proved the provision, which

election of a Vice-President of the Council for Labor.
Cae | our employment.

The B.C. Safety Director

“It is because I view a safety
programme in a realistic way
that I deeply appreciate the op-
“portunity as a member of the
trade union movement, to parti-
cipate in these discussions. I
make no apology for my effort
to present the vietvpoint of the
trade union I serve.

Unless safety men generally
take cognizance of the psychol-
ogy of the workers and adapt
their plans to enlist the whole-
hearted co-operation of the em:
ployees, our theorizing here is
merely so much “fanning the
breeze.”

Workers Interested

I ask you to accept my pre-
sence here as proof that the or-
ganized lumber workers are
deeply interested in the - philos-
ophy and practice of safety. I
believe that the same interest is
evident in many other trade
unions, but my first hand ex-
perience has been gained in the
yanks of the International Wood-
workers of America. I refer to
this because the lumber industry
in years past has been notorious
for its dreadful toll of deaths
and crippling injuries.

For many years’ the workers
in our industry, and particularly
in the woods, took pride in their
traditions of physical hardihood
and reckless disregard of life
and limb. We have learned about
the need for accident prevention
“the hard way” — the way of
death ‘and tragedy. We are now

would pave the way for the

said in part: H
i

/

JOHN T. ATKINSON

learning to “bet our lives” on
safe working procedures rather
than on the old daredevil chance-
taking. We have now learned |
enough to appreciate fully that |
with one hundred percent devo- |
tion to a sound safety programme
as devised for our industry, we
can live longer, more fully and
more securely,
IWA Participation

As I have said, my presence
here is proof of the very sincere
interest taken in the subject of
safety by my fellow-workers.
Our Union, is perhaps the only
Union which has, in amplifica-

_- YARDING

. Congress
Workers Must Participate

Members attending sessions of the Wood Products
Section of the National Safety Council, forming part of the
mammoth 14,000-delegate Congress which opened in Chi-
cago, October 17, heard the views of organized labor with
regard to participation in an industrial safety program.
Spokesman for labor on the occasion was the IWA District
Safety Director, John T. Atkinson. c
___ The IWA official joined with representatives of manage-
ment and government on a panel which discussed the sub-
ject, “Safety with E’s”, featuring the three major “E’
in accident preventioin. As far as could be ascertained, this
was the first time that a labor representative has partici-
pated in this section of the Congress program. —\

Another unprecedented decision was that which ap-

| which was later repudiated, art-

|ful inventory of our responsibili-

Dead .
OCCUPATION: Rigging Slinger.

” AGE: 34.
EXPERIENCE: 9 years. *

> & LOADING
NS IRS

The top of a 40-foot hemlock log was buried in mud and snow.
The rigging slinger relayed the “go ahead” signal.

The butt swung towards the rigging slinger why

“slack off” the line.
The log came down almost ver!

* against the stump.
Workman was not in the clear.

0 signalled to

tical, pinning the rigging slinger

tion of its affiliation with the
National Safety Council, estab-
lished its own safety department,
with a full-time safety director,
in which capacity I serve.

Our official organ devotes two
full pages every issue, entirely
free from all advertising and
controversial material, to the
promotion of safety education.
The duties assigned to me re-
quire that I should constantly
stimulate and organize activities
among my fellow-workers that
will ensure full co-operation with
established principles of safety
engineering and enforcement in

When I suggest that the com-
plete success of a safety pro-
gramme must permit the active
participation of the organized
employees, I speak from the ex-
perience of concrete results over
a six-year period. I must confess
that until 1948, the members of
the Union did little about safety
but abuse the employers, hurling
at them such accusations as
“murder in the woods”. The
union’s leadership of that day,

fully exploited the emotional
reaction to fatalities in our in-
dustry, to whip up bitter antag-
onism in employer-employee re-
lationships.

Saner Policies
Under saner leadership we re-
versed that policy, and took care-

ties, and our opportunities, We
realized that we had a stake in
safety as.great as management,
Our orgnization exists to prom-
ote the welfare and improve the
economic status of the workers
in the lumber industry.

Three-way Cooperation

Our safety programme in the
lumber industry of British Col-
umbia is based on a formula of
three-way co-operation, shared
jointly by management, labor,
and government (as represented
by the Safety Division of the
Workmen’s Compensation Board).
I am attending this Congress in
the company of two important
leaders in this programme—Mr.
Arthur Francis, Chief Safety In-
spector of the province, and Mr.
W. M. “Scotty” Allison, Safety
Director of the B.C. Lumber
Manufacturers Association,
whose film programme and com-
mentary follows this discussion.

Because all three of us are
realists about safety, we manage
to maintain the most cordial re-
lations, As safety men, we must
find our success in the one pro-
gramme for the industry, and
only one programme. We agree
that there is only one yard stick
for our success, and that is the

We agree upon a division ¢
responsibility in the field of safe- |
ty. We mutually understand that
the employers are responsible for
the safety engineering required
to make the job safe. Mana;
ment must provide safe equi
ment and environment, keep it
afe, and furnish the agreed-
upon safety devices and protec-
tive ‘equipment.

Management must accept re-
sponsibility for the training of
inexperienced workers, and the
supervision of safe working pro-
cedures. The supervisory staff
meets with us in frequent dis-
cussions of accident prevention
problems at all levels of employ-
er-employee relationships, but
chiefly through the media of our
joint safety committees in the
various operations.

WCB Part

The Workmen’s Compensation
Board is responsible for enforce-
ment, but, wisely, the power of
imposing penalties is exercised
with discretion. The emphasis is
placed more heavily on educa-
tion. This government agency
provides a wealth of educational
material as it undertakes super-
vision of our observance of the
regulations. In fact, it exercises
leadership in this field, rather
than dictatorship. More and more,
the Board’s staff seeks the con-
fidence of the workers on a basis

of frank discussion and co-opera-
tion.

Union’s Part

On our part, we undertake,
mainly, our share of responsibil-
ity for the safety education that
¢an properly be conducted
through the Union’s channels.
We publish safety material regu-
larly in our District and Local
Union publications, We use our
regular radio programme fre-
quently to carry the safety mes-
sage into remote logging camps.
Most important of all, we organ:
ize and activize our members?
participation in the joint safety
committees on the job which are
formed both under the law of the
province, and the terms of our
master contract with’ the em-
ployers.

Here is the picture as shown
by the official records—which I
must explain includes the dark
spots as well as the brighter
ones. .

In 1947, there were 56,292
workers employed in the entire
B.C. lumber industry. They
worked 96,445,227 man - hours.
The number of accidents was
11,513. The frequency rate was
119.37.

In 1954, there were 58,343
workers employed in the entire
industry. They worked 106,280,-
287 man-hours. The number of
accidents was réduced in that
year to 6,080, and the accident
frequency rate dropped to 57.21

steady and continued reduction

for the entire industry.”

WMAaTtHA O10/—OOW TEMA

Accidents are unplani

terruptions to

Accidents can injure w

ment, spoil material,

increase cost.

Accidents are wastef

demoralizing.

The prevention of indy

ally an ‘integral part o/

business administration
: .

Efficient industrial of
accident-prevention | pr
|

upon the common deno

people — knowledge o

skill in dealing with pe

The prevention of ate:

The attitude which p

.

effective safety pro;

intelligence and mora

greatest, measure of su

We Lt 13516 - Lo0K
KWOW WEVER TO