[ Mechanic killed working on
wheel change on Letourneau
On March 20 heavy duty mechanic
Don Greenley of Chilliwack died
instantly when a tire he was
removing from a Letourneau log
loader exploded and struck him. Don
was working as a sub-contractor at
Jog dump in Harrison, WCB
spokesperson Donna Freeman said
that an
investigation
showed that
while Don was
taking off the lug
bolts, the tire
assembly struck
him after the tire
separated from
the outer rim.
“This is a terrible tragedy and we
extend our condolences to Brother
Greenley’s family,” said then |WA
president Dave Haggard, who noted
that terrible accidents are still taking
place despite the formation of a
Forest Industry Safety Task Force.
“We must respect those workers by
making sure we do everything within
our power to make our workplaces
safer.” Shayne Browne, a mechanical
supervisor at the nearby Cattermole
Timber yard, told the Chilliwack
Progress that his company usually
gets Cal Tire to do most (heavy) tire
work. “They have the proper tools to
do the work and they do it every day,”
he added. Don worked at Cattermole
and had been in and out of the union
over the years.

Don Greenley

PHOTO COURTESY LEE TOOP - MERRITT NEWS:

= Injured IWA member on stretcher.

Mill worker hurt during dispute
Over contracting out issues
The forest industry is one of the
Most dangerous places to work. Now
it appears that, at the Aspen Planers
mill in Merritt, B.C., danger also
extends itself to the picket line. While
Protesting against their employers’
continued contracting out of IWA
bargaining unit jobs on May 10, wit-
‘Nesses say the mill's owner was the
Person who dumped a load of wood
chips on a pick-up containing four
Protesters. In the load there was a
Short log piece which struck one of
the Local 1-417 members, who was
taken to the hospital and treated for
injuries. “We have never heard of
Such a careless action,” says local
President Joe Davies. “This is an
unbelievable attack on workers who
‘mistrust the employer who has laid
| people off and replaced them with
contractors. “ The RCMP have laid
_ four criminal charges against a com-

PHOTO BY NORMAN GARCIA,

= Standing by the Forest Safety Task Froce Health and Safety Accord are various stakeholders. For the IWA were
national safety director Ron Corbeil (second from left), national IWA president Dave Haggard (fifth from right) and IWA
national safety council chairman Les Veale (second from right).

IWA GIVES FULL SUPPORT TO JOINT SAFETY INTIATIVE IN B.C.

A task to improve safety

IT TOOK A WORKING GROUP of forest industry stake-
holders, known as the Forest Safety Task Force, about seven
months (with six meetings and broad consultation) to come
up with a significant “report and action plan” to eliminate
fatalities and injuries in B.C. forest. The task force, of which
the IWA is a major stakeholder on, also includes major
industry players, contractors (including falling contractors),
the Workers Compensation Board of British Columbia, and
industry associations, including the Truck Loggers
Association.

The union has played a strong role in contributing to the
report which sets a goal to cut down on deaths and serious
injury by 50 per cent in the
next three years. During the
past ten years, over 250 for-
est workers have been
killed on the job.
| The industry average
| about 9 death per 100,00
workers — a rate which is
about ten times higher than
the average in the industrial
sectors. The serious injury
rates is six times higher
than the average industrial
sector. “Forest workers
deserve to come home safely every day, just like anybody
else,” said then IWA national president, who sat on the Task
Force along with the union’s national safety director Ron
Corbeil and national safety council chairman Les Veale. “I’m
encouraged by the commitment expressed by the members
of the task force and now what needs to happen is for all of
us to make sure we implement change on the ground.” The
task force makes 20 recommendations.

Those recommendations include a sector-wide safety
accord which was signed by the stakeholders on February
23. The accord calls for a change in attitude, procedures and
operation, to result in a new culture around safety.

It also calls for a forest industry owned and operated
health and safety infrastructure to include worker pre-quali-
fication and safety certification of forest companies, contrac-

tors and independent contractors. That means ensuring
that all contractors who compete for bids must be qualified.
Uniform training and certification standards are a must
along with financial incentives for those companies that will
operate according to the sector-wide model.

At the press conference unveiling the report and action
plan, Brother Haggard applauded the committee “because
they cross all boundaries.” He said that the report must be
put into action and not on the shelf.

“T know that people on the Task Force are not about to let
that happen,” added Haggard, who added that the challenge

The IWA’s Dave Haggard

is to implement the program “while still respecting the
rights of workers.”

Then Slocan and now Canfor president Jim Shepherd

said he is not prepared to see the report fade away. He said
the bottom line is that
safety in the sector
won't change for the
better unless there is a
significant change in
culture. To make that
shift, he said, there
must be acknowledge-
ment that the industry
has a bias to discount
safety.

Shepherd said
resources, time and
leadership are needed
to make the shift. “As
one in this industry, I
am commited to that.”

To ensure rigourous
implementation, WCB chair Doug Enns said an Operations
Team, which will consult with the forest industry, will be
formed to implement the Task Force's recommendations.
“We know this is a tall order. We know it’s going to take ongo-
ing commitment from all facets and corners of the industry...”

International Forest Product's Keith Rush, a key advisor
to the task force, related a personal story. In October 2002
his close friend and Local 2171 member Dal Shemko died in
an accident when setting up a heli-pad in the Elaho Valley.
Mr. Rush had to inform Dal’s wife and kids of the accident.
He said that experience really drove home the impact of a
fatality on loved ones — an impact which he didn’t fully
understand before.

He said the task force report is “a tremendous challenge
to the mind-set of all of us in the room, of how we view
health and safety in the workplace.” He added that there has
to be a focus on on-line ownership of safety and account-
ability. “We've got to be held accountable when it comes to
safety performance and safety results.”

Graham Bruce, the B.C. Minister of Skills and Training
Development said that, as he grew up in a forest-dependent
community (Duncan), he too simply had learned to accept
that people would die in forest industry accidents.

He said that when the forest sector is equated with other
sectors, “it’s outrageous that we've allowed, for this long,
this many deaths in the forestry sector.”

Bruce said the time for action has come. “Let’s hope that
six months and a year from now, we can start to see some
real serious changes in attitudes and we can see actually

safety starting to emerge in the forest sector.”

[FOREST SAFETY TASK FORCE

THE HEALTH AND SAFETY ACCORD OF THE
BRITISH COLUMBIA FOREST INDUSTRY

Continual improvement:

JUNE -2004-THE ALLIED: WORKER'* | 17