ae ee eee | THE WESTERN CA we or eae ee Foe We LUMBER WORKER JUNE MEET DRAWS The Yellowhead Inn at | Prince George was the setting | MORE FOREST WORKERS KILLED IN B.C. IN 1975 By MAX SALTER Regional Safety Director Sixty-one workers in the IWA section of the forest products industry lost their lives in 1974, as a result of accidents arising out of or in the course of em- ployment. The WCB figures also register fifty-two fatalities in 1975. ; While the conclusion in relat- ing these two sets of figures would correctly show that there were nine less workers killed in the year 1975,- the indisputable fact is that there was an increase in the number of deaths per million man- hours worked in 1975. Cut-backs in industrial employment plus the shut- downs of operations, (some permanent), but many more for extended periods of many weeks, represent a changed picture in statistics. People can not get killed in an in- _ dustrial accident when they. are not associated with in- dustry in any manner. In short, the statistical result of the comparison is that the 1975 record does prove that accident prevention took an ugly beating. Permanent disabilities climbed to 246 in 1975, an in- crease from 187 in 1974. There is an obvious lack of self-discipline at the job site. That includes management and line supervision as well as at the worker level. With the exception of a few companies who actually en- gage in accident prevention through adequate training, and where the joint safety com- mittees are riding close herd on the application of job safety, there does exist a large problem. When workers are faced with the bleak aspects of long un- employment there is bound to be a slackening in the con- centration toward job per- formance, and with it goes safety procedures, which do require more effort, more attention, more consideration for the fellow worker. The supervisor, too, is affected. With a shut-down, or lay-off imminent, he is hustling to clean-up. On returning to production after a lay-off, there is a general attitude toward rushing back into high produc- tion levels, and with ‘‘workers out of practice’”’ or with brand new ‘‘greenhorns”’ the result is inevitably going to create acci- dents, or at least to contribute largely toward their occur- rence. .One of the major problems is the lack of a positive pro- gramme of pre-employment, and ‘“‘work-related”’ training. The existing school for pre- training loggers fall far short of the need for ‘‘adequate’’ practice, and failed to develop training methods that. would meld to the many varied methods in use in our indus- trial industry. Little or no ‘‘on the job’ training is used ‘to ‘“‘season”’ the new man. Far too little time is allocated to the ‘‘on-going’’ training of workers and super- visors, beyond their initial job experience. A person moving to a new job, or a new location; or returning from extended absence from work, requires concentrated application of re- training. A. highly skilled boxer, spends days in developing his protective, as well as his aggressive skills, to the point where he automatically does the right thing at the right time. So should it be with the worker. Job Safety training must become an integral part of job requirements, if we are to get into an area where we can see definite improvement in reducing accidents, and reduce thereby the high percentage of fatalities. Attitude of the Workers’ Compensation Board is essential in the development of the co-operative application of accident prevention. Workers can’t accept the fact that they are facing ‘‘puni- tive’ penalties assessed by the WCB for exposing themselves to a hazardous situation, and no action taken by the Board to require the employer to take positive corrective action to reduce the source of the hazardous exposure. Workers toiling in harmful dust, or chemical saturation, -or excess noise and vibration, are certainly resentful when the finger of blame from the WCB, is pointed at them, and virtually nothing concrete appearing to be done with the “reduction of hazard at source’”’. In effect, the WCB role should develop a parallel pro- gram designed to produce a safer work place, as well as to coordinate the full scope of a job related training program under its direct monitoring. | for the June Conference on Regional Safety and Health. The two-day meet combined educational presentations together with a review of the status of safety and health programs from the various local unions submitted in report form. Added features of the confer- ence which was opened by Don Muirhead, President of the Prince George host Local 1-424, included a short course on ef- fective oral communications presented by Syd Manning. A highly interesting multi-media discourse by Bud Lerette, of RADAT, who covered the causes, effects and corrective treatment approaches in the Richmond based association /SIXTY DELEGATES dealing with the problems of alcoholism affecting industrial workers. Some sixty delegates partici- pated in the conference which was livened up with a ‘‘bear- pit”’ session on Workers’ Com- pensation accident prevention, ably panelled by Jim Paton, director of accident prevention for the WCB, together with Grant McMillan who heads the information services depart- ment. Don McKechnie and Syd Ward of the Prince. George section of the WCB also con- tributed on behalf of their division. Other invited guests included Colin Gabelmann of the B.C. Federation of Labour and Marianne Gilbert, chairperson of the B.C. Federation Safety and Compensation Committee. , COUNCIL OFFICERS — Verna Ledger and Erich Ewert show interest in proceedings on conference floor. DELEGATES (L-R) — Bob Cross, T. Becker, Bob Carter, Florence Edwards — Local 1-184.