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THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER

To Regional Safety Conference

SAFETY DIRECTOR'S REPORT

It is with mixed feelings that | report to you on
some real progress and on a terrible lack of improve-
ment in accident prevention in some sectors of our
industry.

We shall be examining together the statistics of
the Workmen’s Compensation Board fo find out in
detail how we have done.

On the credit side of the ledger, we find that for
the first time in our history the Coast sawmills worked
a full year without a fatality. This has been accom-
plished through a determination on the part of our
Union and Management fo lift ourselves out of the bad
slump of 1962. | attribute part of this success to the
programmes of Job Safety Analysis which are being
energetically pursued, particularly in MacMillan Bloe-
del and Powell River and in some of the Rayonier Plants.
It does seem that we have decided to substitute solid
hard work in Safety for the fancy trimmings which
had crept into our efforts.

On the debit side, the cold statistics which conceal
so much tragedy, show that our smaller operations on
the Coast and the whole industry in the Interior are
accounting for more than their share of accidents and
deaths. Several factors in the Interior contribute to this:

@ The large number of operations which remain out
of the IWA — experience has shown that the or-
ganized employee can contribute more to Safety,
because he can do this freely and on an equal
footing.

@® Many employers are not yet convinced that time,
money and sincere effort must be put into a pro-
gramme before it can be effective.

®@ itis difficult due to the fragmentation of the industry
into such small operations to mount an overall cam-
paign in either the North or the South.

In all this, it is gratifying to note that the Southern
Interior now has two full time management Safety
Directors. Our Local Unions have started to move. It will
be necessary in the ensuing year fo tie in these efforts
in one big blitz on accidents.

On the overall B.C. picture Arthur Francis of the
Workmen’s Compensation Board has this to say of the
past year:

“While there is some gratifying evidence of in-
creasing concern over the problem, and a growth in
safety effort in the industry, the improvement in results
is pitifully slow. We feel more action is needed in the
smaller operations where there is a tendency towards
lower operating standards. Also, in spite of much higher
injury frequency rates there is, in smaller operations,
a greater interval between accidents and this tends
to create a blind and tolerant attitude to unnecessary
risks.

“We are planning on a more intensive campaign
in smaller operations and would be grateful for the
continued support of your membership in this effort.”

Safety Policy

The Safety Policy booklets are now available. The
Region has had 20,000 copies printed. Unfortunately,
some of the Local Unions have not yet ordered suf-
ficient copies even for their Safety Committees, let
alone one for each member. | note that the feeling
expressed by our last Convention was that this booklet
should become our “Bible” on Safety Policy and should
_ be in the hands of each of our members. This need is
_ obvious on reading some of the Joint Safety Committee
_minutes; | have noted on more than one occasion re-
ntly, unanimous approval of disciplinary action to

BOB ROSS, Safety Director

| would urge Local Safety Directors to ensure that
their respective Local Unions are aware of the need
for sufficient Safety Policy Booklets.

Workmen's Compensation.

I note with regret that the Workmen’‘s Compen-
sation Board is resorting to an increasing use of tech-
nicality to deny compensation to our people who have
been hurt on the job. I therefore urge the Local Unions
to co-operate with this department in training our
committees on the job in the intricacies of the Act and
regulations in order to avoid this unnecessary suffer-
ing to our disabled members.

Our campaign to bargain with management for
the right of a Union representative from one of our
Safety Committees to accompany the Workmen’s
Compensation Inspectors on their tours of plants and
camps, has had a large measure of success. However,
there are plants where the effort has not been made,
or in which management has refused to budge. lt will
be necessary to renew our efforts in this field. The
“guided tour” must stop.

The Royal Commission on
Workmen's Compensation

Your Safety Director presented-on your behalf a
comprehensive brief on this matter to the Honourable
Chief Justice DesBrisay. The keen mind and broad un-
derstanding of the Chief Justice led us to feel that his
report would be a valuable contribution toward a
greater measure of justice for our disabled people.

I take this opportunity now to express on your
behalf, our sense of loss over his untimely death. The
difficult task of completing the Inquiry is now in the
hands of Mr. Justice Tysoe. We wish him well.

Finally, | wish to thank all our Committee mem-
bers, Local Union Safety Directors, and all of you sitting
here for your devotion to the often thankless work
of saving the lives of our people. Let us now re-dedicate
ourselves to this task.

Respectfully submitted,
BOB ROSS,
Regional Safety Director