convention —

° Scott Gibson

Level 3 first aid
pushed by union

“T have great faith in the students I teach
Level 1 (first aid) to,” said Local 1-417’s Marty
Gibbons, a millworker and first aid instructor.
“But I wouldn’t want them looking after me in a
dangerous environment.”

“Level 1 is a great ticket and as far as I’m
concerned everyone should take it, but they
shouldn’t be left in a position of (having) respon-
sibility in a Class ‘A’ hazard (situation).”

The resolution, passed after Brother Gibbons
and other delegates spoke, demanded that the
WCB of B.C. amend its first aid regulations to
provide all Class “A” workplaces (the most dan-
gerous) with a minimum of Level 8 first aid ser-
vice.

“T can’t speak for all employers, but my
employer will do only what he has to for cover-
age,” said Gibbons.

Scott Gibson of Local 2171 and a first aid
man at a Canfor logging operation on Vancou-
ver Island, said that employer will send a
worker out to an area that is 30-45 minutes
away from a designated first aid attendant. A
situation can arise where one worker (i.e. a
faller) will have a Level 3 ticket. The company
thinks it’s got its bases covered. i

“My question to the company is, what hap-
pens if that one faller with the first aid ticket
gets hurt?” he said.

Ron Norgaard of Local 2171 said that last
winter his employer offered to pay the wages
and a $1,000.00 bonus to anybody who want to
take Level 3. The workers are taken off the job
and trained right in camp.

Norgaard, who has a Level 3 ticket with a
transportation endorsement, said that training
and first aid procedures are important and that
the union must ensure that employers are fol-
lowing proper safety practices, maintaining
safety supplies and are ensuring that there is
the right level of ticket in place to guarantee
that all workers are covered.

e Reading the resolutions on behalf of the safety resolutions committee were Local 2693’s Joe Han-

Jon and Local 1-405’s Stan McMaster.

Training urged in
forest industry

“One of the big problems in the forest indus-
try, and we’ve heard a fair bit today about the
deaths that go on, is that there isn’t adequate
(worker) training.” _
said Local 2171 safety
director Jim Parker.

A few years ago
Brother Parker repre-
sented the union in
investigating the fatal-
ity of a faller in the
Powell River area who
was killed about two
hours into the job. A
log rolled over and
crushed him.

“He had very little
experience as a faller really. The company did
nothing more that simply inquire to him on the
telephone about what his experience was. When
he went out into the bush that morning he was
just asked to demonstrate that he could fall a
couple of small snags or small tree and he did
that, and then the bull-bucker who was the
same age as him, 22 years old, went off on his
site and left this guy on his own,” said Parker.
“This is not a unique circumstance. It happens
time and time again. And what we need to do is
we need to see that this very dangerous indus-
try require certification for people to work in
the industry so that we can improve safety.”

e Jim Parker

The delegates passed a resolution calling
upon appropriate government agencies, the
I.W.A., and the forest industry to implement
comprehensive training and that certification be
required for all forest industry workers.

Parker said that various occupations have
certification procedures and that jobs in the for-
est industry should also be certified.

He said the resolution should be applied
across Canada and that Ontario already has
certification programs for fallers, skidder opera-
tors and mechanical harvesters.

Local 2698 first vice president Joe Hanlon
said that that his local and Local 2995 would
like to see certification extended to all phases of
bush operations.

The I.W.A. has been working with the govern-
ment, the industry, the Ministry of Colleges and
Universities and the Ministry of Labour to
develop a program to ensure workers get train-
ing before operating new equipment.

In Ontario, there are thousands of workers to
train at a cost of about $300,000.00

The union looked at the situation and agreed
that experienced employees be examined on a
checklist of items. But that’s as flexible as the
union wants to be. It urges full training for all
new employees.

“We want the new people that are coming on
board, like my children and everybody else’s
children coming on to make sure that they have
machine-specific training, which will mean an
additional half a day to a day in the classroom,”
said Hanlon. “But at least when they go on that
machine, they’re going to have some under-

standing and some experiences in regards to
what it takes.”

¢ Photographed at the constitutional convention were delegates from Kamloops, B.C. Local 1-417.

28/LUMBERWORKER/DECEMBER, 2000