seer ecteacceniaeen een tT POOR tea SEN enenenta 2nd Issue November, 1961 WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER 5 COMPLETE INDIFFERENCE CHARGED Nicola Valley Sawmills Scored Over Poor Safety Programme Grave concern is being expressed by the officers of Local 1-417, IWA, over the bad accident record at the Nicola Valley Sawmills Limi : imited, a sound safety programme. Local 1-417 Safety Director, Bob Schlosser states that the Company is not keeping their Accident Bul- letin board up to date and their only contribution to a safety pro- gramme is to paint skull and cross- bones on the front of the safety committees’ hard hats. Committee Appointed The safety committee, he adds, was appointed by the Company and not elected by the crew as is the custom in other operations. The Company which has both a logging and mill operation, has failed to list any accidents among the log- gers. Safety Director Schlosser re- ports that the logging crew claim their accident record is as bad as that of the mill. Complete Indifference IWA Regional Safety Director, John T. Atkinson, who was speaking at operations in the Merritt area last September, was met with complete indifference on the part of the Nicola Valley Sawmills officials when he visited their operation. The following stories reprinted from the “Merrittonian” weekly, September 26, in Merritt, are good examples of how two companies, Merritt, and the Company’s lack of interest in instituting believes in safety, and the Nicola Valley Sawmills which gives only lip service to accident prevention, reacted to the IWA Regional Safety Directors visit. Safety Director Addresses Workers John T. Atkinson, TWA Safety Director of Western Canada, was 2 visitor to Merritt last Tuesday, Sep- tember 19th. Mr. Atkinson, gener- ally known as John T., was sche- duled to speak to two plant safety meetings during the day—one at Merritt Diamond Mills—the other at Nicola Valley Sawmills. The meetings had been arranged by local representatives of the union, with the companies concerned. The meeting at Merritt Diamond Mills was very successful and it was evident that both union and man- agement were extremely interested in promoting the safety programme. The half-hour meeting (11:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.) was held. Fifteen min- utes on company time and 15 min- utes on the employees’ time and was attended by company officials and employees alike. The meeting place the Merritt Diamond Mills, which was the company garage. John T. gave a very interesting talk on safety promotion and the roles which the “workers and supervisory officials must play in forwarding the joint safety programme. A hearty ap- plause was given John T. at the close of his address. NVS Meet Cancelled The meeting at the Nicola Valley Sawmills, scheduled for 4:30 p.m. was not held for some mysterious reason known only to the company. Although this meeting had been dis- cussed with company officials a num- ber of times (including the day prior to it), when John T. arrived to make his address he found that the meet- ing place (company garage) was filled with trucks and equipment. Upon inquiry he found that the company had made no arrangements for the meeting at all, in fact the day-shift crew had not even been notified of the meeting; the night- shift crew (planer) commenced work at 4:30 p.m. as they had not re- ceived company authorization to attend the safety meeting. John T. decided to call into the company office and inquire about the sudden turn of events. However, the only company Official there informed a member of the office staff that he was too busy to see John T. Safety Briefs This chain makes sense Capitalizing on the popularity of chain letters British safety people sent out 6,000 letters urging safe driving and asking each recipient to send five similar letters to friends. The goal—to eventually reach every licensed driver in Great Britain. Mickey advises: kids New York City youngsters got their safety tips from Mickey Mantle this summer. More than 50,000 posters appearing on city streets showed the hard-slugging Yankee centre fielder in batting stance advising: “Cross at Corners—Not Midblock.” At the top of each poster was an illustration of an umpire’s “safe” signal, and the message: “Play It Safe.” How’s your fume quotient? Smaller cars haye been given a pat on the back by the Air Pollution Control Association. The association says a recent study shows that eight cylinder engines give off twice as much fumes as six cylinder engines. The study also shows that an untuned engine constitutes the worst case of air pollution. Michigan straps ‘em in Michigan is equipping all state-owned cars with safety belts. The belts are being installed on a voluntary basis—as requested by agencies with assigned cars. It is expected that all cars now in use will be equipped with them within the coming year and that all new cars will be purchased with belts installed. lronic O.K. In Greensboro, N.C., a man was unable to renew his driver license be- cause of a heart attack. On his release from the hospital he reported to the highway patrol station to take the test for a new license. He passed the test easily, but he died of a heart attack while the examining officer was filling out his new license. No training, no parking Something new has been added at Arsenal Technical High School, Indiana- polis, this fall. Students who leave their cars in parking spaces at the school must have passed a driver-ed course. Candidates for driver-ed at Arsenal Tech are required to have their parents’ permission and a beginner’s permit. Lowdown on parking meters A recent article on parking meters disclosed the following interesting facts. The first parking meters were installed on the streets of Oklahoma City fn 1935. Today, there are more than 2,000,000 meters in more than 4,000 communities in the U.S. alone, and an uncounted number abroad. Parking fees reach almost $130,000,000 a year. But here’s a melancholy note—you can hardly find a nickel meter in big cities any more. Most are charging 10 cents, some 20 cents. Trucker’s padre The Carolina Freight Corp. has a full-time chaplain for its 400 truck drivers and 1,000 other employees. He is the Rev. Jack H. Cooke, 40, a Methodist minister, who performs his duties on an interdenominational basis. Cars for young drivers A total of 12,246 cars were used for practice driving instruction during the 1960-61 school year in the nation’s high school driver-education courses. Of this total, 6,711 were made available on a free loan basis by new car dealers. He’s still a champ The Virginia Traffic Safety News reports that Howard Godsey of Madison Heights, who is 71 years old, recently won the local Ruritan “Safe Driver of the Year” award. Although he had his left leg amputated in 1909, Godsey, a delivery man, drives 75 miles a day. He has driven 36 years without an arrest or a chargeable accident. 3 : State assist to driver-ed annual estima’ of the program is vested in the state department of education. Innocent by-stander between two motor _Michigan raises limits now in effect on more than 500 miles of Michigan the day and 60 at m.p-h., and apply be reached only through freeways in major Ontario To Adopt B.C. Plan The example set by the work- kers in the lumber industry of British Columbia has made an impression on Ontario. A Royal Commission on Industrial Safe- ty in Ontario has recently handed down a report which reads like the IWA Safety Policy Statement in many respects. Both workers and management should have a hand in plant safety programs recommends the Ontario study on industrial safety. The Royal Commission on Safety would like to see accident preven- tion problems handled this way: @ Make it compulsory for every company employing more than twenty workers to establish joint labour-management committees at the plant level under the authority of an amendment to the Workmen’s Compensation Act. @ Committees should be required to carry out inspections, inves- tigate all accidents and submit minutes of all meetings to the Workmen’s Compensation Board and the Labour Minister. @ Existing employer safety organi- zations, set up under the Com- pensation Act, should now co- operate with the plant safety committees. The report states that the existing educational programs do not “reach the man on the job”. @ All employer associations formed for safety education should be placed under the jur- isdiction of the Board, the re- port states. @ An Ontario Safety Council should be established as a clear- ing house for safety activities, with rights of enquiry only. Contractors should be licensed at the provincial level. Plans for public buildings should be inspected periodically to counteract the results of defec- tive construction. Logging and sawmill safety regulations should be adopted and enforced. The report notes that none exist now, and that the logging industry has the for the newly-established Committee on against employer monopoly of safety le 3 = 5 : 4 SKULL AND CROSSBONES painted on this hard hat belonging to a member of the safety committee at the Nicola Valley Sawmills Limited is the extent of the Company's contribution to any kind of safety programme for the crew. COMPENSABLE ACCIDENTS 19 TO DATE WMILL ¢, “ug COMPENSABLE ACCIDENTS r SAW M Py aia LOGGING nC COTHIS OPRRATION Has Woexen CONSECUTIV: _» PAYS WITHOUT A LOST TIME ACCIDENT m § WORK SAFELY TODAY © tee Laoizie % gi Pee - ) Rate LOCAL 1-417, IWA SAFETY DIRECTOR, Bob Schlosser points to the figures on the Accident Bulletin board of the Nicola Valley Sawmills Limited which the crew claim is not a true record of the accidents in the operation. MXMO TO ALL XMPLOYXXS Xyvxn though my typxwritxr is an old modxl, it works quitx wxll xxcxpt for onx of thx kxys. | wishxd many timxs that it workxd pxrfxctly. It is trux that thxrx arx forty-six kxys that function wxll xnough, but just onx kxy not working makxs thx diffxrxnex. Somxtimxs it sxxms to mx that our safxty program is somxwhat likx my typxwritxr — not all thx kxy pxopIx arx working propxrly. You may say to your- sxlf, “WxIl, | am only onx pxrson. | won't makx or brxak a program.” But it doxs makx a diffxrxncx bxcausx ‘a safxty program, to bx xffxctivx, nxxds activx participation of xvxry xmployxx. So thx nxxt timx you think you arx only onx pxrson and that your xfforts arx not nxxdxd, mmxmbxr my typxwritxr and say to yoursxif, “I! am a kxy pxrson in our safxty program and | am nxxdxd vxry much.” Reprinted in the interest of Safety by the Workmen's Compensation Board. COURTESY — Safety Letter, American Hospital Asociation. WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION BOARD OF BRITISH COLUMBIA