In British Columbia the 2004 Final Report of the Forest Safety Task Force laid out an action plan to eliminate deaths and serious injuries in the province’s forests. The WSCA took immediate action byhelping found the BC Forest Safety Council and subsequently establish the sector’s own BC SAFE Silviculture Program. That program has led in setting competency standards and delivering industry training, sponsoring workplace safety research, and advancing cultural change in the silviculture sector across Western Canada. The sector’s ongoing work on improving its safety performance builds in part on using a human factors-based approach including appreciative inquiry and other innovative processes.
Zanzibar Air Quality SOP – UPDATE 2023
With the current air quality ratings across the province, we have reviewed our Zanzibar Air Quality procedures which were following the provincial guidelines. We have reviewed our SOP and have added more definitions as to threshold levels and safe work procedures and controls when dealing with Air Quality. These procedures, controls, and air quality threshold … Read more
Hazard Alert – Finding Safe Routes to and from Camp
Hazard Alert – Finding Safe Routes to and from Camp Jordan Tesluk, Forestry Safety Advocate High temperatures have caused flooding, landslides, and avalanches in various parts of British Columbia this spring. These events occur more frequently with extreme weather and can pose significant risks to workers finding their way to bush camps. The recent highway … Read more
COVID Still With Us Warns Safety Advocate
Greetings Colleagues, Throughout the 2023 planting season, we have had isolated reports of COVID-19 (and other illnesses) in planting crews that were mostly limited to individual reports. However, upon start-up in the interior, a few companies have reported more significant outbreaks affecting multiple people in the camp or crew. No workers seem to have been … Read more
Access Management Survey for Silviculture Crews – Results
On March 11, 2023, the BC SAFE Forestry Program conducted a survey to assess the frequency and extent of access hazards that silviculture contractors face in their worksites due to road deactivation, rehabilitation, or closure after harvesting. The survey aimed to make recommendations to reduce these hazards, improve safety and productivity for silviculture crews, and … Read more
WFCA Rumour Mill RoundUpDate Volume 23 Issue 2
Western Forestry Contractors’ Association Rumour Mill RoundUpDate 17 February 2023 Volume 23 Issue 2 Warning: No thought balloons or unidentified factual objects were shot down in the production of this publication. This February, So Far, Full of Forest Stewardship Portents and Prodigies The WFCA 2023 Conference program looked at the 15 climate change risk events … Read more
Employment Standards Amendment for the Employment of Young People
The British Columbia Ministry of Labour has approved amendments to the Employment Standards Regulation identifying work that is considered too hazardous for children and young people to perform. The amendments have now been approved and come into force on January 1, 2023. The regulation completes the work started with the 2019 amendments to the Employment … Read more
BC SAFE Forestry Advocate Weather Alert for June 24, 2022
After one of the coldest and wettest spring seasons in history, the BC planting season is facing an abrupt and drastic shift back toward hot dry weather, and a return to the various health and safety challenges that come with it. Environment Canada has issued nearly province-wide special weather statements warning of hot and stormy … Read more
Hazards of Heating Tents
Dear Colleagues: This incident was reported by WorkSafeBC here. Injury: Suspected carbon monoxide poisoning (1 worker) Industry: Forestry Core Activity: Tree planting or cone picking Location: Northern B.C. Date of Incident: 2022-May A worker was found unresponsive in their tent after using a wood-burning stove as a heating source inside the tent. The worker was … Read more
BC SAFE Forestry Advocate Field Observations re: COVID and Planting Crews This Spring
The tree planting sector was highly successful in minimizing COVID cases through 2020 and 2021. However, in early 2022, the highly infectious (but fortunately milder) Omicron variants are making their way into camps and crews, showing that there are limits to even the best preventive systems. Multiple companies have reported COVID cases, ranging from isolated … Read more
WFCA Rumour Mill RoundUpDate Volume 21 Issue 9
Western Forestry Contractors’ Association Rumour Mill RoundUpDate 25 June 2021 Volume 21 Issue 9 Warning: Due to the ongoing disruption of world-wide supply chains some facts contained in this issue may be missing parts. Heat Warning Issued for Forestry Workers as Temperatures Rise As temperatures rise so does the risk of heat stroke: best to decrease … Read more