We ain’t showing up to work
as much as we did before

_ Areport released this summer by
Statistics Canada revealed that
Canadians in all age brackets are
taking more time off work due to
illness, injury and personal reasons.
In 2003, the average Canuck took 9
days off a year, up from 8 days two
years earlier. Full-timers take an
\verage 7.3 days of work off per
year due to
personal
illnesses and
disabilities and
1.7 days for
personal and
family
demands. In
total over 92

million hours
More people are are ost in

working harder Canada each
year due to these causes. Sick time
has a bigger impact on the
Orccus, economy than strikes and

lockouts, and reduces productivity
numbers by 1-2 percent. “These are
amazing numbers,” says |WA
National First Vice President Norm
Rivard, officer responsible for
OH&S. “The statistics are staggering
and they indicate that, for the most
part, workers are getting stressed
out due to productivity demands
and serious health issues can arise.
That's why it's so important for
unions to continue to oppose
excessive work demands and
educate their members on how to
deal with stress, both in the

Yel workplace and due to everyday life.”

Slocan workers remember
millwright killed on the job
On July 2, Local 1-405 members at
the Slocan Forest Products mill in
Slocan, B.C. halted production to pay
tribute to Brother Rick Daykin who
was killed in an acci-
dent on that day a
year earlier. The
55 year-old mill-
wright was fatally
injured from being
pinned against a
conveyor wall by a large, air activat-
ed gate that diverts mill waste from
the burner to the ground. The crew
came up with the idea of producing
€ Special decal and was assisted by
the local union.

Good luck Brother Parker!!
In mid-September Jim Parker, for-
mer National Safety Council mem-
ber and a former Local 2171 safety
director Jim Parker
accepted a new job as
the B.C. Nurses
Union’‘s Labour
Relations Officer for
WCB appeals. Jim
| Jim Parker started in the WA
~ nearly thirty years ago and worked
for the union full-time since 1990.
_ His knowledge, expertise and advo-
cy skills will be missed by the
We wish Jim the best and

he'll do a good job.

PHOTOS BY NORMAN GARCIA

= Pictured are (I. to r.) Alberta Local 1-207's Bernie Rushton and Cranbrook, B.C. Local 1-405's Stan McMaster,

presenting the safety resolutions to the national convention in September.

NATIONAL SAFETY COUNCIL REPORTS TO CONVENTION

A year of change in OH&S

DURING THIS YEAR’S CONVENTION national offi-
cers Norm Rivard and Wilf McIntyre presented the
annual Occupational Health and Safety report to the del-
egates. The report, prepared by National Safety Director
Ron Corbeil on behalf of the National Safety Council
Officers, highlighted the IWA’s efforts to improve the
union’s overall program.

The OH&S Council, in conjunction with local union
health and safety directors, has been developing a formal
Health and Safety Program.
With input from the locals, sur-
vey information from the rank
and file membership, and addi-
tional input from a Health and
Safety Forum at the National
Safety Conference held in
Thunder Bay, this past July, the
report read that “we feel we
have captured the essential ele-
ments of what the IWA has to
do in order to push health and
safety into the operations and
to ultimately eliminate the deaths and injuries that our
members presently face.”

The national survey, which went out to over 500 mem-
bers across Canada, provided useful information.
Members suggested more training and education, espe-
cially for OH&S committees and union chair/co-chairs.
They also called for more presence from the union (i.e.
attending safety committee meetings and touring opera-
tions), increased communication — especially to the floor
level, and the building and promotion of the union. The
results of the survey will be integrated in the formal IWA
National Health and Safety Program.

The safety report dealt with the successful events at
this year’s OH&S Conference in Thunder Bay (see
August, 2003 issue of The Allied Worker). The conference
heard a speech delivered by National IWA President
Dave Haggard, which challenged participants and the
entire union to accept the responsibility to intervene to
prevent accidents. “We as workers have to ensure our
responsibility to look after our Brothers and Sisters, as
we would expect them to look after us,” said Brother
Haggard.

The report also touched on the provincial govern-
ment’s setting up of a Forest Safety Task Force in British
Columbia, which was a partial response to the IWA’s
report on B.C. Coastal Logging Occupational Health and
Safety. That report, released in September of 2002,
made twenty-nine recommendations which will be used
as a starting point for the task force. The union’s repre-
sentatives on the task force for Brother Haggard,
National OH&S Council chairperson Les Veale and
Brother Corbeil. There are also reps from forest products
companies, the Truck Loggers’ Association, the Forest

Norm Rivard

Industry Safety Association and a long-time faller.

The task force will, among other initial items, deal
with the establishment of an agency in the logging sec-
tor, define the roles of licensees and contractors with
respect to workplace safety, and develop recommenda-
tions to change the culture of safety at work. The recom-
mendations and action plan are to be reported to the
Minister of Skills, Training and Labour Graham Bruce
by the end of the year.

The convention safety report also mentioned that, in
B.C., the Industrial Musculoskeletal Injury Reduction
Program has been a success in the sawmill industry
and that project materials were sent out to every mill.
Workers were trained on ergonomics and injuries
were reduced as a result. Unfortunately industry sup-
port was insufficient to extend the IMIRP program
into the panel board part of the industry.

In Ontario it was reported that, by convention time,
the IWA was working on 94 active WSIB claims with
31 claims awaiting hearing dates. The union is work-
ing on educating the membership how the WSIB
functions and is emphasizing the need for workers to
return to their original jobs rather than going into the
Labour Market Re-entry program.

The report also mentioned that IWA Local 2171 has
developed a training course on Whole Body Vibration
with WCB funding and is backing a study on back
injuries including exposure to vibration.

In the realm of Faller/Bucker certification in B.C., the
report reminded delegates that the core components of a
training package are in place, which were developed by a
tripartite committee involving the IWA, industry and the
Workers Compensation Board.

The safety report contained individual reports from
local unions across Canada. Each local reported on
progress made and whether or not their membership had
suffered fatalities. Fatalities reported included a truck dri-
ver who fell off a truck while covering a load; an OSB
worker who suffered a massive heart attack while on the
job; a planerman who was critically injured while ten-
sioning a lug loader chain; a logging truck driver who was
run oyer when a trailer brake hand valve appeared to have
released; a faller who, when likely trying to escape from a
falling load line from a chopper above, fell over a ravine
while setting up a heli-pad; a faller who was hit by a boul-
der that came loose above where he was working; a mill-
wright who was pinned against a wall by an air-activated
gate; a truck driver who was killed after hitting black ice,
rolling the truck; a student sawmill worker who was
pulled into an idler roll; and a maintenance worker who
was caught in the rollers ofa feller buncher. Following the
reading of the safety report, national union president
Dave Haggard adjoumed the convention for the day, fol-
lowing the news that a member had just been killed in a
accident on Vancouver Island (see top page Bs

NOVEMBER 2003 THE ALLIED WORKER | 21