Wildfires scorching hundreds of thousands of hectares between BC, Alberta, and Saskatchewan have sent massive plumes of smoke into the air, and they can even be seen from space. NASA shared a photo taken by a satellite Tuesday that showed smoke from fires sweeping over southern Canada. “Smoke from the fires has caused poor air quality and reduced visibility in several cities,” a statement from NASA reads. “Air quality conditions on May 16 in some Alberta cities were ranked as ‘very high risk’—the highest ranking in Canada’s Air Quality Health Index.” Lahore, Pakistan, had the worst air quality last year. Its score today is 153, 135 points healthier than Calgary. Calgary is expected to be in the high-risk zone for the rest of Wednesday, while Thursday is anticipated to see a moderate risk.
Operator safety training for wood pellet manufacturers has officially risen to the next level. Safety training is now available anytime, anywhere – and it’s as easy as 1, 2, 3 – thanks to a new online platform that delivers a free, comprehensive, digital e-learning, safety training program for plant operators and supervisors across companies. The Wood Pellet Association of Canada will host a short 
OTTAWA, ON
As air quality due to wildfire smoke remains poor in parts of Western Canada, health experts are advising people to stay inside as much as possible. But they say if you need to be outside, wear a mask. Calgary respirologist Dr. Alex Chee says N95 masks do the best job of filtering out smoke particles. But if people only have surgical masks, he says that’s better than nothing. Chee says wildfire smoke can cause both lung and heart problems. …There are things people can use to reduce the smoke’s effect, says Dr. Anne Hicks, a pediatric respirologist and assistant professor at the University of Alberta. “Because of the pandemic, a lot of people have added HEPA filtration or MERV filtration to their businesses, which means we have more safe places to be indoors.”
In this edition of Health and Safety Enews, learn more about engaging workers in health and safety. Ensuring your workers are represented and engaged contributes to a healthier and safer workplace. Have a conversation about safety with your team, build on their input, and make sure they feel heard.
A veteran Alberta wildland firefighter is in the hospital after suffering a serious injury while battling the wildfire in his home community. On May 5, the wildfire hit East Prairie Metis Settlement quickly, as fires broke out across the province. Within minutes, residents were fleeing for safety — relatives came to Frankie Payou and Melodie Robinson’s home to warn them it was time to evacuate. …With 14 years of firefighting under his belt, Payou fire-proofed the family’s home, then started to do the same for others. He was gone not even 15 minutes when his own home caught fire, said Jessica Supernault, a relative of Robinson’s. His mother’s house also caught fire and burned. …On May 14, Robinson, who was staying at a hotel with her children, received a call that Payou was being transported to the hospital after a tree fell on his head, leaving him unconscious./cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com/reuters/CV2GAIQGOZJF5MQ36KLPDIYAFE.jpg)
Lighter than expected rainfall last weekend has relieved pressure on watersheds in B.C.’s Interior, however, people are urged to remain vigilant as conditions can change quickly and warm temperatures are expected this weekend. Based on forecasting from Environment and Climate Change Canada and the River Forecast Centre, precipitation levels for this week are expected to be mild, which will give rivers and streams in the Interior time to stabilize. Warming temperatures … are expected to progress the snowmelt at higher elevations, which may reintroduce pressure on watersheds in the Interior and increase the risk of wildfire. …There are currently 62 active wildfires in BC, with two new fires over the past 24-hours. Of these 62 active incidents, 91% are under control or being held. Only five active incidents remain out of control. The BC Wildfire Service is also providing wildfire response support to Alberta and has deployed one Incident Management Team, structure protection crews and equipment.
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 closures in Cache Creek resulted in multiple groups of workers attempting to follow overland routes identified in Google Maps and several brushes with disaster. In one case, a group of workers nearly slid off a steep wilderness road northwest of Kamloops after having to turn around due to flooding and washouts. Contractors should communicate with their workers and provide clear instructions for safe travel to the worksite, monitor changes in conditions and road closures, and provide updates to workers through mailing lists or other means. 
We remember the 181 B.C. workers that lost their lives in 2022
THUNDER BAY, Ontario – Resolute Forest Products has been convicted of failing to ensure the safety of its workers at their Thunder Bay, Ontario location. The conviction stems from an incident on July 31, 2021, in which a worker was seriously injured while improperly using equipment to move a transformer without appropriate steering handles and pads. The Ontario Court of Justice imposed a fine of $120,000 following a guilty plea, and also imposed a 25 per cent victim fine surcharge as required by the Provincial Offences Act. …During the incident, workers used a forklift to push the transformer, which weighed over 22,000 lbs. Instead of using the appropriate steering handles and pre-load pads for the Hillman rollers placed under each corner of the transformer, they used ball peen hammers to adjust its direction, which caused the transformer to topple on its side, injuring one of the workers.
ST. PAUL — The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has issued an air-quality alert for the northern half of Minnesota from 4 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday, May 16. Wildfires in western Canada are sending smoke east and noticeable haze will be seen across the region Tuesday. A cold front is expected to sweep across the state Tuesday and bring the smoke with it, with sinking air behind the front bringing the smoke to ground level. The alert includes all of the state roughly north of a line from Ortonville, along the South Dakota border, to Pine City, in Pine County. People in the affected area may see and smell smoke even though the fires are far away.
A Chinese forestry company has been fined $180,000 after a worker’s arm got caught in a log debarking machine. The incident broke the man’s wrist and pulled the victim’s skin back, leaving him needing surgery to have plates put in to fix his broken arm and a dislocated wrist, workplace safety regulator Worksafe Mahi Haumaru Aotearoa said. CFGC Forest Managers (NZ), which is owned by China Forestry Group New Zealand Company, was sentenced in court on May 19. As well as being fined, it was ordered to pay the injured worker reparations of $10,000. Worksafe investigated after the 2021 injury at Northport near Whangārei, and concluded the bark-stripping machine did not have the appropriate safeguards for New Zealand use. The worker was troubleshooting the machine when its rollers closed and trapped his wrist, Worksafe said. A WorkSafe investigation found “significant safety modifications” were made to the debarker before it was put into use.
This March a bill was reintroduced in the US House and Senate that would allow 16- and 17-year-olds to work in certain mechanized operations in the logging industry under parental supervision. Timber industry groups have strongly backed the legislation. For Wendy Bostwick, the news was a nightmare. Bostwick’s son Cole, who had just turned 18, died in a logging accident in 2014 on a job site in Washington where his father, Tim Bostwick, was also working. “Obviously that was a tragic situation, but somebody who does want to get into logging can and should be supervised by their parents,” said Senator Jim Risch of Idaho, chief sponsor of the Future Logging Careers Act. …The logging bill is just one of several efforts across the US to roll back child labor protections at a time when many employers are still struggling to fill jobs.
