Category Archives: Health & Safety

Decaying railroad ties and the failure of a safety mechanism to prevent a train derailment are cited in a report by British Columbia’s workers’ safety agency as factors in a crash that killed three people and injured two others. The accident in April 2017 happened on the now-abandoned Western Forest Products rail line at Woss. …“Besides the deficiencies related to the ties, WorkSafeBC investigators also found that an insufficient number of spikes were used to fasten the failed derail to the ties,” the report says. …Western Forest Products Inc., which was not available for comment, was cited with one violation of the Workers Compensation Act for the failure to ensure the health and safety of its workers. …The Transportation Safety Board is also investigating the crash.

Eleven rail cars loaded with logs rolled unrestrained towards a crew of five workers sitting unsuspectingly in a “speeder” and a backhoe near Woss on April 20, 2017. …Three workers, Roland Gaudet, Jacob Galeazzi and Clement Reti were killed and two were seriously injured, a WorkSafeBC report into the incident says. The report was released after a Freedom of Information request by the Victoria Times-Colonist. The cause of the crash was determined to be faulty coupler components failing to engage on a car attached to a braked rail car that anchored the string of 12 cars. That coupling failed, releasing the 11 cars connected to it. In addition, a safety mechanism called a derail then failed to stop the free-rolling cars. …The incident happened on Western Forest Products’ Englewood Railway at Woss.

Faulty equipment and a host of mechanical errors caused the 2017 logging train derailment in Woss that killed three people and injured two, WorkSafe B.C. has found. …On April 20, 2017, a faulty coupler, the mechanism that connects rail cars, caused 11 cars loaded with logs to detach and roll freely toward the community of Woss. …The train would have derailed well before it reached the maintenance crew, but a derail mechanism wasn’t working properly. …However, the derail device was attached to old rail ties that had rotted away due to wet conditions. The derail device, instead of diverting the cars, came free when it was hit by the first set of wheels, making it useless. As a result, the rest of the wheels stayed on the tracks and the rail cars barrelled toward the maintenance crew. …In a statement Tuesday, Western Forest Products said: “The safety and security of our employees has and always will be our number one priority.

Richmond, B.C. — WorkSafeBC is launching an awareness campaign to educate employers and workers about impairment in the workplace, as the legalization of recreational cannabis takes effect October 17. “Impairment in the workplace isn’t a new issue in B.C., but it’s become top of mind as cannabis becomes legal for recreational use,” said Tom Brocklehurst, Director of Prevention Practices and Quality for WorkSafeBC. “We’re reaching out to employers and workers to remind them that they share responsibility for managing impairment in the workplace.” …WorkSafeBC is advising employers to develop policies and procedures that address impairment in the workplace. To assist, WorkSafeBC has created a guide for managing workplace impairment and developing a policy. The need for an impairment policy is even more relevant with the legalization of recreational cannabis.

The date for the legalization of marijuana in Canada is set for October 17, 2018. Employers may be concerned about the upcoming legalization of marijuana and how it is going to affect their business. Will it mean a big change for how forestry businesses run their operations? Not necessarily. Let’s look at six common questions and debunk some of the myths. 

• Q: Does this mean that workers can now be impaired at work?
• Q: My business already has a workplace alcohol and drug policy and procedures. Do I have to change anything?
• Q: What about medical marijuana? Can an employee take marijuana at work if they have a prescription?
• Q: Does removing the impaired worker mean that I can fire them?
• Q: Is there a requirement to test workers for alcohol or drugs?
• Q: What’s the bottom line here? How do I address legal marijuana at work without going broke?

A high-powered microscope in a U.S. university has provided a disturbing close-up look at the pollution from the worst wildfire season in B.C. history. During the height of the forest fire season… a researcher at the University of Western Washington in Bellingham decided to take a closer look at the particles people were breathing in. In August, when the pollution from the burning B.C. forests drifted into Washington state, Dr. Mike Kraft, a research associate at Western Washington University (WWU), collected some samples and ran them through the university’s new Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). At the time, there were advisories on both sides of the border for people with chronic medical conditions. …Air in Whatcom County was rated “hazardous” for particulates. Metro Vancouver air quality was rated worse than Los Angels and Beijing.

Conifex has been fined $191,600 for an incident that occurred at its Fort St. James, B.C. sawmill. A worker was using a forklift to transfer rough-cut lumber from a pile to a planer. The lumber was unwrapped and stacked three loads high. The worker exited the forklift between loads to remove dunnage from the top of the next load. The load collapsed and fell forward, pinning and injuring the worker. WorkSafeBC inspected the site and determined that the lumber pile was on an unstable foundation of partially frozen soil, snow, and sawdust. Other lumber piles in the yard were observed to be similarly unstable and partially collapsing.

Managing Risk – Empowering Good Decisions will take place Saturday, September 29th at the Vancouver Island Conference Centre. Presenters will provide the latest information on controlling risks and safety leadership. New this year, are shorter, high impact sessions to introduce new ideas in managing risk for forestry and wood products manufacturing operations. Conference highlights include presentations by: Terry Small – Brain Health Speaker; Eldeen Pozniak – Pozniak Safety Associates; and Alan Quilley – Safety Results. The conference planning committee is made up of representatives from Labour, Industry, Government, BC Forest Safety and WorkSafeBC. Generous sponsorships from industry, WorkSafeBC and other organizations allow for free admission for delegates. Refreshments and lunch are provided. There is also a trade show with targeted safety products and services for conference attendees. As there is no charge for this conference, please bring non-perishable food items for donation to the Loaves and Fishes food bank.

Jennifer Rice

One of the elected officials in the eye of the firestorm, as the forests have burned in B.C., is Jennifer Rice. The two-term MLA for North Coast is also the parliamentary secretary for Emergency Preparedness. She was in Prince George when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with fire officials and toured some of the burning forests of the region. She has been involved in the overall firefighting effort throughout the fire season, and is already looking towards the winter months when she expects to be involved in both the analysis of what just happened and the actions taken to reduce future forest fire problems. “It is continuous improvement,” said Rice, describing how the provincial emergency system responds to the systemic incidents on our landscape – fires, floods, earthquakes, storms, etc. 

Forest fires have cast a smokescreen on mental health in the Okanagan. While most have been feeling the physical symptoms … for some, the smoke isn’t only affecting air quality. “When we look at smoke at a physical level, it’s the very same for mental health,” Dr. Heather McEachern of Kelowna Psychologists Group said Tuesday. “And there are groups of people highly affected in our communities.” It is unfortunate that a summer such as this brings back memories of 2003, when wildfires displaced tens of thousands of Okanagan residents from their homes and burned more than 230 buildings. “The smoke can be a trigger of past trauma,” McEachern said. …As McEachern sees it, employees in a male-dominated profession tend to seek less assistance from medical professionals than others. Embarrassment or shame seem to be a stigma that prevents employees from speaking up — a problem in the workplace that needs to change.

George Nonay said he’s forever grateful to be ‘on the right side of the grass’ thanks to fast-acting responders at Meadow Lake Tolko OSB division site. In May, he was delivering a load to the mill, and when he got out of his truck, he collapsed. Four employees began CPR and used an automated external defibrillator on him until ambulance crews arrived from Meadow Lake, nearly 30 kilometres away. He has spent the summer months recovering, and as a commercial driver, he had to wait a customary 90-day period before he was insurable to drive again. He returned to work in mid-August and said he’s beyond thankful for the mill’s emergency staff and their knowledge, adding he doesn’t remember any of the May 2 incident.

A change in the weather could blow away much of the smoke covering B.C., but things may get worse in some regions before they get better. That’s because outflow winds have been blowing smoke out to sea, according to Environment Canada Meteorologist Philippe-Alain Bergeron. “A lot of the smoke was actually pushed out sea … and so that smoke is going to be coming back in … But eventually we do get that fresh clean marine air,” said Bergeron. “It’s going to start clearing tonight for the West Coast of the island … and eventually make its way to the Lower Mainland tomorrow.” The air quality in the southern Interior might actually deteriorate before things get better, he notes, but eventually the fresh marine air should reach the region.

As the smoke from wildfires settled into the air space of Greater Victoria on Monday the reading from the air quality monitor hanging off the back of Ian Gillespie’s house shot up to 280 PM2.5. …But there’s another place to check air quality. It’s called SensorUp, and it relies on members of the public to install and plug in air quality monitors, which then relay instant updates via wifi to an online map open to anyone. …While still not visible to the human eye, the particulate matter that we’re breathing in is quite sizable. A quick backgrounder on PM2.5, it stands for particulate matter that’s 2.5 micrometers in size. …Victoria’s readout so far is still much lower than what was being reported in Kamloops, which has been “very unhealthy” with PM2.5 readings as high as 483 over the past 10 days.

For some, the impact goes beyond merely feeling ‘bummed,’ says Canadian Mental Health Association director.  Extreme smoke seems to be a new feature of summers in British Columbia with back-to-back years of heavy wildfires in the province and, for some, the overcast skies are taking a toll on mental health. Across the province, air quality alerts have been issued, and health officials are advising British Columbians to avoid outdoor exercise. …Keeping to a regular routine, continuing to exercise — but indoors — and spending time with friends can help, she told Shelley Joyce, the host of CBC’s Daybreak Kamloops. …”On a serious note, there are a lot of people who are triggered by the smoke. If people are feeling as though this isn’t just, ‘oh, I’m having a grumpy day,’ they need to reach out for help,” emphasized Christa Mullaly, executive director of the Canadian Mental Health Association in Kamloops, B.C. 

VANCOUVER — Thick smoke blanketing British Columbia communities far from any flames — including Vancouver where the haze Monday obscured the city’s mountain views — could be particularly harmful for children and seniors but anyone with poor health should take precautions, says a senior scientist. …An air quality health index released by the B.C. government rated conditions as 10-plus, or at very high risk, in areas including Castlegar, Whistler, Nanaimo, Parksville and parts of the Fraser Valley, the Okanagan and Metro Vancouver. …It’s the second summer in a row when air quality has been affected in B.C. by wildfires. Small particles breathed in from the fires are interpreted as foreign invaders by the body, the same as a bacterium or a virus, Henderson said, adding it mounts an attack, or an immunological response, which leads to inflammation.

If that grey, smoky haze over Metro Vancouver has got you worried, here are the answers, courtesy of Vancouver Coastal Health, to a few of your burning questions about air quality. The grey haze you’re seeing above Metro Vancouver is due to high concentrations of fine particulate matter due to smoke from the B.C. wildfires. …Smoke from those fires contains a variety of pollutants, including carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds and trace amounts of heavy metals, and changes depending on what type of material is burning. Fine particulate matter, known as PM2.5, consists of airborne solid or liquid droplets with a diameter of 2.5 micrometres or less. …These particles are so small, they can only be spotted with an electron microscope. …breathing in harmful nanoparticles could have an effect on your health and be linked to things such as cardiovascular disease. So yes – particles that small can get into your bloodstream.

From his home on the Stellat’en First Nation in B.C., about 160 kilometres west of Prince George, David Luggi can usually see the nearby Fraser Lake and trees on the shoreline. On Sunday, those landmarks were hidden, shrouded by wildfire smoke that has blanketed much of B.C. and spread through neighbouring Alberta and beyond. The smoke has pushed pollution in Calgary and other cities to dangerous levels, and cast an unsettling, spooky haze over almost every part of B.C. …The smoke, meanwhile, is causing health concerns and traffic warnings. Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley are under an air quality advisory, with people with medical conditions advised to postpone strenuous exercise. Environment Canada on Sunday issued a similar advisory for Calgary.