THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER

CONTINUED FROM LAST ISSUE

SAFETY DIRECTOR'S REPORT
TO PENTICTON SAFETY CONFERENCE

Occasionally, regulations
may be broken because they
are not known or understood.
Here again, a supervisor must
accept the responsibility to
make copies of the regulations
available and to ensure that
each workman understands
what the regulation is intend-
ed to do.

One common reason for
non-compliance with accident
prevention regulations is be-
cause the supervisor himself
does not consistently follow
them.. The competent super-
visor will always follow regu-
lations for his own protection
and as an example to all who
work under his direction.

Injuries will continue as
accident. prevention regula-
Nions are broken. A tendency
exists to shrug off responsibil-
ity by pointing a finger at
someone else after an accident
has happened. By so doing,
little progress is being made,
and the conditions which
cause the accident remain to
cause a recurrence. In other
instances, numerous safe prac-
tices are put into force imme-
diately after an accident and
the matter is then considered
closed. Without follow - up,
conditions soon ‘revert to their
original form and the stage is
set for another accident.

SOME OPERATIONS

In some operations, respon-
sibility is frequently either
passed on to someone else, or
accepted temporarily. In any
case, no constructive effort is
made to prevent a recurrence.
The necessary remedial action
is to fix responsibility and
then hold accountable who-
ever has been given that re-
sponsibility. This, of course
applies to more than one level
of authority. Generally, as re-
gards accident prevention, a
senior company official passes
the responsibility down to his
subordinates. If this respon-
sibility is not accompanied by
the knowledge that they will
be held accountable and sub-
sequent action taken by their
superiors to demonstrate this,
very little will be accomplish-
ed. When accountability is
demanded, an immediate re-
action is to pass the responsi-
bility on down the line, at the
same time making certain that
the necessary preventive steps

are being taken. A supervisor, -

because of his position in the
line of authority, must accept
the responsibility and be pre-
pared to account for accidents
in his department. This should
not differ from any other
phase of his production rou-
tine except that in the past he
has not been held accountable
in the same way. One reason
for this is that mistakes in-
volving machines or materials
are more easily recognized,
whereas those involving
people are often hidden. For
example, it is quite simple to
blame an accident on a work-
man’s carelessness when it
should rightfully be termed
lack of training.’ These ex-
cuses disappear with a strict
system of accountability and
when carelessness is not ac-

cepted as an answer, but the
reason behind the careless-
ness is brought out.

ACCIDENT PROGRAM

Any worthwhile accident
prevention program must start
in this way. It is readily ap-
parent that accident preven-
tion must be a co-operative
effort which can make little
real progress unless everyone
is interested. To this end the
supervisor must pass on to
each individual in his crew
the responsibility for his own
protection. This in no way
limits the responsibility of the
company nor the supervisor
to ensure that safety precau-
tions are taken in such mat-
ters as complying with. acci-
dent prevention regulations,
proper training and supervis-
ion of the crew, and all other
facets of management control.
It should, however, bring to
the individual the need to fol-
low regulations necessary for
his own protection. Again, the
worker must know that he
will be held accountable for
any breach of safety. A super-
visor who has accepted the re-
sponsibility of preventing in-
juries to his crew can do no
better than to instill in each
and every one the very real
need to protect himself. More
and more companies are be-

‘ginning to recognize the fact

that when a minor injury
causes a slowdown of the de-
partment, and depending upon
the seriousness of an accident,
the time spent in treating the
injured workman, investigat-
ing the accident, filling out
the required reports and the
slowdown in efficiency of the
department, is a serious cost
item and there is in addition
the possibility of losing com-
pletely the services of the
workman and the necessity to
retrain his replacement to the
same degree of. efficiency.

SMALL OPERATIONS

In small operations it is
more easy to see the effects
because they are noticeable
almost immediately. Although
changes made in machinery,
production procedure and
methods certainly are con-
tributing factors, probably the
most important area is the
training, control, and develop-
ment of people working on
the job. ~

It is well known that acci-
dents seldom happen in an ef-
ficient operation. This is due
to the fact that efficiency re-
quires a well-trained work
force who work well together.
To gain this desirable and ef-
ficient work pattern we must

set realistic goals and work -

towards them. Concentrating
on accident prevention is the
first step.

Effective communication is
a key factor in eliminating ac-
cidents. Mistakes are made
each day because orders are
poorly given or are improper-
ly understood. We must recog-
nize from past experience that
frequently totally unrelated
Meanings are given to what
has been said, causing delay
in production, broken machin-
ery, and injury. “I thought

you said,” is often the only
explanation that can be given
after a mistake has been made
or someone has been injured.
Everyone will agree this is a
flimsy excuse, but before the
one who gave the instruction
or detailed the work blames
the offender, perhaps he
should consider how effective-
ly the instructions were given.
Under normal circumstances
he who gives the instruction
is as liable to criticism as the
person who received the order
if any mistake is made.
TWO-WAY STREET

Communications, to be ef-
fective, must be a two-way
street, establishing complete
understanding between two
parties. To accomplish this, al-
lowance must be made for
such factors as language dif-
ficulty, lack of education, lack
of understanding of job re-
quirements, and all causes
which erect barriers to mut-
ual understanding. Break-
down of communications will
be responsible for the mis-
takes which will surely fol-
low. It is extremely unlikely
that the workman will ask to
have the instructions repeat-
ed, and so the stage is set for
action by the workman which
can prove very costly.

A few extra minutes spent
by the person giving the ord-
ers in making sure that the
workman fully understands
what is expected of him, and
further checking by asking
the workman to repeat back
what he is to do, can prevent
many of these situations from
developing.

To those who consider this
requires more time than they
are prepared to give, an ef-
fective answer is for them to
consider how many times in
the last month production was
affected through lack of ade-
quate communication. Acci-
dents from this cause will not
be reduced until people are

MEN'S
DRESS

SHOES

convinced that accidents re-
sult from a breakdown in
communications.

PAST YEAR

During the past year, I have
made my services available to
all Local Unions in Region 1,
and in so doing have travelled
approximately 30,000 miles. I
have held numerous crew
meetings and met with var-
ious managements as well as
attending conferences, ihclud-
ing the Health and Safety
Council -Conference of the
CLC in London, Ontario. I
have also participated in meet-
ings with the Accident Pre-
vention Department of the
Compensation Board at the
Council of Forest Industries
in regard to adequate guard-
ing of steel spars, loading ma-
chines, and adequate cab pro-
tection for rubber-tired skid-
ders, and am at present at-
tempting to arrange a meeting
with the object in view of
amending Accident Preven-
tion Regulation No. 832, Men
Working Alone, to devise a
more adequate and compre-
hensive method of checking
on men working alone.

All Locals in B.C. were no-
tified at a meeting held for
the express purpose of draw-
ing up a brief to submit to the
Standing Committee on La-
bour in regards to Bill 69 and
Tysoe’ Commission Report on
the Compensation Act, to deal
with the two most important
factors affecting our members,
one being the question of an
independent appeal board and
the other Section 13, the so-
called light duty or walking
wounded section of the Act,
as well as completing the
handbook for safety members.

COMPENSATION CLAIMS

During the past year, it has
been increasingly difficult to
get a satisfactory decision
from the Board on many com-
pensation claims that I have
dealt with, and it appears that
the new Workmen’s Compen-
sation Act is not likely to
change the situation.

It is with regret that I am
unable to report a better rec-
ord of achievement in the
field of accident prevention.
However, we are not losing
ground, and there is a definite
move afoot by the companies

who are sincerely working in
safety, to put the pressure on
companies who are only giv-
ing lip service. Because of the
increasing cost to companies,
many companies with good
records find that their assess-
ments are far more than they
should be, owing to the bad
accident rates in the compan-
ies who are not applying
themselves to the elimination
of accidents.
COMPLETE FIGURES

Complete figures for 1967
are not available at this time,
but in estimating the fre-
quency rate for the various
sections of the industry, it
would appear to be approxi-
mately 65. The logging opera-
tions in the Council of Forest
Industries have attained a fre-
quency rate of 26. In the other
sections of the industry, com-
parable figures have been
placed in the same manner,
with the estimate of the entire
industry being the first figure,
and the Council of Forest In-
dustries being the second.
Sawmilling, estimated at 38,
and 19.56; plywood manufac-
turers, 27 and 15; Red Cedar
shingle and shake division,
57 and 39.

The comparison of these
figures indicates very clearly
the benefit of a sound safety
program. that is being prac-
ticed in sections of the indus-
try. The Summary of Fatali-
ties for the forest industry in-
dicates that there were 41 fa-
talities, not including five
men who died in crashes of
water bombers and fire patrol
aircraft on Vancouver Island
and in the Interior region dur-
ing the fire season. The fig-
ures that I have been able to
compile with the assistance of
the Local Unions indicate 14-
non-union members, and 27
organized lost their lives.
Tentative figures from the
WCB indicates that there
were nine more fatalities than
I have recorded. I again would
request that all Local Unions
keep a record of fatalities in
their territory; be they union
members or non-union, that
we may have a more accurate
count of fatalities for the first
conference of the year, when:
the official figures are not
available.

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