Safety in the North!

IWA holds
annual OH&S
conference in
Timmins ON

Despite a severe downturn

in forest industry economy,

over 150 attend the annual
safety conference

= Below, National President Dave Haggard gives
an interview on the conference to Thunder Bay
Television. The conference attracted a good deal of
local media attention.

PHOTOS BY NORMAN GARCIA

PHOTOS BY NORMAN GARCIA

= As is tradition at IWA National Safety Conferences, delegates stood for a minute of
silence in memory of those killed and injured in the workplace in the past year.

= Above: IWA National Second Vice President Norm Rivard (.) and officer responsible for
OH&S outlined the national union’s commitment to improve safety and health. National Safety
Director Ron Corbeil (r.) spoke on the union’s efforts to revamp its national program.

Take your knowledge to the workplace says Haggard

AT THE NATIONAL SAFETY conference, national
union president Dave Haggard said that all delegates
and the entire union must accept the responsibility to
intervene to prevent accidents, and that no matter
how good safety programs are, workers must step in
to look out for other workers. He said that fewer peo-
ple are working today in the forest industry but that
the rates of fatalities and serious accidents are still
remarkably high.

In B.C. for example there were 33 workers killed in
1978 when the union had about 55,000 members in

the industry. In 2001, there were 30 fatalities, when
the union had about 25,000 working, less that half
the amount of the late 70’s.

Brother Haggard said “we have the ability and the
talent and the know-how” to put an end to all work-
places accidents. And that means intervening when
necessary. “What I mean is going up to that guy and
saying ‘Hey Joe - you are going to get hurt doing
that!” He said that atmosphere must be allowed in the
workplace.

“We as workers have to ensure our responsibility to

look after our Brothers and Sisters as we'll expect
them to look after us,” said Haggard, to applauding
delegates at the safety conference banquet.

He also challenged the conference’s participants to
take the knowledge that they aquired at the confer-
ence and apply it in their workplaces.

“You just can’t leave the conference without apply-
ing it,” said the union president. “It’s a heavy duty
responsbility accepted by every delegate here when
they decide to care about accidents and injuries in the
workplace.”

20 | THE ALLIED WORKER AUGUST 2003

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i scala natn a

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Pag Se Ribllglleie: etx.