On October 18, 2017, a logger was killed in a tragic incident near Mackenzie in northern British Columbia. The operator was using a feller buncher to cut timber on a slope when the machine tipped over backwards, cutting off his escape route when the machine caught fire. The logger’s death was devastating for his family, his community and his co-workers. While the cause of the incident is still under investigation by WorkSafeBC, the question arises: What can we do now to try to prevent this from happening again? That was one of the key issues discussed when WorkSafeBC’s Forest Industry Advisory Group met in November 2017 to talk about concrete steps that employers can take to make remote mechanized logging safer.
Investigators are trying to figure out the cause of a fire that ripped through several townhouses that were under construction in Innisfil. Large flames tore through five units at Friday Harbour on Tuesday night. Officials say the fire had been burning for some time before Innisfil firefighters arrived on scene. “It was a very difficult fire. The five townhomes were under construction with varying level of completion. Some units didn’t even have drywall all the way up, so once the fire got into the wood it spread very fast,” says fire chief Jon Pegg. The chief says crews went inside, but the stairway had burned down and the flames moved to the roof. The homes don’t have all of their fire safety features built in yet, such as firewalls between units.
Bill Burke spent nearly 24 hours underground after falling into a 16-foot sinkhole while working as a logger in the state of Washington. “Next thing I know, one foot went down and then both my feet went down. And next thing I know, I’m up to my arms. And then all at once, all the sticks and everything that was holding me up broke, and down I went,” Burke told Q13 Fox. He tried for hours to escape but any attempts were futile. He huddled in for the night and waited for his friend Jimmy Stennett, who had agreed to help him on the job the next morning near Montesano.
Workshops to cover truck rollover, load restraint risks and Chain of Responsibility issues. Safety workshops for forestry contractors will take place across Queensland, Tasmania, New South Wales and South Australia in coming months as part of a campaign hosted by the Australian Forestry Contractors Association (AFCA). AFCA general manager Stacey Gardiner tells ATN that the three-hour workshops …provide training on truck rollover, load restraint risks and Chain of Responsibility. The training modules, developed in consultation with engineering firm Engistics, are expected to be rolled out to more than 300 operators and loaders across the forestry supply chain. …”Industry participants have commented that this has allowed them to improve their understanding of Chain of Responsibility laws and hear about recent research and findings regarding key risks specific to industry, especially relating to load restraint,” she said.
