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:
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Faller safety

Continued from previous page

Certainly, the WCB fulfils this very
responsibility in exactly the same
fashion for Industrial First-Aid certi-
fication, Blaster certification, and
Diver certification. Why is the con-
cept not applicable to Faller certifica-
tion?

The answer appears to lie in the
same rationale used by Senior Board
Officials for not promulgating the nec-
essary regulations. They believe the
Industry would not stand for it, and
that it would mount a strong lobby
against the move toward creating reg-
ulations calling for mandatory Fall-
er's certification.

With due respect to the Senior
Board Officials and the Industry (if it
shares such sentiments) then to use a
diplomatic term, they are speaking
bologna!

This issue supercedes any individ-
ual concerns of the parties involved.
Further, the WCB has, by legislative
authority, the power and the responsi-
bility to develop the program and
enact the necessary regulations to
give the program teeth.

The Honourable Gordon Sloan,
Chief Justice of British Columbia, in
his 1952 report of the Commissioners
relating to the Workmens’ Compensa-
tion Act and Board, page #218,
clearly states, “In my view, the func-
tion of the Workmens’ Compensation
Board is to assist actively in the
design of program by promulgation of
necessary safety regulations, by lead-
ership and guidance in the education
field, ... by the effective use of inspec-
tion services, and by the imposition of
reasonably severe penalties ... The
Board’s function should also be to
peeve consultative services, when

yond the practical or economic
needs of an industrial operation, to

otherwise obtain and to serve as a

clearing house for the accumulation

and dissemination of statistics, expe-
rience, and information.”

The Board appears to accept its
responsibility on paper based on the
Honourable Chief Justice Sloan’s view.
The Occupational Safety and Health
Policy manual indicates that the
Board’s responsibility is two-fold as
follows: “First, the Board must
develop an attitude in both manage-
ment and labour which leads to accep-
tance of the safety and health concept
as an integral part of the production
process. Two, the Board must partici-
pate actively, through the imposition
of controls and regulations, the
enforcement of which are backed by
the authority to impose punishments
for their non-observance.”

Unfortunately, acceptance of the
Board’s responsibility appears pri-
marily on paper or while being pres-
sured in the public eye. While in real-
ity what has come out in recent years
is unenforceable gobbly-gook that no
one seems to understand let alone try
to enforce.

In review, from my perspective,
what is needed to make the proposed
Faller’s training standard an effective
training program that will be effective
in reducing injuries and fatalities are:
1. A very clear promulgated regula-

tion that says all Fallers and Buck-

ers in British Columbia will be
trained to a level of competency as
determined by the Workers Com-
pensation Board prior to actively
starting employment as a Faller or

i aCe

. A very clear promulgated regula-

tion that says all Fallers and Buck-
ers in British Columbia will be in
the possession of a certificate of
competency and/or a training log
as a condition of employment.

3. The Industry will have to come to
terms with ‘the fact that, in all
likelihood, it will incur incre
costs in providing effective compe-
tency-based Faller training.

4. The Union will have to recognize
that its members will be required
to obtain mandatory certification.

e Left to right at MB Menzies Bay Division are fallers Roger Wright, Denny Amos, Peter Faak, and Randy Elviss.

=

MacBlo falling crew works
together on accident prevention

MENZIES BAY, B.C. — Falling and
bucking timber is the most risky job
for loggers on the B.C. Coast. A group
of fallers here has learned to deal with
» the dangerous reality of the work-
place and can boast of a very enviable
track record in preventing accidents.

A falling crew of 25 IWA-CANADA
Local 1-363 members employed at
MacMillan Bloedel’s Menzies Bay
Division, on the east coast of Vancou-
ver Island, about 300 km. north of
Victoria, has worked with manage-
ment to put into place a very effective
accident prevention program.

Their achievements have been
remarkable since there has not been a
serious lost time accident in over 5
years and there have been no fatalities
since 1954.

Head bullbucker Lynn Larson, says
that Menzies Bay Division has been
forthright in its approach.

“As long as we get the safety
aspects of the job squared away, pro-
ductivity and quality will naturally
come into place,” says Mr. Larson.
“We tell our guys: ‘If you can’t do it
safely, then don’t do it.’””

The fallers work on a steady year-
round basis with an annual allowable
cut of about 320,000 cubic metres.

The unique approach that the fall-
ers have taken is to openly communi-
cate about what goes on from a day to
day basis.

Tf a faller experiences a close call or
dangerous situation then there is no
hesitancy to communicate that to the
rest of the crew.

“If we have anything that goes
wrong, we can get together with our
partner and talk it over and manage-
ment never interferes,” says Roger
Wright, who has been falling for over
11 years. “Most importantly we can
talk it over, without the wrath of the
crew accusing anyone of being a
‘greenhorn’.”

If something goes wrong the fallers
can shut their saws down and walk
over to their partner(s) to discuss the
situation at any time they feel neces-
sary during the working day.

Or they may hold off and ates an
incident in the crew bus or in the
fallers’ shack amongst the entire crew
at the end of the shift.

The fallers routinely compare notes
on the ever-changing situations they
face. Steep ground, rough or rotten
patches of timber create hazardous
experiences which are shared amongst
the crew.

MacMillan Bloedel endorses the
“buddy system” whereby 2 or more
fallers work within a safe visible dis-
tance of each other. The workers are
keenly aware of their partner's where-
abouts and progress during the day.

Union fallers in British Columbia
work a 6% hour day on a day rate
system which replaced the contract
scale system in 1972.

“Everybody's got their own reason
for coming home at night,” says
Randy Elviss, who has been falling
for the company for about 5 years. I
have a family that I enjoy to be with
and that’s my incentive to work
safely.”

Denny Amos with 19 years falling
experience, says that the workers and
management work together as a team.
“You can have an argument with any-
body usually, but we all still try to get
along with each other.”

Faller Peter Faak says that the
company also looks at safety from a
cost/benefit perspective. He says that
unless the accident rate is held down
then W.C.B. payments can skyrocket
for the employer.

MacMillan Bloedel is very particu-
lar about who it hires as fallers. It has
managed to get a crew of responsible,
level headed workers who care about
production as well as safety.

Union representative Chris Miles
represents the fallers as part of the
joint union-management accident pre-
vention committee.

As part of seven different depart-
ments which participate in monthly
meetings, Brother Miles takes the
falling crews’ concerns to the com-
mittee.

The committee can deal with such
basic concerns as keeping the right of
way clear and planning falling around
blasting and road building.

Brother Miles says the safety tour,
which follows the day after the com-
mittee meeting, attempts to meet

with each faller on the job site to
discuss health and safety matters.

MacMillan Bloedel’s faller selection
consists of a formal procedure.

Firstly the job is internally posted
and the candidates will be given a
fitness test at a local community cen-
tre which is based on the Canada
Fitness Test.

Secondly, a written test which
examines the applicant’s logic and
reasoning skills is given.

Of those who pass the first two
steps, the most senior applicants are
chosen for extensive on-the-job
training.

For those workers who fail the fit-
ness test in their first try, a 3 month
period is provided for that individual
to recondition himself and try the test
again.

The majority of fallers at Kelsey
Bay will break in new fallers although
over the past 4 years, MacMillan
Bloedel hired 7 fallers from outside
the division.

Gerry Rautenberg who has 20 years
falling experience, trained MacMillan
Bloedel’s latest faller this year by
staying with him.every day for a 3
month period. He says there are innu-
merous situations which are unpre-
dictable and that on-the-job training
is the only way to go. :

IWA-CANADA has been pushing the
B.C. government for mandatory trade
certification for fallers and buckers.
In Ontario, local unions in Thunder
Bay and Kapuskasing played a large
role in getting such a program in place
this year.

Larry Amos, who has been falling
at Kelsey Bay for over two decades,
says that such a program would be
very useful in B.C. and can prevent
false claims by people looking for
work.

He says there are some “wayward
logging camps” on the B.C. Coast that
rush things when they try to break in
a new faller.

MacMillan Bloedel has cautiously
avoided such an approach with its
own company employees, although
some of its contractors in other B.C.
operations have weak policies towards
accident prevention and worker
training.

aD
LUMBERWORKER/SEPTEMBER, 1990/13