THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER

SAFETY PAGE

READ AND HEED

By ANDY SMITH
Regional Safety Director
Falls can injure and kill,
particularly falls from heights.
The 1966 Workmen’s Com-.
pensation Board reports show
that there were 8,980 injuries
resulting from falls that year,
which amounted to 31.8%, by
far the highest rate of any one
contributing cause. The Coun-
cil of Forest Industries figures
for 1967 indicate that in their
member companies in the
coast area there were 1,285
injuries caused by falls, a per-

centage of 73.31.

Around the turn of the cen
tury most people regarded in-
dustrial accidents as an un-
fortunate but inevitable by-
product of work. People ex-
pected large number of ac-
cidents in the making of steel,
mining coal, running rail-
roads, and manufacturing.
Crippling injuries and fatali-
ties were accepted as the nor-
mal price. Since then we have
grown to realize that there is
a better way. This we all
know is the safe way. Safety
rules have been compiled
through past experience and
for our safety we must learn
to follow them.

Going up and down stairs
for example. Stop and think
a moment—is safety involved
here? Yes, falls on stairs do
happen. Of course, they don’t
hit the headlines in the papers
as do mountain climbing acci-
dents, but nevertheless many
injuries from falls on stairs
are reported yearly and a
goodly number of them result
in very serious injuries. What
causes them? First of all,
there is the unsafe act of hur-
rying. We must have a “no
running” rule.

Remember, hurrying on
stairs and steps is doubly dan-
gerous because if you fall it’s
a long way down to the bot-
tom, with little chance of stop-
ping until you get there, The

surest way to save yourself a
fall is to use the handrail. All
stairways and steps must have
handrails, and everyone
should. get into the habit of
using them. This doesn’t mean
you have to hang on to the
rail like grim death. Just run
your hand lightly along it so
that it’s right there if you
should need it. Another rule
is, keep to the right on stairs
or steps, and this goes for pas-
sageways, too.

Trying to carry bulky ob-
jects down a stair is another
unsafe act. First, you can’t
see properly where you’re go-
ing. Secondly; you can’t see
others on the stairs. The
weight and shape of the ob-
ject makes it easier for you
to lose your balance and fall.
One of the most important
things to remember about
stairs and steps is to keep
them clear. It’s a rule that
goods and materials must not
be stacked or stored on stairs
or landings or so close to them
as to cause obstruction.

Also, we must always re-
member that darkened’ stair-
ways are a hazard. Never pile
goods where they might cut
out the light from windows
or electric illumination on the
stairs. The trouble is, we take
stairs and steps for granted,
but let’s just remember that
one day that stair may be our
escape route in case of emer-
gency, so keep stairs always
clean, unobstructed, well lit
and safe. We all have a per-
sonal stake in seeing stairs
and steps stay that way.

Sometimes we have to use
other equipment to reach
higher or lower levels. Scaf-
folds and ladders used im-
properly will cause “falls from
height” accidents. Investiga-
tions of accidents show most-
ly the same sort of thing hap-
pening. Scaffolds built up

from the ground, old ladder

and sawhorse types, collapse
chiefly because of unsound
footing or inadequate bracing.
If the footing under a pole
or ladder gives a little, it can
throw a heavy extra load on
the next one, etc. If the next
pole doesn’t hold, down comes
the scaffold. Scaffold planks
and railings can break when
put to extreme tests of weight
and stress.

Build a safe future by fol-
lowing safe practices today.
Use the proper equipment for
the job; make sure of your
safety before starting any job.
Ladders should be given a
general inspection before use.
Check for loose steps or
rungs, nails, screws or bolts.
Look for split or broken up-
rights, rungs or steps, sharp
edges, damaged or worn non-
slip bases. Use care when
placing ladders. The base
should be one-fourth the lad-
der’s length from the vertical
plane of the top support.
Where the rails extend above
the top landing, ladder’s
length to the top support only
is considered. Do not use lad-
ders horizontally for runways
or as a scaffold. Never place
a ladder in front of a door,
against a window pane or
sash, loose boxes, barrels,
round objects, or near live
wiring and operational piping.
Face the ladder, and use both
hands when ascending or de-
scending. Keep shoe bottoms
clean of grease and mud.
Never slide down a ladder.
Do not climb higher than the
third rung from the top sup-
port on straight or extension
ladders, nor the second tread
from the top of step ladders.

These are just a few of the
safety tips you should remem-
ber when moving from one
level to another. Keep in step
with safety. Don’t be a fall

guy.

“GIVE ME SAFETY
OR GIVE ME DEATH"

By GORDON HURLBERT
Ist Vice-President, Local 1-424
This should be the slogan of

the many hundreds of men

working in the bush in our
area. Our industry has suf-
fered one of its worst three
months, in recording seven
deaths in the woodworking

industry.

In reviewing these fatali-
ties, we found that “dead
snags” accounted for five, one
drowning when a 966 Loader
broke through a frozen lake
and one was a faller who had
hung-up two trees on a birch
tree and as he approached
the birch to knock them down,
it uprooted, pinning the faller
beneath the two hung-up

‘trees.

“Dead snags” is the best
example of production and
money hungry murder that
there is for the five fatal acci-
dents involved. These com-
panies will not pay the fallers
to fall snags (fallers are all on
gypo rate) nor does the com-
pany want the fallers to waste
production time falling these
“dead snags.’

It would seem only ‘logical
that these needless deaths
could have been avoided if the
company would have taken
the time, and paid a faller or
fallers to cruise the limits and
kno c k down these “dead
snags” prior to the big pro-
duction push that comes every
freeze-up.

Another salient factor show-
ed up in that, over half of
these fatalities were relatively

“green” logging people. One.
in particular was a Coast fall-

-

er who had been here only
two days. It is well to remem-

‘ber that working with frozen

trees in Northern terrain is
far different than working in
the bush at the Coast.

The biggest factor of all is
that only one of these fatali-
ties was in an IWA organized
operation. The others were
small sub-contractors of sub-
contractors who have little
knowledge of safety practices
and who could care less, just
as long as the production is
up. A bad feature of these
sub-contractors is that they
work for only about three
months and under the restric-
tion labour legislation of this
Province, it is just about im-
possible to organize them.
Also, the Workmen’s Compen-
sation Board with such a large
area to cover is unable to in-
spect all these small operators,
so just about anything goes
with the men right under the
thumb of the boss.

To promote more Safety:
1. More training for bush peo-

ple must be instituted and
the sconer the better.

2. More inspections of these
camps must be made by the

Workmen’s Compensation
Board.

3. Stricter W.C.B. rules must
be instituted to protect
these people.

If these things are not done,
the useless carnage that is be-
ing done will continue and
grow more severe as the boss-

es cry for more production,
as is heard more and more
every year.

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