B.C.'s woods are getting safer for forest workers, according to those watching for injuries and deaths.
The Council of Forest Industries Conference (COFI) brought many of the industries biggest players into the same room in Prince George and one of the main items exciting the sector was the improvements in safety statistics.
"You [forest companies and workers] have reduced injuries and lost time very significantly," said Premier Christy Clark.
She cited major employers like Interfor and Canfor for making it a corporate priority.
"There has been a cultural shift," she said, of forest companies and workers in the field taking the issue of safety seriously. "It can't just be a slogan, it has to be the industry standard."
The BC Forest Safety Council had a major presence at the conference, including provincial ombudsman Roger Harris who is based within the council.
"It is an entirely different industry now," said Harris.
He compares the present day to the time when he nearly lost his own hand in a chainsaw mishap, the time his 18-year-old brother-in-law was killed in a bush incident, and even just three years ago when 16 were killed while processing B.C.'s wood products.
"We are seeing a lot of change in the mentality of forest companies and forest workers themselves. It's been a long time in coming, but I think we're really seeing the safety message taking hold."
The council, and his office in particular, has put out a number of reports and recommendations in the past five years demanding safety be addressed by the industry itself.
The latest was six weeks ago when Harris released his probe into the 2010 silviculture scandal in Golden, where a crew of treeplanters was systemically abused to the point of injury by the company that employed them. It is commonly known as the Khaira Incident, named for the silviculture company in question.
"I feel pretty good about the recommendations we were able to make in that report," Harris told The Citizen. "The folks it was targeted at have responded well to it, so far, we just have to watch to see if the recommendations are implemented."
He said the Prince George region in particular has "continual issues percolating along" but stressed that the attitude within the local forest sector about protecting workers from machinery, generally dangerous work settings, and unsafe job performance expectations is taking hold here like it is across the province.
BODY COUNT IN THE B.C. BUSH
Fatalities among forest industry workers have been going down, according to the BC Forest Safety Council's research, but overall safety is still a major concern.
"It is not acceptable that six workers were killed on the job and the injury rate is still twice the provincial average," said Reynold Hert, CEO of the council. "After seeing a reduction of 35 per cent of the lost time injury rate between 2004 and 2009, initial indications are that in 2010 the rate of decline slowed."
2010 - 6 deaths
2009 - 4 deaths
2008 - 16 deaths
2007 - 11 deaths
2006 - 11 deaths
2005 - 43 deaths
