the cab. He died of injuries.