and Issue, November

B.C. LUMBER WORKER

to become alarmed
lore hazards and to

0 size up situations
there is always time

fest manner possible.

pped by circumstance
before acting.

in all sections of the lumber indust:

job safety committees.

ae

IWA DISTRICT SAFETY CONFERENCE, convened November 24, with delegates from all coast Local Unions, and heard reports of progress made

ry. Considerable attention was given to the subject of fatalities among fallers and buckers, and the status of

are not made promptly. We want
to do our part. We expect you to
do yours in dealing with your in-
jured members. Only by the co-
operation of all concerned can we
do the job. The Act itself puts
the burden on the claimant.

It is worthwhile to take a look
at Section 49. This provides that
it is the duty of the workman, or
in case of his death the duty of a
dependent, as soon as practicable
after the happening of an acci-
dent to give notice thereto to the
employer. The notice is required
to be in writing and to contain
the name and address of the
workman and to state in ordinary
language the nature and cause of
the injury and the time when and
place where the accident occurred,
and is required to be signed.

Failure to give the notice re-
quired by this Section shall be
a bar for any claim for com-
pensation under the Act unless
excused by the Board on one of
three grounds. I cannot empha-
size too strongly the difficulties
which can and do arise par-
ticularly in back, shoulder and
knee claims and in certain in-
dustrial diseases through the
workman’s failure to report or
to seek medical assistance.

I could mention numerous other
matters such as the recent ex-
pansion of industrial diseases,
staphylococcus for hospital and
other workers exposed to the
disease, revision and expansion of
dermatitis coverage, provision for

workers exposed to radioactive

matter and so forth but I think
I should make special mention of
permanent partial disability
awards.
Disability Ratings
Since the inception of the Act
in 1917 a Permanent Partial Dis-
ability scale has been applied to
those who suffer loss of a part of
the body, or loss of function of a
part of the body. This principle is
followed under all Canadian Com-
pensation Act and I believe most
of those in the United States.

If a person suffers the loss of
an arm at the shoulder he is en-
titled under our scale to be rated
as 76% of total disability. If he
was totally disabled he would be
entitled to receive 75% of his
wages for life. The loss of an
arm at the shoulder therefore en-
titles him to 76% of that amount.
The loss of an index finger would
entitle him to 3% % of total. Our
ratings are equal to or higher
than that of any other province.

We have, however, applied an
age adaptability factor and
that factor has made it difficult
to explain an award to a work-
man or to you who may repre-
sent him. It works like this—if
the entitlement is greater than
50% then no, matter what the
age of the injured: man is at
the time of his injury all
awards are the same (based of
course on the individual’s ac-
tual earning). If it is less than
50% then the award to a man
under age 40 is less than that
of a man of 40 and if he is

older than age 40 it is greater
than a man of 40 could receive.

Roughly it works out that a
man of 60 would get about 50%
more than a man of 40 and a
man of 20 would get about
20% Jess than a man of 40.
We are the only Board in Can-
ada which uses the age adapt-
ability factor. The theory is
that with a functional loss a
man younger than age 40 is
more adaptable and can more
easily become employed than a
man in later life.

Age Adaptability

It was stated to the Commis-
sioner in 1942 that in this prov-
ince there were less opportunists
because we had far less secon-
dary industries than elsewhere.
One wonders if the same facts
apply today. If the principle is
right and it’ was raised before
the Commissioner again in 1950
without, as far as I know, any
comment being made upon the
principle, then perhaps the time
has come to consider a revision.

The need for the age adapt-

ability factor perhaps has gone
although ‘probably an additional
percentage should be allowed for
men in the older age group who
sustain injuries. More injuries
occur in the 20-40 age group than
formerly. It would likely be fairer
and would undoubtedly be simpler
of explanation to revise the for-
mula, ;

I should also say a’ few words
about the control of accidents.
The work that organized labor
has been doing in this province
has come to the attention of the
National Safety Congress in the
United States. About October,
1955, our Department was asked
to advise in setting up a labor
safety section, that section was
functioning at the last conference
(the 44th) held in Chicago, Octo-
/ber 24, 1956. Among those on the
panel of the Labor Safety Work-
shop was Mr. John T. Atkinson,
Safety Director of the IWA. I
should say that the IWA and the
Pulp and Sulphite Workers in
this province give a strong lead
to accident prevention from the
labor standpoint.

industrial workers.

WHEREAS the death toll and
injury rate by accident in British
Columbia continues at a terrific
cost in manpower and money, and
WHEREAS the cost of such
personal tragedies’ is born by the
citizens as a whole and therefore
becomes a serious social problem,
and

WHEREAS the B.C. Govern-
ment in co-operation with the
B.C. Safety Council have spon-
sored a provincial safety confer-
ence in Vancouver for Nov. 23rd
and 24th to consider a provincial
safety program, and

WHEREAS all trade union
members of this federation should
become member participants of
the B.C. Safety Council, and by
an organized, well planned safety
program, based on sound princi-

Federation Meet
Calls For Action

John T. Atkinson, IWA District Safety Director, made
a vigorous appeal to the merger convention of the B. Cc.
Federation of Labour to institute a province-wide trade
union crusade to make working conditions safe for the

Speaking in support of the resolution, he asserted that
protection of life and limb for the workers was one of the
primary reasons for trade unionism.

The resolution unanimously adopted was:

NOW THEREFORE BE IT
RESOLVED THAT this conven-
tion of, organized labor in B.C.
direct the officers of this merged
federation, in consultation with
its member organizations, to pre-
pare a co-ordinated program of
safety that will include positive
steps to prevent accidents to
workers at all times, and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED
THAT this program be based on
a proper definition of responsibil-
ities and co-operation to be as-
sumed by labor, management and
government in all phases of acci-
dent prevention, and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED
THAT provision be made finan-
cially for the direction and co-
ordination of continued effort in

ples and vigorously executed, and

furtherance of this program. |