Ministry Releases Report On Forest
Worker Safety
The
Ministry
of Forests and Range today released a report entitled “Worker Safety
Impacts
Associated with Legislation, Policy, Planning and Implementation of
Forest
Harvesting Activities in British Columbia.”
The
report
analyzes a survey of 770 forest planners, truckers and loggers about
the
effects of government policies on safety practices associated with
logging.
According
to
the report, existing policies and regulation do not appear to create
any direct
barriers to safety. The report also recommends that more awareness and
communication will lead to a more consistent application of these
policies.
The
ministry
will use the report’s recommendations in developing a comprehensive
safety
action plan. The plan will be designed to improve ongoing forest safety
efforts. The plan will consider the report’s recommendations to adopt
new
approaches such as annual forums to share safety information among
government,
professional bodies and industry associations, as well as regular
pre-harvest
meetings between planners, supervisors, and loggers.
Analysis
and
surveying was conducted by the ministry’s Forest and Range Evaluation
Program
(FREP), which is responsible for assessing the effectiveness of British
Columbia’s results-based Forest and Range Practices Act and Regulations.
The
full report and summary report are available online at: www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfp/frep/index.htm.
