Tom Welton
Tom Welton has spent a lifetime thinking about safety in Canada’s forestry industry. …When Welton looks back on the state of the industry he can’t help but be impressed by the improvements made in health and safety, and says it’s been driven by education. Welton entered the workforce in the 1980s and spent 10 years with Domtar as a regional health and safety coordinator. He says safety awareness grew in the industry during that period. …His message to those who are beginning their careers in forestry safety: don’t stop learning. “There’s a lot of knowledge out there,” says Welton, “you can gain bits and pieces of key nuggets of knowledge and carry those forward.” Welton suggests one development program that every safety professional should work towards is the Canadian Registered Safety Professional designation.
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Read the WorkSafeBC Newsletter, highlights include:
Nanaimo, BC — Mosaic Forest Management is pleased to announce the signing of seven access agreements with Search and Rescue organizations on Vancouver Island. The agreements provide important access for training exercises, data-sharing opportunities, and overall support for these organizations dedicated to public safety. The agreements follow Mosaic’s landmark signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with Arrowsmith Search and Rescue in 2021. …Mosaic’s new access agreements are with the Alberni Valley Rescue Squad, Arrowsmith Search and Rescue, Campbell River Search and Rescue, Juan de Fuca Search and Rescue, Ladysmith Search and Rescue, Nanaimo Search and Rescue, and Westcoast Inland Search and Rescue. “We’re proud to support the dedicated volunteers of these Search and Rescue organizations,” said Domenico Iannidinardo, Mosaic’s Senior Vice President and Chief Forester. “They play a critical role in public safety, providing a vital lifeline to those who are lost or injured in the Vancouver Island wilderness.”
The Ministry of Labour outlined new age requirements for young workers, saying they must be at least 16 before working in construction or doing jobs from dangerous heights, and at least 18 before they can work in a sawmill, use a chainsaw or drill for gas and oil. The amended employment standard regulations take effect Jan. 1. …WorkSafe B.C. has collected tragic stories over the years of young people on jobs sites … who have suffered similar life-altering experiences: A forklift driver paralysed after a load of plywood slipped off and broke his back, a lumber processor who lost his leg while tangled in a chain, and a pizza dough maker who lost three fingers in a machine accident. …Several jobs were identified as hazardous for young workers, including construction, forestry, food processing, the oil, gas and power sectors, work that involves asbestos removal, and being in confined spaces.
After two years hiatus due to the pandemic, this free conference is back with forestry-related safety topics focussing around this year’s theme – Lead the Way | Resiliency, Opportunity, Engagement. This full-day, in-person conference includes refreshments and lunch for conference attendees and features a variety of speakers as well as a trade show with targeted safety products and services. This year’s keynotes speakers include former NHL goaltender, Corey Hirsch, leadership expert Hall of Fame speaker, Michelle Ray and “Brain-guy” Terry Small, master teacher and Canada’s leading learning skills specialist. Saturday, October 29th, at the Vancouver Island Conference Centre in Nanaimo, BC
A West Kootenay logging business has been hit with a $6,500+ fine from WorkSafeBC after an employee was seriously injured at a job site earlier this year, just outside of Fruitvale. WorkSafeBC inspected the harvesting operation of Hlookoff Logging Ltd., located in Park Siding, in response to the March 2022 report of an injured worker. According to the WorkSafeBC report, a tree had been felled directly across a skyline (a stationary line), which caused it to jump at its other end, striking and seriously injuring a worker. WorkSafeBC says it determined that Hlookoff Logging Ltd. “routinely used uncertified workers and untrained fallers and did not adequately inspect their work.” Furthermore, WorkSafeBC reports, “The firm failed to ensure that workers who fall trees were certified and qualified to do so.
Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Public and Private Employees, the union that represents forestry firefighters across the province says they’re “extremely disappointed” that such workers have been left out of expanded presumptive cancer and cardiac coverage. The changes, which expand presumptive coverage to eight new cancers as well as cardiac events that occur within 24 hours of a firefighter responding to an emergency, were debated in the House of Assembly yesterday. When asked about forestry firefighters not being covered under the legislation, the minister responsible for Workplace NL, Bernard Davis, says those workers are a “different animal.” He says the carcinogens emitted from forest fires are different from those emitted from the materials burned in house fires that cause the cancer. Davis says none of the work firefighters do is safe, but that group is not covered under the legislation. 
State public health officials and experts are increasingly concerned about residents’ chronic exposure to toxin-filled smoke. This year has seen the most wildfires of the past decade. …As researchers focus on the public health effects, state health and environmental officials across the country have had to issue more air quality notices and provide guidance and shelter for residents struggling during periods of heavy wildfire smoke. And while wildfires generally create more immediate, visible disruptions to life for people in the West, researchers are concerned that particulate matter may actually affect the breathing of more people in the more heavily populated Eastern states. …The Clean Air Act has substantially decreased the level of toxic particles from industrial and automotive pollution across the country since 1970. …But air pollution is expected to worsen in parts of the West because of wildfires, some researchers have found. 
WILLIAMSTOWN, Vermont – Fire crews in Williamstown say a smoke alarm warned a homeowner about a bag of wood pellets that almost spontaneously combusted. The Williamstown Fire Department was called to a home on Falls Bridge Road for a chirping carbon monoxide detector. After struggling to find the source of the odorless gas, they noticed a stack of wood pellet bags was heating up. Like wet stacked hay, the bagged wood pellets in the bags began to oxidize and heated up to 125 degrees. So officials are reminding people to store them safely and check their smoke alarms. “The best thing if you do store them inside is to make sure you have a working smoke detector or CO detector to give that quick awareness that something isn’t right,” Williamstown Fire Chief William Graham said.
If you are handling or processing combustible dusts, you will have heard of National Fire Protection Association’s (NFPA) 652: Standard on Fundamentals of Combustible Dusts. …By now you should have completed the mandated DHA (Dust Hazards Analysis) and acted on the findings, but what if your powder is non-standard? Does it have a broad particle size distribution? Maybe it is a mixture of other powders or you’re handling multiple powders such that testing becomes factorially uneconomic? And what if your industry has its own NFPA combustible dust standards? There are some five industry and/or commodity-specific dust explosion standards; which one should you use when there is contradiction? This FREE WEBINAR presentation sets out a path to gaining a proper understanding of your dust explosion risks, even when the risks presented by your powders are more complicated or difficult to ascertain than usual. Date: October 13, 2022
Immune cells that normally protect against inflammation and infections can be altered by wildfire smoke to promote inflammation. A long list of diseases are associated with inflammation. Studies have shown that healthy individuals and those with pre-existing conditions are affected by the very small PM2.5 particles produced by wildfire smoke. Below are excerpts from an article written by Tori Rodriguez first published in Pulmonology Advisor. It covers the effects of smoke on humans and suggests what could be done to mitigate the potential damage. One idea is for fire and local officials when considering evacuation guidelines to plan for not only the dangers of flames, but also the effects of smoke.
A wildland firefighter died while battling a wildfire in southern Oregon on Thursday, the second firefighter to lose their life on an active blaze this month in Oregon. No details about the death were released other than that the incident took place on a fire in Josephine County, where both state and federal firefighters are battling multiple lightning-ignited fires from a thunderstorm that hit the area earlier this week. The individual’s name is being withheld pending notification of next of kin, officials said in a statement. “Our deepest sympathies are with the family, friends and fellow firefighters during this time,” a statement from the Oregon Department of Forestry and Bureau of Land Management said. “The cause is under investigation and more details will be released as they are confirmed.”
The evolution, emergence and spread of novel pathogens has been widely discussed even before the first case of COVID-19 was reported in 2019. A team of researchers at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, has received a $2.75 million grant to identify disease mitigation strategies that will minimize the risk of amphibian pathogens spreading from captive pet populations to wild populations and negatively impacting biodiversity. The project, “Socioeconomic and Epidemiological Drivers of Pathogen Dynamics in Wildlife Trade Networks,” is being funded by the Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases Program… The goal of the study is to identify how socio-economic decisions and pathogen dynamics impact each other in a wildlife trade network. …Many infectious outbreaks, like that of monkeypox, chronic wasting disease and COVID-19, have been linked to wildlife trade. These outbreaks cost economies trillions of dollars, cripple biodiversity and result in substantial loss of human life.
As wildfires begin to be something of a year-round hazard for hotspots around the world, the spotlight on safety in aerial firefighting operations is increasing in intensity. Understanding wildfire behavior is a key element to safe operation, and to best understand wildfire behavior, you need to know how various weather conditions impact wildfires. Specific wildfire weather elements are provided by government meteorological services. Helicopter pilots working a wildfire will check these wildfire weather forecasts, as well as following their own individual routine for getting weather information prior to takeoff. …Significant fires require a multifaceted response directed from a command center, typically located close to the fire site. In an almost military-type operation, both land crews and aerial support will be engaged in the control effort. …Aerial operations (or air ops) will have their own briefing, with special emphasis on the weather conditions that will affect aircraft assignments.