Continued from previous page

8. Training of supervisors and work- ers should be ongoing with refresher courses, drills, and famil- jarization with the equipment as priorities. The WCB should moni- tor the training records.

9. The company and the BCFS should maintain a written account of the place, the details, and nature of fire, including fire sup- pression methods and equipment employed and fire fighting results. Those records should state who was responsible for the fire fight- ing, the company or the BCFS, and these records should be avail- able for inspection by the BCFS.

10. Only workers who are physically fit and familiar with heavy bush conditions should be assigned front line fire fighting tasks.

Devlin’s ten recommendations are

now before the various interested par-

ties and it is uncertain at this time what the outcome will be.

Brother Cantelon said it is time for the government, the employers and the union to ensure that the recom- mendations are implemented.

“In a downturned economy any- thing that’s going to take time, or cost money or personnel, tends to get lost in the shuffle,” says Brother Cantelon. “That's why we have to work hard and insist that the Coroner’s recommen- dations are dealt with in a responsible manner.”

bby Murray Cantelon

i

© Weldwood loggers and BCFS official (left) examine site of Brother Kingston's fatality. Arrow points to spot where Kingston collapsed, less than 15 feet from logging road.

Agencies and employers re-examining their policies

As this issue of the Lumberworker goes to press Coroner Devlin’s recom- mendations have been received by the B.C. Forest Service, the Workers’ Com- pensation Board, Weldwood Canada, the Council of Forest Industries, the Truck Loggers Association and For- est Industrial Relations.

To date the Coroner's recommenda- tions have been well accepted by the parties and some actions have been taken.

Jim Dunlop, the director of the Fire Protection Branch of BCFS, says pre- liminary meetings have been held with the Workers’ Compensation Board to

set up a process that will hopefully lead to some clear WCB regulations in fire fighting safety.

Mr. Dunlop says the BCFS has examined each of the Coroner's rec-

ommendations and has sent a letter to all 6 Regional forest managers in the province to in turn communicate responsibilities of fire fighting under Section 120 of the Forest Act. BCFS staff have also been sent a letter to remind them of responsibilities under the Act.

Dunlop also, through the regional offices, sent out a copy of forest fire “Watch-out Rules” which, developed in the U.S. and Canada, examine the major causes of fire fighting injuries and fatalities from a statistical basis.

The BCFS sees training as a respon- sibility of employers and Dunlop says the industry has been reminded that the Forest Service has developed a large number of training courses in modules specific to fire control.

1991,

© Weldwood Clowhom crew pulls fire hose to put out last of smoldering fire in August

“We would assist with any industry people that want training (courses), because we have so many packages,” says Dunlop. “We would invite them to our training courses and we would make our materials available to them ... Which we do now ... we're stressing that the training is there, the materi- als are there.”

Dunlop says that in the final analy- sis industry has the responsibility to train its employees.

John Hindson, Director of the Ser- vices Department of the Occupational Safety and Health Division at the WCB of British Columbia, says that the Board is discussing the issue with the BCFS.

He says the function of the WCB is not to train people but that the Board could monitor compliance with train- ing requirement for loggers who fire fight.

If that were the case there would have to be changes to the WCB Health & Safety Regulations. Mr. Hindson says that recommendations on fire fighting will likely be made to the WCB Occupational Health & Safety Regulation Review Committee.

Between April 7 - May 7 of this year the WCB’s Regulation Advisory Com- mittee will receive written and oral input to review the existing regula- tions. The review process will take about 2 years.

Weldwood’s logging superinten- dent, Dave Miller says the Coroner’s recommendations are, for the most part, solid and common sense.

He told the Lumberworker that since Ernie Kingston’s death last August, Weldwood has put its log- ging crew on a one day training course on fire prevention and fire fighting techniques. He also says fire drills are scheduled to come in the near future before the onset of fire season.

Mr. Miller said that Weldwood now has a fire warden on staff at its Clow- ivision, who will be in charge of the fire fighting equipment and run- ning the fire drills.

Weldwood may now be becoming much more in their fire fighting pre- vention program than other opera- tions but there are signs from the

entire industry that changes are on the way.

Doug Cooper, logging manager for the Council of Forest Industries says that he circulated the Coroner's rec- ommendations to affiliates (COFI has over 100 logging operations). After that, each company does its own thing.

As for training, Mr. Cooper says: “The workforce nowadays is fairly steady, we don’t have the camp turn- over that we used to and it’s much

easier to get people trained.”

Cooper says that he feels comfort- able with the Coroner’s recommenda- tions and calls them “common sense in nature.” es

“Generally, we have to look at the way we do things in the bush,” he

says. He says that traditionally most logging operations had a fire marshall or a fire fighting plan which was broken down into job titles or job categories.

However, Cooper says that today’s crew sizes are reduced and much dif- ferent than they were in yesteryear. Therefore adjustments in fire fighting duties have to be made.

COFI is aware that the WCB Regu- lation Advisory Committee will be looking at fire fighting regulations.

“We would assist with any industry people that want training (courses)... we're stressing that the training is there... the materials are there.”

— Jim Dunlop, BCFS

LUMBERWORKER/APRIL, 1992/7