eek Teape
‘April, 1961

WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER

} Ltd.,
i regulations.
_ the Union to seek redress in the

courts.

{ Two recent fatalities brought mat-
' ters to a head. In one instance,
' ehokerman Donald Earl Hicks was
killed by a falling tree while work-
ing on a skidd'ng crew. Mechanic
Alex K. Pereverzoff was burned to
death while welding a diesel oil tank-
er. Local Union officials allege that
a series of serious accidents provide
an additional reason for stricter en-
forcement of the Board's regulations.
Evidence given at the Coroner’s
' inquests is under close scrutiny by
IWA safety men. On the strength of
this evidence further investigations
_ will be held. It is reported that the
*» company has already been penalized
4 by an increase in its compensation
«assessment rate.

Too Close to Fallers

The Local Union takes a serious
view of the fact that skidding crews
are evidently required to work in
close proximity to falling and buck-
ing operations.

On December 20, 1960, the Local
Union officials protested instructions
issued to a Heel Boom operator to
enter an area where falling and buck-
ing was being carried out. The Heel
Boom was struck by a falling tree,
and the operator narrowly missed
death

A few days later, the W.C.B. In-
) spector issued an order, “Skidding
crews shall be kept at a safe dis-
tance”. On February 23, 1961, choker-
man Donald E, Hicks met his death
under circumstances which indicated
that the skidding crew was too close
- to the fallers. The tree fell on the
, * cat, for which Hicks was setting
‘ -_ chokers.
re Killed at 70 Feet
. The faller gave evidence that the
tree fell at right angles to the direc-
tion intended, because of dry rot. The
¥ tree was 100 feet in length, and the
_ victim was stationed 70 feet away.
* The faller claimed that he was un-

>

> >

nal

-

-

aware the cat was so close, although
he gave all possible warning when
the tree dropped the wrong way.

Evidence was given by the Bull-
bucker that the Superintendent had
been warned on the day of the acci-
dent that the skidding crews were
too close to the fallers, He merely
said that he would look into the mat-
ter after he had attended to some
trail-blazing.

Both the Superintendent and the
bullbucker agreed that the company
had been warned because of previous
infractions of the regulations. Safety
meetings had not been held regularly,
they admitted, but at one recent
meeting they had agreed to keep
skidding crews out of the falling
area.

Too Close Timing

In his evidence, the Superintendent
suggested that he was trying to avoid
digging logs from under the snow.
“We try to keep away from falling
too much ahead, but it is a matter
of co-relation”, he said

No company official would accept
responsibility for the instructions
which sent Alex Pereverzoff to ‘an
excruciatingly painful death. The de-
ceased had been known to do weld-
ing work in and around the shop for
twelve years, but was without tank
experience. The RCMP constable in-
vestigating was given the estimate of
eighty gallons of fuel in the tank at
the time of the accident. It was ig-
nited by the heat of the welding
operation. No instructions had been
issued, and no precautionary signs
had been posted, it was stated in
evidence.

The Coroner expressed the opinion
that no instructions had been issued
for the job. The victim was allowed
to place his own interpretation on
an order to “fix the tanker so we can
use it”. The foreman accepted no re-
sponsibility for the usual safe pro-

Passmore Lumber Co. Charged
With Violating Safety Rules

Highly indignant members of Local 1-405 IWA are pressing
for action by the Workmen’s Compensation Board to correct
unsafe conditions in the operations of the Passmore Lumber Co.
which they charge indicate a flagrant disregard of safety
Failure to remedy a dangerous situation may cause

cedures prescribed in using flame in
the vicinity of a partially filled fuel
ank,

Regulations Breached

Workmen’s Compensation Board
regulations were read into the evi-
dence by Financial Secretary Elmer
Atwood, Local 1-405 IWA. These
require, “(Section 8) A supervisor
shall be responsible for the activities
under his control being carried out
without undue risk to any person”,
(Section 9) “Supervisors shall be re-
sponsible for the proper instruction
of workmen in their duties, and for
the satisfactory carrying-out of their
duties”, and (Section 828) “Work-
men not directly connected with fall-
ing and bucking shall not be permit-
ted to work where they are in danger
cf being injured by these operations”.

All three regulations have been
breached by the Passmore Lumber

o. in the two fatalities here cited
—it is claimed.

Local Union officers also claim
that the evidence now proves con-
clusively that, the lives of crew mem-
bers in the Passmore Co, operations

are imperilled by lax and inefficient |

supervision of safety precautions.

hey have urged the Workmen’s
Compensation Board to exercise the
authority of the law to protect life
and limb in order that recurrence of
these tragedies may be avoided.

Distressing Features

A distressing feature of the tank
explosion fatality was that adequate
fire-fighting equipment was not at
hand. The victim attempted to im-
merse himself in a barrel of water.
Others could only throw cinders over
him, instead of the usual foamite.

Crew members giving evidence
were also disturbed because of the
primitive and uncomfortable means
by which the victims had to be trans-
ported to the Nelson hospital. Only
a combination crummy and_ panel
truck was available. Pictures of this
vehicle appeared in a recent issue of
the Western Canadian Lumber Wor-
ker showing its use for the transport
of fuel oil.

, Loggers Local Upholds
| Genuine Safety Program

vg SUBMITTED BY LOCAL 1-71

In our opinion, a Safety Programme in order to accomplish its

The establishment of a low fre-
quency record naturally follows the
success of such a programme and is
> the desirable end result of the pro-
’ _ gramme’s success. A low frequency
‘4 record established by any other
method is not desirable and in fact
defeats its own end by causing doubt
in the minds of the employ ees of the
Company’ $ sincerity. This in turn de-
| prives the safety programme thus

effected of the wholehearted co-
_eperation of all involved, which is
q SO necessary to the success of any
safety effort.

Programme Necessary
We are all agreed that a good,
Sound safety programme is not only
\ advisable but in fact necessary in any
_ industry but particularly in an in-
dustry as full of hazards as logging
and sawmill operations and we are
justifiably proud of our record of
&ecident suppression over the years
use of the importance placed on
_ safety by our members on the job
"and our staff personnel on both the
~ Regional and Local levels.
4 t comes as somewhat of a shock
Nags to learn that the safety pro-
gramme in at least one operation of
is

”.

rs naihoree being denied Compensa-
on in the event of future complica-
arising from his accident. We
that el type of cold blooded,
su ust be exposed on the
es of thie chibption in order that
members may be i hageshite3 of
‘apparent policies of the Company
mentioned aad the dangers involved
they co-operate with the Company
: a cy.
Partial Record

purpose must be designed primarily to reduce accidents by elim-
inating their causes and also through the education of the em-
ployees involved so that unsafe conditions,
unsafe practices are-recognized as such and avoided.

work hazards and

cent accidents in Northern Pulp-
wood’s Sandspit operation and the
manner in which they were disposed
of will serve to illustrate the appar-
ent policies of this Company in main-
taining a low frequency rate by keep-
ing injured employ off

tion and on the Company’s payroll
even if the injured man is so severely
injured that he is unable to get out of
bed and perform. the lightest of
duties,

Ompensa2-
i

In this category we find a faller
who injured his thigh and knee on or
about the 8th of November, 1960.

It is reported that this employee
was not sent inimediately to hospital
but was told by the first aid attendant
that the doctor would be in camp in
a day or two and would examine him
then, In the meantime it was sug-
gested that he do a little painting the
next day for which he was promised
the snag falling day rate. The faller
did in fact try to do a little painting
the day following his accident but
was unable to continue this work due
to the disability he suffered and he
was forced to return to bed,

Kept in Camp

Even at this point, camp manage-
ment, or the first aid attendant,. or
both, did not think it advisable to
allow the injured employee to go on
Compensation but instead kept him
in camp until the camp closed down
on or about the 9th of December,
1960, when he was sent to Vancouver
with the rest of the crew,

A chokerman was injured approxi-
mately the last week of November,
1960, and was kept in camp painting
and doing other light duty until
December 7th, 1960. This employee
was unable to establish a Compensa-
tion claim when he arrived in Van-
couver although he still suffered dis-
comfort and disability.

¢ at a partial record of re-

.

No Compensation

A second loader was injured in the
Jatter part of October, 1960, and he
also was kept on so-called light duty
until the camp shutdown in Decem-
ber. He received no compensation.

A faller was injured in the first
week of November, 1960, and was re-
portedly persuaded by the first aid
attendant to remain in camp instead
of going on Compensation. This em-
ployee stayed in camp on so-called
light duty until the first week of
December, 1960, but was able to
establish a Compensation claim upon
arriving in Vancouver

‘Ruthless Policy

And so it goes, a dismal record. of
a ruthless policy pursued by Northern
Pulpwood in order that they can
show on paper a low frequency rate
and consequently enjoy a low assess-
ment rate.

The seriousness of this practice is
evident to anyone who considers the
matter at all and in fact was con-
sidered so serious by the crew of that
operation that the following resolu-
tion was submitted by them to the
Local Convention. This article is a
direct result of that resolution and
the continuing by the company of
the practice which the resolution
condemns:

SUBJECT: INJURED MEN

GIVEN EASY JOBS.

WHEREAS: It has become a

Practice in many operations
in the case of so-called minor
injuries to assign workmen
to so-called easy jobs on the
Company payroll, rather than
having workmen drawing
Compensation pay allow-

ance,

AND WHEREAS: As this prac-
tice is in many cases humil-
iating and can also be dan-
gerous to the injured,

AND WHEREAS: This prac-
tice evidently is instituted to
enable the operations to
show a very small time loss,
eo thereby impressing a

d safety record.

THEREFORE BE ‘IT RE-
SOLVED: That an investi-
gation into this practice be
launched, and full publicity

whatever. means be
found to stop this practice
be utilized.

A Chokerman Died..

Occupation: Chokerman

A chokerman was choking logs to an arch. Fallers were working in the area.

Age: 34 Experience: 2 years

On the

side hill above the road a tree, in falling, broke into pieces, one of whichstruckandkilled

the chokerman.

New Awards Set

New all-Canadian, nation - wide
safety awards are now being granted
by the Canadian Industrial Safety
Association.

These awards are open to all Cana-
dian factories,
mills, utilities, refineries, lumber op-
erations, and shipping firms,

Over 70 factories and mines have

companies, mines,

now applied for either the one mil-
lion man-hours or 365 consecutive

days no-lost-time accident awards
available.
Regret has been expressed by

IWA safety men that the published
program of the Association makes
no reference to trade union coopera-
tion.

PROTECT YOUR

USE YOUR HARD HAT

BRITISH COLUMBIA
WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION BOARD