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As part of its initial work plan, the Council identified nine developing projects and noted that they would “either be completed within the year, be folded into an existing project, or become a longer term initiative.” Over the past year, the projects from the first year have progressed in a number of ways. The following were initiated in 2005.
The following provides the status of these projects. All have been completed or folded into a major project..
*The Regional Initiatives combine both the Coastal and Interior Initiatives from the 2005-2009 Work Plan.
The Council participated in the review and development of WorkSafeBC's renewed compliance and enforcement program. Developing a clear understanding of the shared safety responsibilities of the various parties within the sector has become a key focus of the Council's SAFE Companies program and is being pursued as part of that project.
The Council has focused on attempting to ensure that first nations people and communities are able to access the programs and training offered. In 2005 this focused on the faller training and certification programs. In 2006 we anticipate this will also include supervisor training, SAFE Companies audit and certification training and other programs developed by the Council. The issues of First Nations’ communities located on resource roads are also being considered as part of Forestry TruckSafe. This project is completed.
Specific regulatory issues and recommendations have been identified as part of the Council's work on major projects (especially Forestry TruckSafe and the SAFE Companies program). A more systematic overview of forestry regulations and their impact on safety is being undertaken by the Ministry of Forests and Range. As well, the promised new legislation for resource roads is an important step in the right direction. This project is completed.
This issue was highlighted by Council members as a priority for training in 2006. The Council has developed a Faller Supervisor curriculum and will be actively building other courses – including silvicultural supervisor and general forestry supervisor - in 2006. From this, the qualifications and requirements for all supervisory positions in the harvesting sector will be covered. This project is now being pursued as part of other projects and has been folded into the Council’s focus on developing overall training standards.
The Council made good progress on this initiative in 2005. We planned and built two websites that, at the end of the year, were receiving over 11,000 hits a month. Through these websites the Council has also established three online newsletters with a subscription base over 1,400 strong. In addition, the Council has created an in depth Serious Injury and Fatality Database that is updated on a daily basis. Safety Alerts are also now issued when the Council receives notification of a fatality and when a new incident investigation is added to the site. This area is being subsumed into the overall communications budget. This project is completed.
The Council has made progress on a number of training programs, including new faller training, supervisor training, SAFE Companies auditor training, chainsaw training, incident investigation training, ATV Driver training and resource road crew vehicle training. These courses are all on varying schedules, but most are anticipated to be underway in 2006. They are all being pursued as part of the Council’s training focus.
The Council has sponsored a number of regional initiatives and will continue to do so. This will now be done as a part of a specific project (such as Forestry TruckSafe) or as part of our Communications activities.
This was a difficult area and one where we were not successful in developing a system for the consideration and then review of emerging safety issues. The Council continues to receive requests for action on specific safety issues and these will be dealt with either through the development of industry wide standards through the Industry Recognized Practices (IRP’s) process or by referring the issue to the Forest Safety Ombudsman for consideration. During 2005, some preliminary work was done to develop a process for examining these issues. Time and resources available to the Council did not allow for this work to be completed.
Looking forward, we are planning to use the identification and development of Industry Recognized Practices (IRP’s) as a means to identify, priorize and develop generally accepted approaches to these issues. IRP’s will also provide a necessary addition to the SAFE Companies program, providing companies with a measurement to use for key practices and processes. |
