Category Archives: Health & Safety

WorkSafeBC has levied a $5,000 fine against a Prince George business over improper handling of wood dust. According to a posting on the agency’s website, an inspection of Hyon Bedding Ltd. revealed “accumulations of wood dust on surfaces throughout the facility, including near ignition sources such as drive motors and electrical devices. “The firm failed to control and remove hazardous accumulations of combustible dust, a repeated and high-risk violation.” Hyon Bedding Ltd. sorts and bags sawmill wood shavings for secondary processing. The fine was issued on April 15.

Huu-ay-aht First Nations said they are pleased their call for action following a fatal crash on the Bamfield Main road has been answered. Premier John Horgan on Thursday promised upgrades to the gravel logging road where two University of Victoria students died in a bus crash last week. …Huu-ay-aht Chief Robert Dennis said his nation has long been seeking upgrades to the privately owned gravel road that is the only vehicle access between Port Alberni and Huu-ay-aht communities in Bamfield. Bamfield Main is a gravel logging road owned in part by forestry companies. It is also used by residents and tourists travelling between Bamfield and Port Alberni. The province provides annual funding, but the forestry companies are responsible for maintenance. Western Forest Products owns the stretch of road where the crash happened.

John Horgan

BC Premier John Horgan acknowledges the need for improvements to the logging road from Port Alberni to Bamfield where two students from the University of Victoria were killed on Sept. 13. …Horgan noted that the problems with the road aren’t new, nor are the concerns. …The premier said it’s unfortunate that it took a fatal tragedy for the province to focus its attention on the road. He promised that he, Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Claire Trevena, the forestry companies and the local Indigenous community would be working together on the matter. Horgan acknowledged that the road itself is privately owned and under the purview of Western Forest Products… but pointed out that the public uses it so the province is “going to have to find a way forward.”

B.C.’s forest safety ombudsman warned the provincial government 11 years ago about the dangers of the road to Bamfield, where a bus crash on Friday claimed the lives of two University of Victoria students. The route between Port Alberni, B.C., and the community on Vancouver Island’s west coast was highlighted in a 2008 report by Roger Harris on the status of the province’s 400,000 kilometres of gravel logging roads. It quoted a community member from a 2007 town hall, who said: “It scares me, the thought of those school and tour buses on the road each day.” Harris, who still holds the position today, warned the provincial government in his report that numerous communities in B.C., including Bamfield, are only accessible by old logging roads that are not adequately maintained. [An audio link to the complete interview with Roger Harris on The Early Edition is available in the story.]

VICTORIA — A dozen years have passed since B.C. forest safety ombudsman Roger Harris got an earful about safety on the forest road linking Bamfield to the outside world. …The ombudsman flagged the growing risks on B.C.’s forest roads in No Longer the Road Less Travelled, a report he produced for the non-profit Forest Safety Council in early 2008. Harris was concerned that as forestry declined on the B.C. coast, logging roads, however narrow and rough, were being used more and more by tourists, campers and other travellers. …The safety ombudsman made 17 recommendations, the prime one being that the province should take over responsibility from the forest companies for critically important links like the one to Bamfield. …his report was greeted with zero enthusiasm by the then-Liberal government. Especially dismissive was Forests Minister Rich Coleman. …Responding Monday to the bus accident, the New Democrats said as little as possible.

The chief councillor of the First Nations in Bamfield, B.C. says the narrow, winding gravel road where two University of Victoria students were killed Friday in a bus rollover has been a safety issue for decades. The 83-kilometre logging road has no cell service, rest stops or gas stations, according to the Bamfield Chamber of Commerce, and is a regular route for commuters and logging trucks travelling between Bamfield and Port Alberni. …Two students died and 17 others were taken to hospital when the bus rolled off an embankment on a gravel road while on its way to the Bamfield Marine Science Centre. …Western Forest Products says it holds road permits for sections of the road. In a statement it said it is heartbroken to learn of the tragedy.

Regular users of the road on which two people were killed in a bus crash Friday night say it has been in need of repairs and improvements for years. … A bus carrying 45 students and two teaching assistants from the University of Victoria went over an embankment on Bamfield Main Friday night, killing two and injuring several others. Though the road is privately owned and primarily used by logging trucks, it is also a primary route for accessing Bamfield Marine Science Centre, where the bus was headed Friday night, and the Huuayaht First Nation. Huuayaht Chief Robert Dennis told CTV News Vancouver Island his nation has been pushing for upgrades to the road for a long time. The road is unpaved, and the rainy winter season often leaves it full of potholes that make it difficult to navigate. It’s also remote, without cell phone service for much of the route. 

Additional coverage in Global News: Officials, drivers call for safety overhauls to remote B.C. road where bus crash killed 2

The mayor of Nakusp is calling for better co-operation between government departments after a logging truck caught fire on the highway north of the village on Aug. 22, sparking a forest fire that burned for days. Tom Zeleznik says the fire got progressively worse while several groups of responders figured out who could tackle it. “It’s very frustrating,” he says. “Here you have local resources able to tackle a fire like this, they have the training, but because of jurisdiction and liability, they can’t. Their hands are tied.” …“The fellow did everything correctly,” says Zeleznik. “He found a safe place to park, where people could get by him, he then called for help.” The logging company contacted 911 and reported the problem.

Join us for the 14th annual Vancouver Island Safety Conference (VISC) – our annual, forest industry-driven safety conference. Saturday, October 5, 2019 at the Vancouver Island Conference Centre in Nanaimo. This year’s conference, Succeeding in Today’s Evolving Work Environment, will cover pivotal topics on how we can address and actionably manage increasing concerns impacting the forest industry today. Our keynote speakers are three leading industry experts who will present high-impact sessions focussing on the following topics: Change Management – presented by Dr. Mark Devolder, Drugs and Alcohol – presented by Dr. Ray Baker, and Mental Health – presented by Jennifer Sparks. Thanks to the generous sponsorships from industry, WorkSafeBC and other organizations, VISC is free to attend. As a reminder, we encourage you to pre-register early as registration closes on Friday, September 20, 2019. Attendees are encouraged to bring non-perishable food items for donation to the Loaves and Fishes food bank.

The mayor of Nakusp is calling for better co-operation between government departments after a logging truck caught fire on the highway north of the village last Thursday, sparking a forest fire that burned for days. Tom Zeleznik says the fire got progressively worse while several groups of responders figured out who could tackle it. “It’s very frustrating,” he says. “Here you have local resources able to tackle a fire like this, they have the training, but because of jurisdiction and liability, they can’t. Their hands are tied.” Zeleznik, who’s also a member of the local volunteer fire department, was one of the first people on the scene of the fire, near the Halfway River. A logging truck’s load started smouldering as it pulled onto the highway. After trying to douse the logs with an extinguisher, the driver called in to his head office. …Zeleznik hopes fire officials from various departments will review this incident to see how it could have been handled more effectively.

Police say speed and an unsecured load may have been contributing factors that resulted in a logging truck flipping north of Campbell River Tuesday morning, spilling its load across Highway 19. “We have several witnesses that described it as the driver did, which is saying that as he was coming into the corner, his trailer started going onto his side,” said Const. Dave Dormuth of North Island Traffic Services. …The driver was uninjured but the truck, owned by Critical Site Logging, was damaged when it landed passenger-side down facing north in the southbound lane. …Dormuth said logging truck crashes are unfortunately not a rare occurrence. “We average four or five a year on different various roads here due to corners and speed.” 

A Kapuskasing and Manitouwadge-based logging company will pay $100,000 in total fines stemming from a 2018 accident where the operator of a tree delimbing machine was killed. D & G Logging entered a guilty plea in a Thunder Bay provincial offences court, July 29, and was fined $80,000 by Justice of the Peace Zelda N. Kitchekeesik. The court also imposed a 25-per-cent victim fine surcharge as required by the Provincial Offences Act. According to an Aug. 2 Ministry of Labour release, on Jan.18, 2018, a worker employed by D & G Logging was operating a Quadco delimber machine (used to remove branches from trees) in the Big Pic Forest, north of Wawa, near Long Pond Road. 

Nick Major

Nick Major was not doing anything out of the ordinary [when] he had a brief but fatal encounter with a bat infected with rabies. …Major, 21, had been driving and pulled over on the side of the road on Vancouver Island when a bat flew into him. Health authorities confirmed the patient was outdoors and in broad daylight when the nocturnal creature “struck” his hand then flew away. …Major had no visible puncture wound or scratch marks — something that’s not unusual because bat scratches can be microscopic… He developed symptoms of rabies six weeks after exposure. …He died Saturday, the first confirmed death from rabies contracted in B.C. since 2003… Rabies is a virus that attacks the nervous system. …Once symptoms appear, it is usually too late for effective treatment. …It is also unusual for bats to be flying during the day and could be a sign it is infected with rabies. Anyone who spots bats in daytime should take extra precautions.

NANAIMO – Mosaic Forest Management is honouring 10 Vancouver Island contractors who have demonstrated outstanding leadership in safety and environmental initiatives this past year. From Duncan to Port McNeil, Campbell River to Sooke, the award winners took proactive steps to reduce their safety risks and achieve excellence in environmental performance. In 2018, Mosaic, including employees and contractors for both TimberWest and Island Timberlands, achieved a safety performance with the lowest average medical incident rate (MIR) in five years – an MIR rate of 2.9 per 200,000 hours worked. …Recent contractor safety initiatives include adding vehicle proximity alarms, a man overboard system for boats, deploying collision avoidance technology across log handling facilities, piloting driver fatigue detection sensors in log trucks, and piloting rollover risk detection sensors in log truck trailers. In addition, steep slope harvesting machinery has helped reduce risk by lowering the amount of harvesting with a chainsaw.