THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER _ A SHINING _ EXCEPTION By BOB ROSS Regional Safety Director ' Our readers may recall that two issues back, on these ‘ pages, we were shaken by the fact that the steady progress J we had been making in preventing accidents in the Coastal | area had not only stopped but had gone into reverse. | But hidden within the statistics which show a poor over- \ all picture are some fine exceptions to this gloomy image. zi _ At the Westminster Shook Mills Division of MacMillan, Bloedel and Powell River Co. in New Westminster, the Joint ‘ Safety Committee has led its crew of 200 men to a record 314 ,, days without a compensable accident. { _ Was it really as good an achievement as it seemed? % How was this done? Mike Major, the IWA Chairman of the Joint Safety Com- mittee, arranged a plant tour for your Regional Safety Direc- tor; Pat Kerr, our Associate Editor; and John Hachey, Local 0, 1-357 Business Agent, prior to attending a safety draw ‘to i celebrate the occasion of the record.’ i We checked with him and found that there was no gen- by erous sprinkling of “walking wounded” to cloud the accident » free period. Everywhere we looked, there was concrete evidence of that unceasing vigilance so essential to freedom from accidents, erect It’s an old plant, but everywhere we found cleanliness, BS order, a thoughtful foresight put into every possible device to . safeguard the crew. But more important, there is an atmosphere, an easy feel- ing. It’s hard to put your finger on it, but it’s there. Perhaps , it’s the absence of tension. The people we talked with seem - __ to fit the place. Perhaps we missed the shouting, the un- : essential scurrying that so often indicates lack of teamwork in a plant. Perhaps the fact that Mike Major was free to show us every corner of the plant, that we were free to talk to any- one in the crew without a Company official worrying along- side, is a clue. Before we left that afternoon, we knew that here there was mutual respect and confidence, that disagreements, some- times hot issues, are finally settled on that basis. There was the giving away of the usual expensive prizes and the usual speeches — I know I made one of them. But here again there was a difference. Watching the faces of the erew, we did not see the embarrassed grin or the cynical look that is the usual crew reaction to a meaningless dress-up affair. This knew they had earned this recognition. This sata knows shes to work in surroundings which they keep safe. Local ident, Wyman Trineer, took the trouble to 2a ral Gutoty I Director let these people know valued their achievement. Perhaps one might say that of Westminster Shook had everything going to ey oink they made’ everything go for them. none roud or too bitter over past mis- et aansnsoant. Let us work to establish ual respect which alone can produce the co-operation | to saving lives and livelihood. SAFETY DRAW FOR RECORD ACHIEVEMENT AT WESTMINSTER ot ase cy S60. serene NO SMOKING enero PAST, THIS. AREA 5 30000 SAFE HRs. puvtted 04 JOINT SAFETY COMMITTEE at M.B &P.R.’s Westminster Shook Mills SHOOK MILLS Division, New Westminster, photographed with officials of Local 1-357, IWA, and the Regional Safety Director. The work of this Committee was respon- sible in a large degree for the fine safety record achieved by the two-hundred- man crew in working 314 accident-free days so far this year. Committee mem- bers are, C. M. Armatage, Chairman; K. J. Holbeche, Co-chairman; A. L. Sharpe, Secretary; H. L. Patience; D. L. Boone; G. Terzariel; N. F. Stern; H. A. Holmberg; M. O. Pedersen; M. Major; G. Andrew; D. McGillivray; S. Snider; F. N. Bolster. Absent from picture, K. A. Barden, J. N. Shaw. Local officials are Wyman Trineer, President; John Hachey, Business Agent; Norm Kelly, Local Safety Director. Regional official, Bob Ross, Regional Safety Director. On the lighter side | The old Negro laundress came one day with a tale of woe. “Cheer up, Mandy,” said her mistress consolingly. “There’s no use worrying.” “How come dere’s no use in worrying?” she demanded. “When de good Lawd send me tribulation He ‘spect me to tribulate, ain’t He?” xk x * McTavish was the proud owner of a new cash register. One day an old friend came into the shop and bought a six- penny cigar, the customer noted that McTavish pocketed the money instead of putting it into the drawer. “Why not ring it up?” he asked. “You'll be forgetting it.” “Oh, T’]l no forget it,” replied the Scot. “Ye ken I keep track in my head until I get a dollar, an’ then I ring it up. It saves wear-r-r-r and tear-r-r on the machine.” Park at isk In ancient Nineveh, where roads were sacred, posts were placed along the processional way inscribed: “Royal road. Let no man lessen it.” It was decreed that anyone who parked a chariot or other vehicle along the road should be slain and his body im- paled on a stake before his house. -.