W.C.B. ASSAULT Continued from page 1 A few days later, Greer, a former Industrial Relations Officer with the Employers’ Council, was hired as Managerof Industrial Health & Safety. What are Greer’s qualifica- tions? Calhoun had risen through theranks, with long years of experience as an inspector in logging for the WCB, but not Greer. In May, 1984 it was announced that the Engineering Department would be reduced from 18 to 6 — 6 senior engineers were fired, and 6 placed in other fields. Few people knew of the very productive and positive role played by the Engineering Department in injury and disease preven- tion. Besides assisting field officers in engineering-related matters, Board en- — gineers worked to ensure compliance with Industrial Health and Safety Regulations. They conducted many investigations of serious structural failures (e.g. the Bentall Tower tragedy) and made significant recom- mendations on design changes which will - likely prevent future injuries and deaths. They assisted in design and operations of cranes and hoists, elevated and suspended work platforms, and in devising safe work procedures for lock-out, isolation, clearance, identifying and combatting industrial health hazards, and in evaluating lighting and ventilation noise abatement and ergo- nomics systems, etc. Many of these engineers participated in occupational health studies. One of the lead- ing experts on vibration in Canada, a Board engineer, worked with Dr. R. Brubaker of UBC in the Vibration White Finger Disease Study (with the participation and co-opera- tion of the IWA). He developed an advanced method of measuring the vibrations of chain saws, an important step toward preventing Vibration White Finger. These are only a few of the important proj- ects with which WCB engineers have been involved. Will these programs be elimi- nated? More than likely. Verna Ledger speaking to Regional Safety Conference in Duncan. The Hearing Branch was axed at the same time. Dr. Pat Gannon, Senior Medical Advisor for the Hearing Section, and most of the Audiologists at the Board were fired, and the functions of the Hearing Branch turned over to Ministry of Health clinics located around the Province. None of the people who worked at the WCB Hearing Branch have been hired by the Ministry of Health clinics, which has neither the highly trained staff nor the specialized equipment required. Only 7 of the 12 clinics located around the Province have Audiologists on staff. There are already long waiting lists at some clinics (up to 4 or 5 months), since the Ministry of Health clinics evaluate hearing problems of the very young (pre-schoolers) as well as the elderly, so where WCB claimants will fitinto this schedule is anyone’s guess. At this writing, problems have already occurred in getting appointments and replacing hear- ing aid batteries. The Board has promised that WCB hearing loss claimants will be given priority at the clinics — if this is so, will children and the elderly suffer the con- sequences? Ministry of Health clinics are not fully equipped to provide the very delicate measurements sometimes required in hearing loss cases, (for example, head in- jury cases). Apparently, additional work in the area of hearing conservation which was assisted by audiometric tests will also be discontinued, since Dr. Chung, who carried out most of this work, was fired. Also affected will be the Noise Control Section which relied on engineers to develop noise abatement solutions. It is clear that the health and safety of workers in this Province will be compromised. And why have the Industrial Health and Safety Regulation amendments reviewed at Hearings in 1983, been put on hold? Is the Board re-writing the regulations as pro- posed by some employers and representa- tives from other “right wing” provincial jurisdictions, to develop a few “generic per- formance regulations” and “codes of good practice”? We can probably expect regulations like, “The employer shall provide a safe and healthy workplace”, and it will be left to the employer to determine how this will be achieved. In the employer’s opinion there would then be very little necessity for en- forcement or interpretation. We could rely of course on their integrity to determine what is best for workers. For example, if an employer decided to suspend or otherwise discipline a worker for being injured, that could fall into his interpretation of “‘provid- ing a safe and healthy workplace”. Flesher’s on-again, off-again, decision regarding implementation of regulations covering farmworkers shows the influence employers have on-this Government. The B.C. Federation of Agriculture declared that voluntary agencies work better and Flesher fall right in line. The Chairman apparently intends to eliminate the Inspection Board, and rely on “voluntary compliance.” (You can’t enforce voluntary regulations), thus further cutting costs and earning himself another gold star from Mr. McClelland. While other provinces in Canada are seeking to improve health and safety regulations, the B.C. government seems bent on turning back the clock some 20 or 30 years. We have also heard that most of the functions of the Re- habilitation Department of the WCB will be farmed out to Ministry of Health clinics and/or private industry. The labour movement fought long and hard for prevention of industrial injury and disease, via regulations and compensation. Workers have shed their blood and given their lives to produce the wealth of this Province, but the employers and the Socreds have embarked on a program to eliminate workers’ safety rights. We will have to act quickly if we are to prevent further erosion. We must raise our voices in protest and action, we cannot continue -to watch benefits, however meagre, which our members have fought and died for, be swept away in the Socred thirst for retribu- tion. HANEY LOGGERS PROTEST ROAD Following is the text of a letter from Regional President Jack Munro to Forest Minister T. Waterland: About sixty IWA members, loggers of the Haney Local, have to fly in and out of two camps on the West Side of Harrison Lake. These flights are expensive, and worse, made extremely dangerous by the weather and wind currents that prevail along the long reach of the Lake. Together with the Native Indians living on the Skoocumchuk Reserve, these people are in this position because Jay Vee Logging and Lineham Logging refuse to build and gravel a short stretch of road north of the camps.(photo below) These two operations are harvesting first- growth timber for BCFP and CanFor. If that logging does not furnish a road along the lake, clearly no future logging can be expected to. We believe that the Federal Government has some financial responsibility too. The Indians living in Skookumchuk, like the loggers in the two camps, deserve a decent road. We believe that since it is a forestry road, and since the harvest is of some of the best first-growth timber for very large corpora- tions, it is the responsibility of your Ministry to initiate measures to ensure that the road is completed satisfactorily and as soon as possible. We will join with you in urging the ap- propriate Federal authorities to assume some reasonable share of the cost. ON JOB PROTECTION: Ordinary Canadians are being hit hard by the recession. is over, we aren’t feeling the benefits of an economic recovery. New Democrats are speaking up for ordinary Canadians. In hard times, the New Democrats speak up to protect you and your family. And if it’s true that the recession is coming to an end New Democrats will make sure that you share in the benefits. Now more than ever. WHO WILL SPEAK UP FOR CANADIANS LIKE YOU? : Now More Some of us have lost our businesses, some of us Than Ever have lost our farms, and many more of us have lost our jobs. eo Now, even though we are being told that the recession THE NEW DEMOCRATS Speaking Up For Canadians Like You 2/Lumber Worker/Summer, 1984