HEALTH AND SAFETY

Safety Conference delegates
attend choice of workshops
Delegates to the IWA National Health
and Safety Conference had the option
of participating in either 12 hour, 6
hour or 3 hour workshops on a wide
variety of topics. All totalled, there
were twelve different workshops.
Then IWA national second vice
president Joe da Costa (see photo
right) instructed Conflict Resolution,
designed to help union advocates
push the safety message forward in a
Positive, diplomatic and cooperative
way. The course's main objective is to
bring participants and their fellow joint
health and safety committee members
up to date on effective
communication. Brother da Costa was
assisted by Leslie McNabb of Local
363. National IWA staff member Gerry
Smith instructed a course on disability
management, which teaches the
requirements of the duty to
accommodate and the theory and
process of
disability
management,
> . providing
participants

¥ with some tools
% needed to
implement a
program in their
own work
environments.
Ron Tramer instructed a 6 hour course
entitled Incident Investigation, which
provided participants instructions on
how to conduct proper investigations
to prevent incidents from recurring.
The course focussed on getting the
most from witnesses and getting to
the root causes of incidents. Neal
Berger instructed a 6 hour course
entitled Managing a Healthy
Workplace, which focussed on
reducing stress. National IWA Safety
Council chair Les Veale and national
safety director Ron Corbeil presented
a three hour Health and Safety Forum,
designed to jointly take on various
health and safety issues and develop
preventative plans from those who
know best — people from the shop
floor level.
Other three
hour workshops
included: Peer
to Peer Training,
instructed by
Local 1-3567
member Ray
Hudon; Striving
for Outstanding
Safety: One
Company's Story, instructed by
Interfor's Keith Rush, Local 1-85
member Hugh Young and Local 2171
member Trevor Bergstrom; Breaking
Through the Risk Culture, instructed
by Randy Kelpert; the WCB Focus Firm
Strategy, instructed by Ray Roch,
Doug McDonald and Bjarne Nielsen;
Understanding and Using Three
Fundamental Safety Values and
Beliefs, led by Bert Painter; the Aging
Workforce, instructed by Rob Fontaine;
and Conducting Hazard Assessments,
also instructed by Local 1-85's Ron
Tramer.

Ron Tramer

Ray Hudon

PHOTOS BY NORMAN GARCIA

= Seen at this year's conference was national officer and instructor Joe da Costa (I.) assisted by Local 363's Leslie
McNabb (r.) during a newly-developed course on Conflict Resolution.

IWA NATIONAL SAFETY COUNCIL HELD IN CITY OF NANAIMO

Sharing the safety experience

THE HISTORIC FORMER COAL mining community of
Nanaimo, on Vancouver Island, played host to this year’s
IWA Canada national health and safety conference. One
hundred and fifty union members from seventeen locals
across Canada were present at the conference which took
place between July 18-20.

Then IWA Canada national president Norm Rivard, the
USWA-IWA Council’s chairperson, told the opening
address that the forest industry has undergone a transfor-
mation which has resulted in new shift configurations that
can have an impact on health and safety standards and that
itis imperative that grass roots level activists, who are part of
health and safety committees,
stay vigilant and that all work-
ers, as well as managment,
take responsibility for the
well-being of their fellow
workers.

Brother Rivard noted that
the merger with the USWA
would see a continuity of the
activities of the IWA National
Health and Safety Council
and that key programs,
IWA Council chair Rivard including safety conferences

will stay in place, under the
auspices of the Steelworkers.

Rivard acknowledged that the Steelworkers have always
been and remain a strong advocate for workplace safety and
recognized its leading role in pressuring the federal gov-
ernement to pass Bill C-45 (the “Westray Bill”) which now
allows corporate leaders to be held responsible for negli-
gence causing death in the workplace.

On behalf of the host Vancouver Island locals (Duncan
Local 1-80, Port Alberni Local 1-85, Courtenay Local 363, and
Loggers’ Vancouver Local 2171), Local 2171 president Darrel
Wong welcomed the visitors. He focused some comments
on the Forest Safety Task Force initiative announced earlier
this year by forest industry stakeholders, including the IWA
and said that it is crucial that there be industry-wide safety
standards. He noted that standards now exist for fallers, but
not yet for other jobs, and that there has to be dedicated
financial resources to make this happen. He said that is
especially important as the industry changes from an older
to a younger workforce in the next decade.

Brother Wong drew attention to forest policy changes put
in place by the B.C. Liberal government which are about to
cause an open “race-to-the-bottom” as logging contractors
compete on the open market. He said the “issue of safety
will be more difficult to sustain...”

Introduced by IWA National Safety Council chair Les
Veale, national safety director Ron Corbeil informed the
audience that six TWA members had been killed on the job

since the previous year’s safety report. “We must all work
hard to ensure there will be no fatalities to report next year,”
said Brother Corbeil who added that “we're here to help pre-
vent death and injuries frome taking place.”

Guest speaker Doug
Enns, Chairman of the
WCB Board of Directors in
B.C. was on hand to talk
about the Forest Safety Task
Force. He acknowleged the
commitment and contribu-
tion of former IWA nation-
al president Dave Haggard,
and Brothers Veale and
Corbeil in helping to make
the joint initiative a reality.
Mr. Enns noted that the use

WCB Board of Governor's of smaller contractors in the

chairman Doug Enns forest industry is a key

issue, as safety initiatives

can be regarded as a cost item in the culture of the industry.

He said that there should be no financial incentives to big

companies for contracting out to smaller companies who
then take on safety responsibilities.

Most ominously, he said there “are still people out there
who believe that death rates are just part of doing busi-
ness...” and called for stakeholder support for the Forest
Safety Task Force initiative in order to “make sure this is
something that doesn’t just drop off the end of the earth.”

Conference delegates, which included managers from
various IWA certificatons, heard a presentations from guest
speakers Michael Lovett, Phil Guild and Mel Camilli.

Following the presentation of a video entitled “Lost
Youth” Mr. Lovett, spoke about his personal accident at a
mill in Mission in 1999, where his leg was amputated. Had
a link on a drive chain not broken, it is likely he would have
been killed. Lovett underwent numerous surgeries and now
has an artificial leg. “I feel a lot older than I am,” he said, not-
ing that he no longer can wrestle or play soccer.” Most
importantly, he has travelled through the province, talking
to youngsters — educating them on their right to know and
right to be properly trained. “My message is question any
work procedure — you have a right to a safe workplace.”

Mel Camilli, who had his lower body crushed by a grap-
ple yarder’s counterweight in 1986 and narrowly escaped
with his life, told the audience of the ups and downs he
faced to a remarkable recovery. Today he gets around in a
cast which puts him upright in a wheelchair. He is married
with two kids and is a computer programer at the WCB.

Mr. Guild presented a video and made a presentation on
the impact that workplace accidents and fatalities have on
supervisors, managers, and fellow workers.

46 | THE ALLIED WORKER SEPTEMBER 2004