~ Support for IMIRP
growing in industry

$37 million.

“They (musculoskeletal injuries)
constitute the highest percentage
of injuries in the sawmill sector,”
said Brother Menard. “These
statistics are alarming. We
have set out with the
tripartite approach to fix
the problem.

To put the IMIRP
program together the

Growing concerns about the
human and financial costs of
workplace injuries have led to
innovation and cooperation between
labour, industry and the Workers
Compensation Board in the B.C.
forest industry.

Since 1998, when the Council of
Forest Industries and the I.W.A. got
together to form the Industrial
Musculoskeletal Injury Reduction

Program (IMIRP) Society, co- society, with WCB
operative efforts have been madeto funding assistance,
assist joint occupational health and hired professional

safety committees reduce or
eliminate MSI’s and to achieve
compliance with Workers Comp-
ensation Board regulations on
workplace ergonomics in order to
reduce and eliminate injuries.

The IMIRP’s most important
function to date has been to reduce
musculo-skeletal injuries in the
B.C. forest industry's sawmill sector.

The I.W.A. is proud of the role
that it has played, in cooperation
with COFI and the WCB, which
has provided valuable funding
assistance, guidance and expertise.

“As a union we're interested in
reducing injuries of all kinds,” said

ergonomists to visit 584
sawmills through the
province, in order to
analyze 106 common
industry jobs.

The end result was the
production of sixty-six
tool kits, now formatted
on a single CD-ROM, ~
available to assist sawmill
OH&S sawmill committees
or designated person(s) with
ergonomic responsibilities in
reducing and eliminating injuries.

The tool kits and other IMIRP
materials describe and explain the
risks of MSI’s and suggest solutions.

Ts Muscle jy Redon Paoge

Common Industry Jobs (Clus)
Lumber Straightener

Too! kit

IMIRP program coordinated by:

Council of Industrial

Forest Wood & Allied

Nisineiries Workers of
Canada

In cooperation with the Workers’ Compensation Board of British Columbia

They give an overview of the job(s),
provide a physical demand analysis
and a risk factor identification check
list. A work manual is included
which has information on body parts
that have an increased risk for MSI's
and an MSI safety guide briefly
describes physical demands
associated with the job.

The tool kits are available at no
cost to all B.C. sawmills.

“Just about all of the mills in B.C.
should have IMIRP tool kits and
materials by now,” says program

@ national first vice president Neil
4 Menard, who sits as one of two
volunteer union representatives on
the IMIRP board. “The IMIRP has
given the B.C. forest industry and
workers valuable tools to create
safer workplaces and work towards
the outright elimination of
muscul etal injuries.”

Between 1995-1999 musculo-
skeletal injuries (see definition o,
MST’) have accounted for 33% of
accepted WCB of B.C. claims in the
‘sawmill industry at a cost of over

4

manager Brenda Wagg, a member
of I.W.A. Canada Local 2171. “All
local union safety directors and
councils are aware of them and are
assisting in getting them out to
safety committees to create
awareness and

get them
out

safety

committees and

supervisors all over the province.
As more and more people are
utilizing the materials, the word is
spreading about the effectiveness of
the IMIRP program.”

Sister Wagg said that non-union
mills should also be involved in the
IMIRP program and that joint
OH&S committees are mandatory
under the WCB regulations. IMIRP
materials are available to the entire
sawmill sector.

Tools kits help committee
members match one of the 106
common industry jobs with
information on ergonomic issues.

Committee members first identify
ergonomic risk factors, then
determine the best solutions, using
the work manual sections of the
kits.

The kits assist the committee in
the preparation of a strategy to
implement solutions and later
evaluate those solutions.

“The IMIRP is practical stuff,”
says Jim Parker, Local 2171's safety
director who sits on the board with
Brother Menard. “We are seeing
people in the workplace find
solutions to their own ergonomic

problems,” he added. “It’s not
practical or feasible to have a trained
ergonomist go into every job site.”
He adds that the (I.W.A.)
operations that are using the
materials are “finding them highly
useful.”
Sister Wagg notes that IMIRP
offers training for OH&S
committees and supervisors
and also has a train-the-
trainer program.
“These education
programs train
people how to do
isk assessment
and come up
with
solutions,”
she says.
“In the
ast there
asn’t
been a
lot of
attention
aid to
ow work
stations
have been

(equipment
designers)
weren't
necessarily
thinking about the
ergonomics of work
stations when
technological change has
been introduced.”
In February. or March of 2002,
there will be more training
throughout the province.

“In our opinion union participation
is fundamental to the advance-
ment of the IMIRP,” says Brother
Menard. “The union is a major player
and we have to continue working to
get the word out to our members.”

The IMIRP society is putting
together a proposal to start a
program for the panel board sector
of the B.C. forest industry as well.
That will include oriented
strandboard, veneer, plywood and
laminated wood _ structure
manufacturers.

In that sector of the industry,
WCB claims costs totaled over
$4.8 million between 1995-98. MSI
claims made up about 38% of
accepted claims in veneer or plywood.
manufacturing in the same time
period.

The proposal will go to the WCB
for consideration in November.

“Projects like these ones, where
you’ve got the industry and labour
working together with the WCB,
that has good resources, are the
way to go,” says Brother Parker.

“We are very efficient in terms of
doing this work and delivering
essential services,” he adds. H

SS

aggravated by work.”
(Part 4, Section 4.46)

accident type claims.

force to an object or person.

A DEFINITION OF MSI’S

The Occupational Health and Safety Regulations defines
MUSCULOSKELETAL INJURIES (MSI) AS.....
”an injury or disorder of the muscles, tendons, ligaments,
joints, nerves, blood vessels or related soft tissue including
a sprain, strain and inflammation that may be caused or

MSI CLAIMS are overexertion and repetitive motion
OVEREXERTION INJURIES result from application of

REPETITIVE MOTION INJURIES result from
repeated free body motion where no individual repetition
was likely to have caused injury.

Bg

LUMBERWORKER/NOVEMBER 2001/17