Report Finds High Rate Of Tree Faller Deaths In British Columbia
By Associated Press - September 26, 2005VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) _ Tree fallers in British Columbia are dying at alarming rates and employers, the workers compensation system and the provincial Forests Ministry are to blame, according to a report.
"There have been 59 fallers killed in the last 10 years and four in this season already," said Mike McKibbin, president of the Western Fallers Association, who issued the report Thursday.
"Eleven have been involved in crippling accidents and there are only a couple thousand of us operating in B.C.," said McKibbin, who interviewed many of the 250 self-employed fallers who work for logging contractors in the province.
Fallers are among the first workers to enter areas slated for logging, and their job of cutting down the trees has always been regarded as an especially dangerous occupation.
McKibbin, a faller for 30 years, and Tanner Elton, chief executive of the British Columbia Forest Safety Council, blamed the high fatality and accident rate partly on lack of commitment to safety by employers, the ministry and WorkSafeBC, formerly the Workers Compensation Board known as WCB.
"Many logging contractors display an attitude of 'whatever it takes, just do it to get the job done,'" McKibbin said. "This is turning our forests into death zones."
WorkSafeBC "is not out there enforcing their rules and regulations," he said. "The Forests Ministry doesn't seem to be out there, either."
Selective harvesting, a sustainable forestry technique developed to replace clearcutting, requires fallers to wade through mountains of debris on dangerous slopes to reach selected trees and "forces fallers to break numerous WCB rules and regulations that have been put in place for fallers' safety," according to the report.
Fallers also face enormous pressure from contractors to get the job done quickly to maximize profits, McKibbin wrote.
Elton said the industry was the primary culprit.
"Our forest safety record does not compare favorably to other jurisdictions such as Washington, Oregon, Scandinavia, Ontario and Quebec," he said.
"WCB has an important role, but if you ask who is responsible for safety in the forest, it is the industry," he said. "WCB can play a role in weeding out bad actors and ensuring compliance rates go up, but industry can play a much more effective job."
A spokesman for the Council of Forest Industries, which represents the industry, was not immediately available to comment Thursday.
In Victoria, Labor Minister Mike de Jong, previously the minister of forests, said he had spoken to McKibbin and Elton and the unions involved "and it's got to stop." He said he hoped to meet with the association and others soon to devise a strategy to reduce the number of forestry deaths.
"It's entirely unacceptable," de Jong said. "These are terrible numbers and it's part of a trend."
McKibbin said he was told by fellow fallers that they are often afraid to complain about unsafe practices.
"Fallers who ignore safety are rewarded with more work and extended shifts. They (contractors) find a younger, more ignorant man on the crew to do it," he said.
Board inspectors, McKibbin said, must give one-day notice of when they want to inspect a site, thereby giving the contractor time to "clean things up."
WorkSafeBC spokeswoman Donna Freeman said fallers and any other workers who feels their workplace is dangerous have a legal right to refuse do unsafe work. The board is reviewing the association's report and intends to arrange a meeting to discuss it, Freeman said. | 
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