ECEMBER, 1974 ee ETE CANADIAN CUE ORE THE WESTERN CANADIAN LUMBER WORKER WORKER LOSES LIFE IN GAMBLE WITH TRAIN By MAX SALTER Regional Safety Director Eighteen-year-old Paul Leo- nard Rosengren lost his life on November 25th, in a railway crossing accident at the B.C. Forest Products, Hammond Division. It was nine o’clock, the night was clear, cool and dry, and Rosengren with three fellow workers was running in the public crossing of the C.P.R. when he was struck by a west- bound freight train. JOE FOWLER, president of Haney Local 1-367, looks over the crossing scene of arrecent fatality, at B.C.F.P. Hammond Division. The men were headed for a coffee bar across the tracks from their work point, and one’ of the survivors states that the crossing signals were in opera- tion, the gates were down, and that the train approaching from the east was seen to be a freight train. Rosengren commenced work at the operation in July, and was apparently following two other workers who won their race for the crossing, a fourth man stopped short of the cross- ing as the train arrived. With the union pressing for protection at unguarded cross- ings used by our workers to gain access to their plants, the failure to obey safety precau- tions that are provided makes the task more difficult. During the Joint Safety Com- mittee investigation conducted the following day after this fat- ality at Hammond, one of the employees involved in the crossing event stated that the practise of racing the trains at lunch times had been a regu- lar thing because the extreme length of freight trains resulted in five or more minutes when the crossing would be blocked, resulting in the half hour meal time being cut very short for anyone wanting to cross the 4 tracks to the coffee bar, which would be five minutes each way from their job sites in the mill. The investigation mulled over a number of suggestions to seek means of preventing a recurrence of this unfortunate ‘incident, one of the ideas con- sidered was a covered over- pass for foot traffic and to extend the guard gates to pro- hibit motor traffic. - ICY BANS MORE PESTICIDES The Environmental Protec- tion Agency, citing evidence that Aldrin and Dieldrin may cause cancer, ordered Shell Chemical Co. to stop making the two pesticides for most present uses. The decision by EPA Ad- ministrator Russel E. Train allows the Shell Oil Co. unit, which is sole maker of Aldrin and Dieldrin, to produce only a tiny fraction of the 10 million pounds of both chemicals that it otherwise would have mar- keted in 1975, the agency said. Based on current wholesale prices, the EPA calculates the cutoff will cost Shell Chemical some $20 million in annual sales. Although it is‘a major vic- tory for the Environmental Defense Fund, which first peti- tioned the EPA to ban Aldrin and Dieldrin four years ago, the decision isn’t necessarily the final word, Shell can appeal the ban to a federal court. And, in any event, the suspensions applies only until the conclu- = sion of separate proceedings on whether the chemicals’ regis- trations should be canceled permanently. A decision in the cancellation case isn’t ex- acid until: next summer or all. ~The order permits the con- . | tinued sale and use of Aldrin and Dieldrin ‘‘already in com- merce.” Mr. Train said this is safer than shipping the exist- ing stocks to a specified dis- posal site. ; Aldrin and Dieldrin are closely related members of the long-lived pesticide family of chlorinated hydrocarbons. That family includes DDT, which has also largely been banned by the EPA. - Some 90% of all Aldrin, which breaks down to Dieldrin in the environment, has been used to protect about 9% of the nation’s corn from soil insects. Aldrin also is used for similar protection of citrus trees and several minor crops, including pineapples and onions. The much smaller quantity of LIGHTER SIDE _ “Having a big family is a good way to make sure there’s always someone around to answer the phone — and then manufactured Dieldrin is used to control citrus insects and.for minor home and garden use. prose ; t —_ Fs DON’T OPERATE A 50-year-old Trail man has | learned the hard way about the dangers of operating an explo- sive-actuated tool (E.A.T.) without adequate training. An electrical technician, he was working this August on the installation of threaded fas- teners to secure a cable to a concrete wall. The original equipment, a hammer drill, used to make the fastener holes in the con- crete was malfunctioning, and the technician took an E.A.T. from the employer’s equip- ment room without his super- visor’s permission. He did not have a valid E.A.T. operator’s certificate as required by W.C.B. Regu- lation 20.04. Using the E.A.T., the tech- nician was able to place one threaded fastener in the 18- inch-thick concrete and was preparing to place a second when the E.A.T. fired. A fas- tener was launched through a previously-drilled hole in the concrete and struck the techni- cian, who was in the line of fire. | UNKNOWN EQUIPMENT The fastener entered the pel- vis area and exited from the right- buttock. Luckily, there were no serious internal injur- ies. “This accident happened because the man was unquali- fied and untrained. He didn’t exercise the necessary caution in positioning himself and the tool to avoid possible injury,” said W.C.B. Director of Acci- dent Prevention Inspection Jim Paton. “He shouldn’t have tried to operate the equipment without the proper training and certi- fication,” said Mr. Paton. “‘No one should use an E.A.T. unless he is certified for that particular make and model. ‘“‘Also he should never have been allowed to operate the equipment without the proper training and certification,”’ said Mr. Paton. ‘‘Employers should ensure that workers who operate E.A.T.’s are certi- fied in the particular make and model to be used.” ’ —W.C.B. NEWS CAMP CHAIRMAN (left) Bill Meers receives ‘Accident Free Service Award” from Rayonier Safety Director Don Potter during Mahatta River Logging Division’s ‘‘Safety Award Night.” Mahatta River Camp is located in Local 1-71, on Quatsino Sound south of Port Hardy. MAHATTA MANAGER Don Beise and Safety Director Don Potter pose with members of 1p eereeerennncees the Safety Committee, including Angela Krawietz, operator of a log yarder, Camp Chair- man Bill Meers, Bernie Clarke, Rudi Bauer, George Miles and Doug Watson, during the Safety Awards program.