CENTRAL INTERIOR LOGGING ASSOCIATION

Boomstick permits -- a safety risk?

2006-12-18T09:28:00.000-08:00

Months ago, we raised safety concerns over plans to let mills use boomstick permits to transport over-length beetle-killed pine logs and get more weight on trucks already at maximum height and width.
The permit was granted, with conditions such as signage and getting off the highways when visibility was low, and now, in some parts of the Interior, motorists run the risk of meeting an over-length log truck on the highway that – if it turns right – could swing up to six metres of logs sticking out beyond the last stake into the oncoming lane.
We’ve since heard second-hand reports about four incidents where the extended logs are said to have struck other vehicles: The side of a chip trailer in Smithers, a pickup windshield in the Lakes District; a bus in the Cariboo and last week, a school bus near McBride.
We haven’t been able to confirm whether or not these reported incidents actually happened, and to be fair, we hate spreading unconfirmed reports – but lives could be endangered. If the incidents happened they should be reported, and the risk factor reassessed. If they didn’t, can someone in authority – anyone – clear this up?
---------
This just in this morning: The incident in Smithers has been confirmed, and the problem has been rectified. An oncoming chip truck was damaged when logs sticking out behind a loaded logging truck swung into the other lane when the log truck began a 90-degree turn onto a road leading to the mill. The Town of Smithers donated some land, and a deceleration and passing lane was built to allow trucks to turn without putting oncoming traffic at risk.
One down, three more to clear up.

Who covers safety on resource roads?

2006-12-18T09:25:00.000-08:00

We hear by the grapevine that there was a huddle in Vancouver last week to try to sort out who’s responsible for safety on forestry roads. Attending were representatives from WorkSafe BC, the Ministry of Forests and Range, a couple of major licensees and the Council of Forest Industries, and the BC Forest Safety Council.
The hot topic, we hear, was the jurisdiction question. Neither MOFR nor mills feel they should have responsibility for enforcing safety on these roads because they don’t have on-the-ground supervision, and there are also questions about whether WorkSafe BC has jurisdiction over them. So who’s left to do it? The RCMP? Logging contractors?
Somebody has to, and it’s a good thing it’s being discussed. Although it appears to be a legal, jurisdictional question, one has to wonder if it will at some stage become a matter of negotiation.

CILA planning future success

2006-12-08T12:43:00.000-08:00

We live in changing times, and every company must periodically review how it deals with customers, opportunities and service demands, and associations like the CILA are not exempt.
Over recent weeks, we’ve moved through a strategic planning process that gathered input from members, Directors and others in our industry.
We’re in the final stage of developing an action plan that will guide us over the next three years in areas of services to our members and expanding our activities. In the next few weeks, you’ll see some important surveys in our newsletter that both members and prospective members can use to help guide us regarding priorities and services.
We say ‘prospective members’ because we feel it’s important to encourage more of our newsletter readers to join the only association in the Central Interior that is effective in improving the regulatory and business environment for loggers, truckers and suppliers.
CILA membership isn’t an obligation – it’s an investment – and when you read items in this newsletter about some of our activities, you’re getting just a sniff of what we’re all about. Our members get a whole lot more, from full details about regulatory changes and new business opportunities to strategic help and benefit plans.

Hours of service still unclear

2006-12-08T12:42:00.000-08:00

Be wary of offers, workshops and courses to bring you up to speed on how the new trucking hours of service will apply to log-haulers, because there’s still no official word from Commercial Vehicle Safety & Enforcement on what a log-hauling variance for B.C. will look like.
We think we know, because the CILA, COFI and Canfor were the three organizations that negotiated with CVSE last spring for the variance, but it’s not set as a regulation yet. Meanwhile, we’ve heard from different areas that even some CVSE staff have different interpretations of the rules. If they’re not sure, how can anyone else be?

Worker shortage will bit industry hard

2006-12-08T12:36:00.000-08:00

Although most loggers and truckers across our region are back at work, getting enough skilled workers for startup hasn’t been easy.
Sporadic work and lengthy shutdowns (more coming over the next few weeks) have caused key operators to leave for steadier work.
There’s lots of talk about more recruiting, more training, needs assessments and other measures to fill those jobs, but the truth is that unless all levels of the forest industry get a grip on the fact that too many workers view logging-sector jobs as part-time work, and find some solutions, we’re in for a capacity crisis.
Let’s start now, working together in a co-operative way to (a) identify the reasons why the worker turnover problem is so severe, and (b) find mutually-beneficial ways to address them. We’re a phone call away.

Quicker reports needed on industry deaths

2006-11-15T10:11:00.000-08:00

If we’re serious about reducing the number of deaths and serious injuries in the forest industry, information from investigating agencies such as the coroner’s office and WorkSafe BC must flow much more quickly to the public and to industry.
Case in point: Last week’s coroner’s report that said fatigue, excessive speed prescription drug use, and failure to wear a seatbelt were all factors the death of a logging truck driver in a crash two years ago.
WorkSafe BC also investigated the accident, but its reports, when available months later, usually have many pertinent details blacked out, which makes it difficult if not impossible for the news media to report it completely, and for industry to take preventive measures.
To put it clearly, both of those agencies are letting us all down.
Part of WorkSafe BC’s mandate is accident prevention, and one would think that getting detailed reports out quickly would be a key part of a prevention strategy. So why censor accident reports so severely that vital, life-saving information is absent – especially when WorkSafe BC knows the coroner will eventually release all the findings?
How many lives could be saved if these WorkSafe and coroners’ reports on crashes and deaths came out within weeks or even months, instead of years?

Worker shortage biting harder

2006-11-15T09:47:00.000-08:00

Last week it was Canfor CEO Jim Shepherd talking about losing mill workers to the oil patch; this week, Roger Harris, B.C.’ s Forest Safety Ombudsman, said B.C.’s economy is facing a looming crisis because the forest industry can’t recruit enough new people.

The shortage of skilled workers has links to safety concerns, and Harris is writing a report he hopes will help industry dodge the crisis that is being fed by factors ranging from the aging work force and safety issues to lack of training opportunities for new workers.

The four logging associations are working on a skilled worker needs assessment to determine just how bad the problem is; the next step is to build retention and recruiting strategies that work.

That will be tough, because we still face a huge problem.

The stop-start logging and especially log-hauling seasons that are the norm in this industry is a quality-of-life issue that’s bleeding workers away. Hourly pay rates don’t compensate for long shutdowns and then the long days when workers are on the job.

Government can’t fix that and neither can we, but forest companies can. The need to understand that their quest for just-in-time log deliveries has created serious shortages of skilled workers in the harvest sector in some, if not all regions of the province.

What they save by compressed operating seasons will be gobbled up by the higher rates they will have to pay to keep loggers and truckers. If that doesn’t work, the whole industry suffers.

We’re working for our member contractors to find new customers who will offer work for more weeks a year; we’d also like to work with mills to help stabilize this situation before it’s too late.

The competitive edge

2006-08-08T08:37:00.000-07:00

In last week’s newsletter we referred to information we’d gathered on possible work opportunities in the oil patch, and on ways to help our member contractors fend off poachers (companies that try to lure away your best workers).
We’ve been getting calls on both items, and the poacher-proofing package was sent to all CILA members this week. The oil patch memo is a phone call away.
In our search, we ran across lots of other useful information. One example: The CILA now subscribes to a publication offering regular updates on dispute resolution methods aimed at resolving problems before they get to the mediation/arbitration stage. As they come in, we’ll make them available to members.
(P.S. – Non-members frequently call for such information, but in fairness, we restrict it to members only – they pay dues that help us provide these services; they gain the benefit and the competitive edge.

Clayoquot ‘War in the woods’ to resume?

2006-08-08T08:35:00.000-07:00

Old-growth valleys in B.C.'s Clayoquot Sound have been opened up once again for logging after a joint provincial government-First Nations board approved watershed development plans.
The watersheds were put under a voluntary moratorium in the mid-1990s so land-use planning in Clayoquot Sound could be completed.
The Clayoquot Sound Central Region Board board agreed to open eight major watersheds to logging, including areas environmental groups have long claimed are irreplaceable.
Jim Lornie, provincial co-chair, said a total logging ban was never contemplated, adding the board hopes to balance economic activity and environmental protection. "You really have to factor in the interests of first nations here. At some point down the road they are going to want to put treaties in place and they are going to want to have some form of an economy, whatever the scale of it is, to support their people,"
The decision drew immediate fire from environmental groups, and a warning from Green Party leader Adriane Carr that the "war in the woods" that rocked B.C. during the early 1990s could be on again.

Enviro groups push for more logging bans

2006-08-08T08:34:00.000-07:00

Twelve environmental groups in central and southern B.C. say the area is losing many species of plants and wildlife that depend on old-growth forest and wilderness, and have signed a declaration that says the major cause is habitat loss due to logging, roads and hydro development.
The declaration calls on Ottawa and the province to stop logging of all forests more than 140 years old, reduce the Allowable Annual Cut, create more protected areas and wildlife corridors, restrict motorized recreation and protect remaining undisturbed areas and all subpopulations of species at risk.

Special economic zone for Northwest?

2006-08-08T08:32:00.000-07:00

People from virtually every sector of the northwest woods industry are once again calling on the provincial government to designate the area a special economic zone for forestry to help the industry get back on its feet.
The Terrace area is plagued by low-value timber and high-cost harvesting, meaning there has been limited forest activity there for several years.

CILA Board meets Aug. 11

2006-07-28T16:30:00.000-07:00

CILA Directors and members will meet Aug. 11 in Prince George for a regular board meeting, starting at 10.30 a.m. If you’re planning to attend, please call the office before Aug. 4; seating is limited.
Our luncheon guest is Roger Latta, a financial consultant who specializes in business succession planning.
We’ve been hearing more frequently from contractors who plan to retire and/or exit the business in one way or another -- transfer it to family members, merge with other companies, sell out or wind the business down – and we felt providing a connection to professional advice would be helpful.
Members will gain useful tips on timing, managing the transition, identifying key personnel and arranging financing.
Also on the agenda: Updates on work to move the CILA’s strategic planning session forward, activities of the BC Forest Safety Council including the prime contractor issue, BC Timber Sales, and review of WorkSafe BC regulations.

The oil patch: Opportunity and risk

2006-07-28T16:29:00.000-07:00

A meeting in Prince George this week on business opportunities in the oil/gas industry was an eye-opener for anyone interested in diversifying a business or seeking new customers for their services.
The oil patch has really revved up and demand for skilled tradespeople and service companies is high. There are opportunities for contractors in logging, road-building, excavating and trucking, and it pays well; the key is connecting with the right people in that industry. CILA members received a detailed briefing memo earlier this week.
There’s also a down side to all this activity: Whether you diversify and find work in the oil patch or not, you’re already battling to recruit and keep qualified, skilled workers.
The CILA has been gathering information and identifying individuals and organizations that can help make your business more ‘poacher-proof.’ Members who are interested can call the office.

Forest worker training to be reviewed

2006-07-28T16:28:00.000-07:00

Roger Harris, B.C.’s Forest Safety Ombudsman, is about to launch a review of training and certification within the forest industry, looking at how those processes apply to fallers and truck drivers – two occupations with a high rate of serious injury and fatalities.
“Effective training and certification is fundamental to improving the safety performance of our industry” says Harris. The review will look at all groups involved in the training and certification process and make recommendations that tie them together. The aim is to provide guidance to the different forest sectors, regulators and agencies on how to implement and dovetail components of training and certification.
Harris says he will continue to deal with issues raised by workers and companies, including designation of prime contractors and responsibility for road safety.

Will court wins sink trade pact?

2006-07-28T16:27:00.000-07:00

Canada won another huge court victory this week when the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled that the U.S. illegally kept applying lumber tariffs after a NAFTA panel ruled there was no basis for them. The duties are illegal, and so has been the collecting of them.
A week earlier, the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled the U.S. government cannot use the Byrd Amendment to steer any more of the tariff dollars it collected into the hands of U.S. lumber companies.
To summarize: The duties were illegal, collecting them has been illegal, giving part of the money to U.S. forest companies is illegal – and, by the way, the Byrd Amendment was ruled illegal last April.
So why is our federal government so intent on pushing a badly-flawed lumber trade agreement through the House of Commons this fall?

Why would our government want to make a deal -- over the objections of most of the B.C. forest industry and four other lumber-producing provinces -- that would leave $1 billion in illegally-applied and collected duties in Washington's hands, waive all legal actions, now and in the future, accept quotas and apply a border tax structure that will cost producers more than the illegal tariffs did?

Yes, we need lumber trade peace – but not with this price tag.

Let's work now -- while there's still an industry

2006-07-14T13:09:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago, we called for a multi-sector forestry industry summit to address problems that are damaging the interior log-harvest sector and the forest companies we serve.
We pointed to loss of qualified operators and drivers, more logging contractors shutting down and continuing problems with logging and hauling schedules as evidence of growing problems in the industry.
We repeat that call now -- the evidence of a worsening situation is all over the place:

North-central B.C.’s logging industry appears stuck in some sort of never-ending break-up. Earlier predictions had most loggers and truckers going back to work by early or mid-July; now, with softening lumber demand and prices, a high dollar and some temporary mill shutdowns, we’re hearing from near the end of July to mid-August or later in some areas. The startup delay is prompting loggers and truckers to seek work elsewhere, raising the question of whether they’ll come back when logging and log-hauling finally resume.
This week’s Ritchie Bros. auction in Prince George was the biggest in the city’s – and maybe the province’s – history, crowding $25 million in sales. Two Cariboo contractors who have quit the business put more than 50 processors, butt-n-tops, skidders, forwarders and logging trucks – plus service vehicles, pickups and other support equipment on the auction block. Many of the machines had seen less than one season of work, and much of the equipment went to buyers from outside the region, which we expect will create a troublesome loss of logging and log-hauling capacity in some areas.
Although high demand for natural gas and metals and more housing and industrial construction, will fuel a healthy economy for northern British Columbia in 2006-2008, a report by Credit Union Central of B.C. also says forest products manufacturing is the only industry expected to plateau in terms of activity and revenue, due mainly to lower demand from the U.S., lower lumber prices, and the continued strength of the Canadian dollar. It says logging and silviculture industries will have moderate growth in income and little change in employment.
A cooling U.S. housing market to about 6% lower than in 2005 has brought predictions of lower lumber prices over the coming year. RBC Dominion Securities Inc. projects lumber prices to average $327 this year, down from his previous $345 target. In 2007, it expects prices to average $325, compared to $340 previously. Considering lumber prices in the $400-plus range earlier this year, an average of $327 for the year means fall prices will be lower than that – low enough to trigger an export tax on lumber of up to 15%.

And then there’s the softwood lumber agreement – or disagreement.
Trade Minister David Emerson now says the lumber industry does not have a veto over the proposed softwood agreement and vows to take it to a vote in Parliament in the fall, even if corporate support is not there.
The final draft agreement states that Canadian producers accounting for 95% of the outstanding duties paid to the U.S. States must drop their legal challenges before the deal can come into force – in effect a 5% veto.
Lumber industries in B.C., Quebec, Ontario and Alberta have all said they oppose the draft settlement, -- and they have 40%, 18%, 10-12% and 8% of the duties respectively (Total 76 to 78%).
Looks like a pretty strong veto to us.

Partnership needd to fix industry woes

2006-06-28T17:13:00.000-07:00

Some infobits from recent weeks that should make our entire industry wake up – before it’s too late:

· The oil patch is luring truck owners and drivers to the northeast with $15,000-plus signing bonuses and rates that are 30% to 50% higher than for log-hauling.

· Equipment auctions draw big crowds as newer, well-maintained logging machines roll across the ramp. Although harvest levels are at an all-time high, some contractors are shutting down. Why?

· All over the province, logging contractors scramble to hire and anchor qualified machine operators. Some try to sell part of their logging volume because they don’t have the crew to harvest it.

B.C.’s forest industry is in a fight for its life, but it’s acting at some levels like there’s no problem at all -- how else can anyone explain the games-playing that continues over logging and hauling schedules?

An April 1 logging grade adjustment translated into accelerated logging and log-hauling in the six weeks before it – and then a summer startup that in some areas is four weeks late. Last week, some mills started rotating shutdowns because the high dollar and lower lumber prices,

The result: Cost-savings for mills – but at what cost?

Startup delays and rotating shutdowns cause truckers and machine operators to seek work elsewhere, and both logging and log-hauling capacity suffer.

Two years go, this was a nuisance – now it’s a nasty capacity issue that’s undermining harvest-sector businesses and is about to drive costs through the roof.

It’s time to move past denial and cost-cutting rate battles, and sit down as a cross-industry group to hash out better ways to do business. If we think we have problems now, wait until oil patch and pipeline work heats up some more. Better yet – let’s not wait.

Safety gaps in forestry worry WorkSafe BC

2006-06-12T09:03:00.000-07:00

WorkSafe BC says there are gaps in the safety framework at forestry work sites – adequate safety training is an issue, and the role of prime contractor to oversee safety isn’t clearly understood.
Betty Pirs, executive director of prevention, said WorkSafe BC’s new compliance strategy will increase awareness of safety responsibilities at different levels and ensure all parties are held accountable for their safety performance. On prime contractors, she said the land owner or tenure holder (usually a forest company) must ensure prime contractors are capable of doing the job. If they can’t, safety responsibility goes back up the ladder.
Our view: There should be four steps in the process to make someone a prime contractor. First, verify that: The person or company has the capacity or ability to do the job, there’s a willingness to take it on, and there’s fair payment by the forest company for the costs involved.
Then go to what should be the main consideration. The whole idea of having a prime contractor is to make sure the site is as safe as possible – so there can be just one reason for allowing a forest company to make someone else the prime contractor: Can that person or company make the job site safer than the owner can?

Recognizing the CILA team

2006-06-12T08:57:00.000-07:00

At the CILA's recent Annual General Meeting, Tim Menning, Williams Lake was re-elected as chair. Vice-chairs are Terry O’Neill, Prince George, and Shane Garner, Quesnel.
Directors also decided to launch a review of association activities and a strategic planning session for later this summer, and recognized the following members for their outstanding service and support of the organization over the past year:
Gary Buller, Williams Lake, Burke Purdon, Prince George, and Gary and Lloyd Inwood, Quesnel. All are on the CILA’s transportation committee, and helped develop our positions on issues ranging from hours of service to truck-trailer configurations.
Shane Garner, Quesnel, the CILA’s representative on the Timber Sales Working Committee, helped steer needed program reforms in the past year.
Tim Menning, Williams Lake, represented the CILA on the working group that helped develop the compensation process to for contractors who lost replaceable logging volume via the licensee tenure takeback process. He also worked with the B.C. Forest Safety Council on the prime contractor issue.
Terry O’Neill, Prince George, continues to work with regional contractors and mills on concerns about trucking rates and other issues that affect log-hauling efficiency and safety. He is also involved in developing the BC Forest Safety Council’s Qualified Companies Project.
Keith Playfair, Fort St. James, is co-chair of the BC Forest Safety Council and Chair of Forestry TruckSafe, promoting key safety programs and negotiating support for them.
Peter Tiani, Prince George, one of our co-treasurers who has strongly promoted membership in the CILA over the past several years.

Log-hauling hours: Exemption coming

2006-06-12T08:56:00.000-07:00

The province is leaning towards setting hours of service for log-hauling based on a joint proposal by the CILA, COFI and Canfor, a CVSE official said at a Forest Expo seminar.
Currently, log-haulers can work 15 hours a day, seven days a week. Federal regulations call for up to 13 hours of driving daily plus one in-service hour for up to 70 hours a week, and the CILA-COFI proposal calls for up to 13 driving hours plus two in-service hours per day, and five more on the weekend for up to 80 hours per week. The proposal also calls for a minimum 24 hours off every week.

Safety practices review starts

2006-06-12T08:55:00.000-07:00

The Ministry of Forests is reviewing the safety of harvesting practices to ensure planning, design, construction and logging activity is done in ways that don’t create safety hazards for workers.
The CILA shared exhibit space with the MoF team, and nearly 100 loggers, truckers and other forest workers attending Forest Expo took part in the survey, which continues until fall. The survey information will feed into developing a safety planning handbook and a safety monitoring checklist that could be used by B.C. Timber Sales, forest companies and hopefully all other parts of the industry.

$20.7 million for forestry roads

2006-06-12T08:53:00.000-07:00

Rich Coleman, Minister of Forest and Range, announced at Forest Expo in Prince George that his Ministry will put $20.7 million into upgrading and maintaining forest roads in north-central B.C. over the next three years to help deal with increased traffic from the pine beetle epidemic.
The upgrades, which Coleman said will help improve safety, include an overpass at the Bobtail Forest Service Road and Highway 16, widening and improving the Holy Cross Forest Service Road, and two-laning the Mark bridge on the Kluskus Forest Service Road. All are west of Prince George. Logging road upgrades will also be done in the Quesnel area.
This funding is in addition to the $90 million announced recently for Interior highway and road upgrades over three years.

Road system to get more attention?

2006-05-31T14:04:00.000-07:00

Stay tuned this week for an announcement from Forests Minister Rich Coleman that could make more dollars available for resource roads.
If that occurs, it means government has been listening to a whole lot of people about the need to invest more in road infrastructure, and sees both the opportunity and the value of doing so.
Uplifts in the AAC to address the pine beetle infestation has put a lot more log-hauling and other industry pressure on the road system, and future increases in traffic due to planned pellet-manufacturing and OSB plants, and future gas/oil development will add to the pressure.
And then there’s the short season issue. The CILA has been part of several government and industry initiatives to focus awareness that longer seasons and more all-season roads offer many benefits, including economic opportunities, more stability and earning power in the log-harvest sector, and greater safety on the roads.
We’re hoping for good things in this announcement.

Trucking hours: It’s down to the wire

2006-05-31T14:02:00.000-07:00

The trucking hours of service debate has wound down after weeks of discussions, and everyone’s waiting for CVSE to decide what hours log-haulers will be allowed in B.C. Here are the positions:
Federal standard – up to 13 hours driving plus one in-service hour per day, up to 70 hours per week; at least 10 hours off per day (eight consecutive). Some groups say they can work within those limits.
CILA, COFI and Canfor Prince George – up to 13 hours driving time plus two in-service hours per day, up to 80 hours a week; at least nine hours consecutive off each day, and at least 30 hours consecutive off every week. (The CILA is the only harvest-sector association that surveyed its trucker and logger members for input on this).
Prince George Trucking Association/Steelworkers – up to 12 hours driving a day, 60 hours a week maximum, 50 hours if working at night.
Currently, truckers can haul logs 15 hours per day, seven days a week, for up to 105 hours.
As CVSE gets to its decision, we see these as the deciding factors:
While we’d all like to work fewer hours, the reality is that our short seasons mean few log-haulers can earn enough to survive if they aren’t allowed more hours than the federal standard. We’ll also hit a bottleneck on log deliveries that will hurt everyone – truckers, loggers, mills and communities.
An exemption to the federal hours is an opportunity to work longer hours if they’re wanted and/or needed. That does NOT mean anyone has to work to the maximum allowed. If a trucker prefers (or can afford) to work just 40 hours a week, good for him -- but lets not take work opportunities away from others who need them.

Lots happening on the beetle front

2006-05-31T13:56:00.000-07:00

Pellet plants planned
Construction is expected to start this summer on $30-million pellet plant for the Vanderhoof area – the first of four to be built in the region by TallOil

Canada

.The plant is expected to start production by early next year, and a second plant near Fraser Lake is expected to start up a few months later.Two more pellet plants are planned in the Quesnel area, and there could be a fifth in the works for Williams Lake, a company spokesman said.TallOil was the successful bidder last year for several large licences to salvage pine beetle-damaged timber in the region.

Beetle wood for power?
B.C. is developing a bioenergy strategy to promote new sources of sustainable and renewable energy, and to take advantage of pine beetle-attacked timber.
A feasibility study published in November 2005 examined the potential for a mountain pine beetle-fuelled power plant in the Quesnel or Nazko area.
The B.C. Wood Bioenergy Strategy will help the province identify new renewable energy resource options, tackle the need for greenhouse gas reduction, deal with growing volumes of surplus pulp chips in the Interior, and increase the use of surplus mill and harvesting wood waste.

B.C., Alta. team up on beetles
B.C. and Alberta have surveyed and mapped 4.1 million hectares of forests and removed more than 45,000 infested trees this winter in a joint effort to prevent the mountain pine beetle from spreading across the B.C.-Alberta border.
Although the beetle has primarily attacked B.C.'s lodgepole pine, scientists believe that Alberta's jack pine forests could also be at risk.
About 8.7 million hectares of B.C. forest -- an area larger than New Brunswick -- were infested by the pine beetle last year. By the time the infestation has run its course, it's expected to kill as much as 80 per cent of the lodgepole pine in B.C.

Climate change and forestry

2006-05-31T12:11:00.000-07:00

If you haven’t read a new government report on climate change and what it means to B.C.’s forests and range resources, you should. The report, on the internet at
http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/mof/Climate_Change/
gives both a picture of what the Ministry plans to do in the short term, and offers clues about the challenges our sector will likely face over the coming years.

Mill appeals fine, penalty

2006-05-31T12:08:00.000-07:00

Babine Forest Products has reportedly appealed a recent Worksafe BC ruling that levied a $32,450 fine against the company for a 2003 log-hauling crash that killed Burns Lake trucker Craig Payne.
Payne’s truck and another loaded logging truck collided when they met on a blind corner on the North Road.
The 2004 investigation report from the Workers Compensation Board (WCB) concluded that two-way traffic on this road was one of the direct causes of the accident. The investigation led to recommendations for improving safety of road, which BFP also appealed, but lost.
WCB regional manager Bruce Clarke said last week that a permanent improvement has not yet been made, but an interim plan of one-way traffic and improved communication strategies has been approved by Worksafe BC and implemented by Babine Forest Products.

Mill fined $32,450 after crash caused death

2006-05-12T12:35:00.000-07:00

Babine Forest Products has been fined $32,450 by WorkSafe BC over the death of Craig Payne, who was killed in February 2003, when the loaded logging truck he was driving collided head-on with another loaded logging truck on a one-lane road used by Babine to move logs in two directions.
The WCB investigation reported that one factor in the accident was the unsafe practice of moving logs in two directions on a narrow road designed for one-way traffic. Babine appealed parts of the WCB decision, which delayed resolving the case. There’s no indication yet if the company will appeal this penalty.
WCB recommendations included that Babine ensure that the entire North Road be built to the appropriate standard in the road permit, which addressed road width.
Some road improvement have reportedly been made – brush has been cleared, sight lines have been improved, some pullouts have been added and traffic warning signs have been put up, but some parts of the road remains quite narrow and the question of compliance has again been raised.
Babine currently has loaded logging trucks traveling in one direction only on the road, but unloaded trucks return on the same road.

Trucking hours meeting planned

2006-05-12T12:34:00.000-07:00

Log-haulers, contractors and mills have another opportunity next week to make their case for more flexible trucking hours of service when they meet with a representative of Commercial Vehicle Safety & Enforcement.
The major area of concern is the need for additional ‘in-service’ time – two hours per day in addition to 13 hours’ daily driving time, to a maximum of 80 hours a week. There appears to be confusion over what has to be accounted for as part of ‘in service’ time; we understand that it includes all service time re: truck repairs and maintenance, load and unload time, getting parts, washing the truck, etc.
CILA members who want to have a concern raised at the meeting should call the CILA office.

MPS coming July 1

2006-05-12T12:32:00.000-07:00

July 1 is the new deadline to switch to a new market-based pricing system for Interior timber – moved up from Sept. 1. Rich Coleman, Minister of Forests and Range, says the plan is to have the new system, which bases stumpage rates for tenure timber partly on Timber Sales pricing, in place before the draft softwood lumber agreement is ratified.
He also said he hasn’t ruled out looking at changing the stumpage adjustments to monthly instead of quarterly.
We’ll cheer him on regarding that line of thinking, because the new pricing system by itself won’t end Stumpage Bingo – in fact, it will make it even easier to predict whether stumpage rates will go up or down in the following quarters.

Stumpage Bingo/accident link too weak

2006-05-12T12:30:00.000-07:00

A government-commissioned study of the impacts of Stumpage Bingo found a link between log-hauling volumes and periods of low stumpage rates – but didn’t conclusively tie it to logging truck accidents.
The 23-page report was in response to concerns voiced by the CILA, and looked at 11 years of timber pricing and log delivery data, but available accident data went back only four years, so it’s no surprise that the accident link was inconclusive.
The report made two recommendations: That the Ministry of Forests and Range stay with the current system of quarterly stumpage rate adjustments, and that the BC Forest Safety Council and WorkSafe BC look farther back in time and investigate whether there is any linkage between the timing of log deliveries and the type, number, location and dates of log-hauling accidents. The full report can be found at www.for.gov.bc.ca/mof/safety/QtrlyStumpageandLogHaulingRptMarch31.pdf

So where to from here?
Although the study didn’t prove there’s a link between Stumpage Bingo and logging truck accidents, it didn’t disprove it either; there just wasn’t enough hard data.
Yes, keep the file open on the accidents, but let’s also help government refocus on the point the CILA has consistently made since we first noticed Stumpage Bingo several years ago: Compressing economic activity for log-haulers down to six months from nine or 10 months has negative economic impacts that eventually affect safety.
Regional truckers lose work to log-haulers from outside the area, and whether they own trucks or are contractor or fleet employees, some leave for steadier work in other regions or industries.
Those who remain struggle to operate on less revenue, and scramble to find drivers – some of whom are inexperienced, or who may not be properly trained.
The result, as we’ve been pointing out for more than four years, can be a combination of corner-cutting and a shortage of competent drivers that can undermine safety. And guess what? We’re there.

New softwood agreement still-born?

2006-05-03T10:46:00.000-07:00

It's been a few days now since Ottawa and the U.S. announced a framework softwood lumber agreement, and other than some faint-hearted praise by industry, it's still being viewed with suspicion.
Is it the path to a reasonable and lasting settlement of a trade dispute that has dragged on for decades, or a quagmire for future rounds of dispute resolution discussions?
The seven-year deal is essentially quotas and penalties:
Canadian lumber firms would cap exports at 34% of the U.S. market, roughly the status quo. Market share would be set regionally, based on 2004-05 exports. Ottawa would set a variable export tax linked to lumber prices, export levels and dollar value. With lumber prices sliding toward $320 per thousand board feet, the base export tax would be 5% and could rise to 10% or 15% if lumber prices continue to fall, or export volumes exceed a quota.
In return, the U.S. would drop its 10% duty and give back 78% of the $5 billion in duties it collected, and all legal challenges would stop.
What's right with it? It looks like it would increase B.C.’s lumber export share (which is why Ontario and Quebec were freaking out about it when it was announced), and it could stop the hostilities for seven years.
What's wrong with it? We’ll have both quotas and penalties, and if it doesn’t work for the industry, seven years is a long time to wait for the next round – and there’s reportedly no exit language, and a ban on further legal action.
About $1 billion would be left on the U.S. table from the $5 billion Canadian companies paid in duties, and half of that will go to the U.S. forest companies that started this scrap.
Remember the Byrd Amendment that steered tariff bucks into the hands of the ‘wounded’ U.S. lumber firms? It was ruled illegal, but it’s obviously not dead.
There’s no clear path in the agreement to move from this managed trade system to a free market, and options to seek adjudication of disputes that may arise appear limited.
It's called a "framework agreement" which one must assume means there's still work to be done on the small print. Love to be in the room for those encounters.

Truck service hours answer elusive

2006-04-19T16:32:00.000-07:00

With a wide range of views expressed over recent weeks on hours of service for log-hauling, the BC Forest Safety Council is reviewing its draft presentation to the provincial government, and has asked its member organizations to verify their positions on this issue.

The proposals, ranging from a maximum of 80 operating hours per week down to 60 daylight or 50 night hours per week, have been detailed in previous CILA newsletters.

Although the CILA has been gathering input and comment from its members since last October, we’re again polling our members to make sure we can accurately verify and represent their viewpoints to both the Safety Council and Commercial Vehicle Safety & Enforcement. We expect other organizations are taking similar steps.

We respect that each group – logging associations such as ours, the sawmilling sector, Steelworkers and perhaps others – will have strongly-held views, and that a consensus or compromise position may be difficult to reach.

If there really is no middle ground – no ‘made by industry’ solution for safe and workable trucking hours in our industry – then it’s time for CVSE to step up and conduct its own survey of logging truck owners and drivers (fleet operators, contractor-owned trucks and owner-operators).

Trucking hours debate continues

2006-04-19T11:45:00.000-07:00

Several groups that represent logging truck owners and drivers met with Commercial Vehicle and Enforcement this week, but did not find middle ground on the hours of service log-haulers need for both safety and productivity.

The views on hours ranged from a maximum 12-hour day, 60-hour week (Prince George Trucking Association) through 13 driving hours plus one ‘in service’ hour and a maximum 70 hours a week (Transport Canada, ILA and NWLA position), 13 driving plus two in-service hours to a maximum 80-hour week, proposed by the CILA, COFI and others, and endorsed by the BC Forest Safety Council. The Western Professional Trucking Association proposed up to 84 hours on duty each week. All groups proposed weekly rest periods of from 30 to 48 hours consecutive.

Most log-haulers now work 80 to 90 hours a week, sometimes more, when you add up the driving hours plus all the other ‘in service hours.

Part of the problem may be confusion over what ‘in-service hours’ means. It’s all the hours not actually driving, but still working. That means load and unload time, brake and wrapper checks, chain-up, etc., while out on the job, AND all those hours the trucker spends servicing the truck at home base – oil and filter changes, lubrication, replacing hoses, pulling brake drums. That’s all ‘in service’ time.

That’s why we proposed up to 13 hours of driving and two in-service hours daily – up to 80 in a week – to bring the hours to a safe level, and still allowing enough time to earn a living. It’s fewer hours than now, but we think industry can find at least a few more operating days to compensate for the reduced hours, and keep trucker revenue the same.

However, it will be difficult to find enough ‘new’ hauling days to make up for the loss of 12% to 25% of hauling hours the other two proposals could cost. The CILA has been working with government and industry on this issue for more than three years; here are the key points:

Stumpage Bingo (the process of timing log deliveries to periods of low stumpage) needs to be fixed; that would create more hauling days.

The road system must be improved, and government has commited to working on it – but that won’t happen overnight either.

Mills must be willing to maintain roads and keep scales open for significantly more days each year – and that depends on lot of things, ranging from cost/benefit studies to truck availability.

There’s one thing nobody can do much about: More beetle-hit pine has to be harvested during the winter because of wet ground concerns in summer, and that puts pressure on winter hours for trucking.

So here’s the bottom line: 70 hours, or worse yet, 60 hours a week, represents a pay cut of 12% to 25% for log-haulers. It puts owner-operators at greatest risk, because fleet drivers can leave the maintenance of the truck to the shop and walk away. It will also mean mills will need to bring trucks in from other regions – if they can find them -- to get all the needed timber delivered.

We think 80 hours can be safe, and we don’t think whacking log-haulers with big pay cuts and greater loss of seasonal work is an acceptable way to solve this problem.

Ainsworth weighing OSB options

2006-04-13T12:16:00.000-07:00

Ainsworth wants to know more about the government’s timber-pricing policies before it deciding where to build its planned OSB plants – including whether the first one will be built in Quesnel or Prince George, says Brad Bennett, GM, specialty plywood division.

It’s also working out some of the final terms and conditions of its forest licences.
“We’re hoping the conclusion of those discussions will be very soon, said Bennett. “Then we’ll start moving on to what we’re going to do next as far as projects and timing and locations.”
Ainsworth is considering three or four sites in the Quesnel area, and tentatively plans to build one plant first, but has not determined whether it will be in Quesnel or Prince George. When that plant is running and the technology for using some pine beetle-hit wood along with hardwood is proven, the next plant would be built, he said.

Each plant is estimated to cost up to $300 million and employ about 250 people.

New log pricing Sept. l

2006-04-13T11:53:00.000-07:00

Timber pricing The government has set Sept. 1 for the launch of its long-awaited market-based timber pricing system for the Interior, saying the intent of the system is to “better reflect global markets and local harvesting costs.”

“The market-based pricing system bolsters our position as we continue softwood discussions with the U.S.,” said Forests and Range Minister Rich Coleman.

The intent is to make the pricing system more responsive to market changes by basing stumpage rates for all Crown timber harvested by tenure holders on the price of about 20% of Crown timber that will be sold through BCTS, instead of using Statistics Canada lumber and chips price indices to set stumpage rates.

Truck hours ruling soon?

2006-04-06T15:52:00.000-07:00

With three months of stakeholder input on the desk, Commercial Vehicle Safety & Enforcement is about to decide what log-hauling hours of service in B.C. should look like – and if they should vary from federal regulations that will set limits of 13 driving and one in service hour per day, 70 hours per week with at least 36 hours consecutive off.

Currently, a provincial exemption allows 15 hours’ driving per day with no weekly limit (up to 105 hours).

The BC Forest Safety Council proposes 13 driving hours plus two hours in service daily, 80 hours maximum per week, and a minimum of 30 hours consecutive off. That’s where the CILA is, and similar to what the Western Professional Trucking Association is advocating.

Two other logging associations have said they’re prepared to work with the federal standard with no changes, and this week, the Prince George Trucking Association said it favors a 12-hour operating day with 60 hours per week as the maximum.

The key to reducing and daily and weekly hours and still providing truckers an opportunity to earn a living is in longer hauling seasons – we’ve been saying that for three years, and it’s good to see another group support this idea.

Truckers in this area used to work 190 days or more a year; now they average 125 or so. Can we get back to 190 days? No. Weather change, forest practices rules and wet ground in beetle-infested areas have taken some days away, and so has Stumpage Bingo -- the term we coined to describe how mills try to time log deliveries to periods of low stumpage rates, which are djusted by government each quarter.

All factors considered -- including an end to Stumpage Bingo -- we should be able to get about 25 days back.

That translates into getting the same job done in 13 hours of daily driving, in about an 80-hour week.

Truck checks push safety

2006-04-06T15:50:00.000-07:00

One out of five logging trucks stopped by MoF Compliance and Enforcement staff during spot checks in February failed to pass inspection.

Ministry staff stopped 950 trucks at 90 checkpoints on Forest Service roads and highways. Speed checks were conducted at five additional sites. Ministry of Transportation staff participated at some checkpoints, issuing seven tickets for overweight vehicles, poor brakes and use of another driver's National Safety Code.

Most of the 236 infractions of forestry regulations involved inadequate transport documentation and resulted in verbal warnings. About 80% of stopped vehicles passed inspection. Enforcement officials issued 45 warning tickets, 14 violation tickets and two compliance notices.

Forestry plans less open, agency warns

2006-04-06T15:32:00.000-07:00

The Forest Practices Board warns the public will find it more difficult to learn what forest companies are doing on Crown land when the new Forest and Range Practices Act is fully enacted by the end of 2006.

The board says the public will have to dig harder for information, and there are fewer opportunities for public involvement in viewing forestry plans, some of which cover more than 300,000 hectares, and which lack details on where logging will occur over the next five years.
In a draft report seeking comment, the board says that, so far, companies are relying on minimum legal requirements to get Forest Stewardship Plans approved – and with fewer than 25 completed and 300 to 400 more to come, there’s a risk that pressure to get plans finalized will lead to further streamlining.

Van Scofield, executive director of the Association of B.C. Forest Professionals, says give the new system a chance -- let foresters get familiar with it and watch how it unfolds on the

Pine beetles spreading south, northeast

2006-04-06T15:15:00.000-07:00

The Forest Practices Branch has issued its latest forest health report for 2005, and – no surprise -- the mountain pine beetle epidemic is still a huge problem, now covering 8.7 million hectares.

Infestations in the Northern Interior Forest Region (NIFR) continued to rise and totalled 3.6 million hectares. The largest increase and highest level of attack in the NIFR occurred in Nadina Forest District where recorded damage affected 1,226,775 ha, with Fort St. James, Prince George and Vanderhoof Forest Districts also hit hard.

The beetles now are moving south and northeast, with the Cariboo having the highest level of attack last year. Most of the beetle control efforts are now focussed in the Peace Forest District, to keep the beetle from moving across Canada. For the full report and charts, check out Forest Health

Govt drops revenue-sharing appeal

2006-04-06T15:06:00.000-07:00

The B.C. government won't appeal of a B.C. Supreme Court decision that found it was “intransigent” in how it proposed sharing forest revenues and resources with the Huu-ay-aht First Nation on Vancouver Island.

The government had offered a Forest Resource Agreement that would give the band timber plus $280,000 annually -- about $500 cash and 54 cubic metres of timber per registered band member per year over five years. The Huu-ay-aht rejected the offer, saying it did not reflect the volume or value of timber being taken from the land under claim.

Forest companies planned to log 5.4 million cubic metres of timber from the area over five years, generating about $28.6 million in stumpage per year to the province.

The dispute went to the B.C. Supreme Court, which last May supported the Huu-ay-aht’s case.

The big question facing the province and the forest industry is whether formula-based offers of cash and forest tenures that are the basis of at least 16 other Forest Resource Agreements will be challenged.

Building the safety foundation

2006-03-28T15:20:00.000-08:00

The B.C. government's appointment of a forestry coroner is another building block in the safety foundation of B.C.'s forestry operations -- but despite the hoopla in some circles over creating this position, don't expect miracles for a couple of reasons.
First, coroners investigate deaths, and that's after the accident or crash. The prevention aspect of a coroner's investigation can only occur (a) if the coroner's recommendations are timely, and (b) if they're followed.
Most coroner's reports come anywhere from 10 months to more than a year after the incident that caused a death -- far too much time is lost if there's a system failure of some sort that, unaddressed, could leave another person in a risky suituation.
This coroner, like the forest safety ombudsman, can't make laws or rules. That's not a bad thing; it's just the reality of both posts, and it means industry, media and public pressure will have to be used to ensure regulatory bodies act on recommendations, whether they come from the coroner or the ombudsman.
The big difference in the two posts is that the ombudsman's position is preventive, the coroner's is reactive. Both will come under the same pressure -- investigate and report quickly -- and then it's up to the rest of us to make sure the recommendations are followed and enacted.

Article keeps focus sharp

2006-03-23T12:33:00.000-08:00

Prince George Citizen reporter Gordon Hoekstra is a finalist in the National Newspaper Awards for his investigative series on log-hauling safety in the Central Interior. His series helped greatly in focusing public, industry and government attention on the need to make major safety improvements in the log-hauling part of our industry.
Speaking of The Citizen, there's a good column there today by Randall Heidt on the fear that wives of logging truck drivers feel when their husbands are late coming home and the phone rings -- will it be the news they dread? An accident? A death?

After the crash -- what?

2006-03-21T14:24:00.000-08:00

In a logging truck crash, there's often more than one victim. Sometimes a driver is killed, sometimes a member of the public dies. We investigate, mourn the person who is killed, and then get on with our weekly routine.
But some can't.
The logging truck driver whose truck collides with a car that sweeps across a highway lane has that last glimpse burned into his mind forever, and there's no support system to help him deal with the stress he feels.
Many drop right out of the business.
It's time we started thinking about how to help these people through their dark days. We do it for entire school classes when a student dies, and when an employee is killed on the job. -- shouldn't we find a way to look after people in this part of the industry too?

Safety ombudsman a key post

2006-03-21T13:52:00.000-08:00

Within minutes of the announcement last Thursday that Roger Harris had been appointed Forest Safety Ombudsman by the BC Forest Safety Council, the criticism started to flow.

“No legislative authority,” said one; “a political appointee,” said another, and then the perennial knock against the Forest Safety Council as being somehow dominated by “the corporate interest.”

I’ll get to this B.S. in a moment, but first, what about the idea of a forest safety ombudsman, and what Harris can deliver.

Members of the Forest Safety Council knew early on that encouraging free, open discussion and the flow of ideas at all levels is a key step in making the forest industry safer. Council members also knew that wouldn’t happen unless we could find a way to keep workers, contractors and others from being penalized with loss of work or other penalties for speaking out.

One of the ombudsman’s prime jobs is to prevent that from happening, and Harris brings political savvy, connections, mediation skills and knowledge of the industry – he’s been a forest worker, union rep, phase logger and company supervisor.

The ombudsman doesn’t replace other processes in place to deal with urgent and immediate safety issues – those should go directly to an immediate supervisor, a safety committee representative and/or WorkSafe BC.

The real value of a safety ombudsman is to dig into safety concerns quickly and quietly, listen to the different points of view and try to bring the parties together to find a solution. It may be a compromise, or there may be ‘outside the box’ ways to deal with it.

Does the ombudsman have legislative or regulatory authority, as critics have pointed out? No – he has something better. He has the full support of the BC Forest Safety Council to dig into the areas mentioned above, and when I say Forest Safety Council, I mean four logging associations, the silviculture contractor group, the fallers association, the Steelworkers union, two forest company associations, the Ministry of Forests and Range and WorkSafe BC.

Corporate domination? Doesn’t sound like it to me.

The prospect of ‘letting down the side’ on safety is far more powerful motivator than the threat of more regulations. Regulations are only as effective as the enforcement of them, and no matter how many enforcers there are out there, they can’t watch everybody.

We think the idea of an ombudsman bringing people together to find an acceptable solution will create more support for a safety measure than more regulations or legislation.

So to the critics: The many organizations that make up the BC Forest Safety Council had good reason to take this route, and will be monitoring the effectiveness of the ombudsman and improving the structure as we move along. Why not get on board and help make this work? It’s a whole lot more positive than finding fault at every turn and trying to tear good work down.

Log grades-here's the info

2006-03-20T18:31:00.000-08:00

Holders of Timber Sales, woodlot and Communty Forest licences who want to keep up to date on log log grade changes can find a lot of information on the Ministry of Forest and Range website.

A Decision Summary paper dated March 3 has all the up to date changes and options for all licence holders to follow, regardless of which type of licence they hold. Licence holders do have options, and should choose their option as soon as possible.

Prime contractors -- here's more info:

2006-03-14T08:31:00.000-08:00

With some contractors and mills around the region still trying to find middle ground on the prime contractor issue, we’ve got some background information that might be useful.

A Coastal licensee has developed a checklist and responsibilities outline to work through how it designates and manages its prime contractors, and the information came to us via WorkSafe BC and the BC Forest Safety Council.

A strong caution: The BC Forest Safety Council has a licensee-contractor group working on a process to sort out when a licensee can designate a prime contractor, and what the licensee’s and contractor’s responsibilities are. When that process has been developed, it will become the guide for Prime Contractor agreements in the industry.
Meanwhile, contractors or licensees who want a copy of the Coastal licensee’s package can call or e-mail the CILA office and we’ll get it out to them.

Forestry acts being changed

2006-03-13T17:19:00.000-08:00

The B.C. government is making several amendments to the Forest Act that will affect not only government administration and licensees, but the log-harvest sector as well.

The government plans to strengthen the Wildfire Act, clarifying fire control responsibilities of forest licensees, and ensuring prompt fire fighting by licensees through appropriate compensation and insurance coverage. (The CILA has been involved in some of the discussions around these concerns).

Other changes outlined in Bill 9, the Forests and Range Statutes Amendment Act:

Creation of a forest revenue audit program enabling the Ministry of Small Business and Revenue to inspect and audit records to ensure correct stumpage has been collected.
Extending and updating the Forest and Range Practices Act to strengthen the government’s ability to impose remediation orders, manage reforestation obligations for some short-term licences, and enable licensees to operate under approved cutting permits after Dec. 31, 2006;
Amending the Forest Act to streamline the administration of tenures, including the forestry licence to cut.

Go here to find Bill 9

Quesnel-area bands get timber access

2006-03-13T17:14:00.000-08:00

Two native bands in the Quesnel area have signed new forestry agreements with the government. The Lhoosk’us Dene Band west of Quesnel has two packages in the works – one for 548,000 cubcic metres of timber over five years, and a second for an additonal 500,000 cubic metres of salvage beetle-hit timber, again over five years.

The Red Bluff Band signed an agreement to harvest 35,000 cubic metres over five years, and also has access to another 250,000 cubic metres over five years because of the pine beetle epidemic.

Hours of service a juggling act

2006-03-08T10:20:00.000-08:00

With a deadline for input on planned changes to hours of service regulations for truckers drawing near, we continue to wrestle with how the new rules will affect safety and the ability of log-haulers to earn a living.

B.C. log-haulers currently are allowed up to 15 hauling hours a day, with no restrictions on consecutive number of hauling days. The new rules, which come into effect next January, will limit hauling hours to 13 per day with an additional ‘on duty’ hour and 10 hours of rest. The weekly limit is 70 hours, and 120 hours over 14 days are allowed. There‘s also a requirement for a 24-hour rest period every 14 days.

We need to balance the need for safety with the need to earn a living, and most thinking up to now has been to figure out whether it’s possible to develop exemptions or changes to these new hours that won’t jeopardize safety. I was interviewed by Gordon Hoekstra, Prince George Citizen, on this topic, and his article appeared in The Citizen today.

Getting outside the box, it would make a lot more sense to find more operating days in a season to compensate for the shorter work day and work week outlined in the new regulations.

Another 20 or 25 hauling days in a year wouldn’t just end this hours of service discussion – it would improve safety and family life, reduce costs, build stability and help this part of the industry attract new people.

This should slow you down. . .

2006-03-03T16:38:00.000-08:00

Canfor's Road Marshall for safety in the Prince George area came up with this sign for our logging roads. Says a Canfor official: "I think the message on the sign is pretty powerful and will make a difference. The sign is meant to be moved so we can get the message out to all road users."

As he said, it's an excellent idea. If this makes even one more driver to take more care out on the logging roads, then the sign has been a success.

Ray Brandner came up with the idea, and MaryAnne Arcand, Forestry TruckSafe, arcand@bctrucksafe.org passed it along to us. Kudos to both.

Enviros target Ontario forestry

2006-03-03T14:16:00.000-08:00

Fresh from the battle to preserve the so-called Great Bear Rainforest on B.C.'s west coast, the environmental movement has started targeting Ontario’s northern boreal forest – about half of the province – as its next preservation battleground.

ForestEthics, a B.C.-based group, and the Rainforest Action Network, based in San Francisco, have written to more than 500 U.S. companies that buy paper or lumber products from Ontario, warning that their orders "may soon become embroiled in the growing controversy about Ontario's boreal forest."
The groups want a moratorium on logging in boreal forest areas that provide habitat for caribou, which have disappeared from half of its historical range in Ontario because of its need for large tracts of mature forest.

Fit for the job at this mill?

2006-03-03T14:14:00.000-08:00

Hayes Forest Products, which announced layoffs in its Vancouver Island operations in January, has started testing the fitness of workers who want to”bump” into other jobs.

A company spokesperson said the testing applies to any worker who applies for a job that is “more difficult or less safe.”

The union argues the testing, which it says involves having workers run through an obstacle course, is “humiliating” to those with decades of experience.

Hayes says if the tests show an employee may not be able to safely perform duties in the new position, the company and union will discuss a plan of action that could include a physical conditioning program and retesting.

Govt to spend $90 million on roads

2006-03-03T14:10:00.000-08:00

The province plans to spend $90 million over the next three years to upgrade resource roads and highways in areas of the B.C. Interior that have been hit hardest by the Mountain Pine Beetle infestation.

Kevin Falcon, Minister of Transporation, said resource roads will get most of the attention this year, and that his ministry and the Ministry of Forests and Range, are working hard to co-ordinate information with the Ministry of Forests and Range on which road networks will be the most heavily-used to move beetle-infested timber over the next couple of years, so road upgrade efforts can be targeted to where they're most needed.

Minister Falcon praised the Cariboo Regional Transportation Advisory Committee and local MLAs Pat Bell, Shirley Bond and John Rustad for their efforts to focus ministry attention on the roads issue. He also said the advisory committee will be involved in setting priorities for the roadwork.

In its annual report, the Cariboo RTAC, a group made up of business and community representatives (the CILA is represented on it) highlighted resource road upgrades and maintenance as a key economic, social and safety issue for the region.

Trying to figure out takeback steps?

2006-03-03T14:08:00.000-08:00

With forest companies either partway or all the way through the process of surrendering 20% of their licence volume to the government, logging contractors are dealing with the fallout.

Some face no change, while others will lose part or all of their logging volume – and some might even get more work as their licensee shuffles the remaining tenure volume among contractors for what it believes is the most efficient way to get its timber harvested.

Several regulations govern the process – Section 5.1 of The Timber Harvesting Contract and Subcontract Regulation (Bill 13) spells out how reallocation proposals are to be structured, and what tests apply for fairless and contractor acceptance. That can be found on the internet at http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/tasb/legsregs/forest/faregs/timharv/part5.htm

For holders of replaceable logging contracts who face loss of logging volume, government provides some compensation for the volume takaback. A lot of information, including downloadable application forms, are available at http://www.bcfrt.com/

CILA members who don’t have internet access can get details from our office. We’ll also forward the infomation to ILA and NWLA offices.

Long loads, twisty roads

2006-02-28T09:11:00.000-08:00

We're getting comments from the Burns Lake area about traffic safety problems created when log-hauling configurations allow long overhangs on trailers used to deliver logs to mills in and around that community. Below are some of the comments and questions being raised.

SAFE Companies training push premature

2006-02-24T12:06:00.000-08:00

With some contractors being prodded to take training through specific consultants or auditors to become safety-qualified companies, the BC Forest Safety Council has issued an alert:

-- The entire SAFE Companies Program is still under development; The Industry safety standards and Audit exist in draft form only.
-- The Council has NOT approved any auditors, consultants or businesses to help any contractor get SAFE Company Certification, so any training push is premature..

The SAFE Companies Safety Tool Kit will be available in March to help companies develop their own health and safety programs, and the SAFE Companies program will be rolled out next fall.

Meanwhile, if you hear of situation where inappropriate pressure is placed on contractors, call the Council 604-891-1259 or e-mail info@bcforestsafe.org

TS stumpage, log grade changes coming

2006-02-24T12:03:00.000-08:00

The Ministry of Forests and Range is writing holders of Interior Timber Sales licences with fixed stumpage rates, telling them of their options under the Interior log grades changes that come into effect April 1.

If you don’t get your letter by March 4-5, contact your local BCTS business area office. Details will also be posted on the Ministry website, and a separate letter is also being prepared for holders of licences (including TSLs) with adjustable rates.

A lot of information on the Log Grade Change Project can be found at http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/mof/loggrade/ under Notices. Plug your e-mail address in and you’ll get automatic updates on the changes. For Interior scaling information, see http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hva/scale/index.htm.

PST: Slight changes for loggers

2006-02-24T11:58:00.000-08:00

This week’s provincial budget included some changes to the Provincial Sales Tax that apply to the logging industry.

Tax exemptions for some production machinery, equipment and parts have been expanded a bit, all machines not licensed for highway use (ATVs, etc.,) can use colored fuel, self-loading logging trucks are eligible for partial fuel tax refunds, and the tax surcharge on expensive vehicles doesn’t kick in until $55,000, up from $49,000 previously.

You’ll find full details on the internet at www.gov.bc.ca/sbrOn the search panel at the top of the page, type Bulletin SST 112.

Have your say. . .

2006-02-22T15:00:00.000-08:00

Welcome aboard our association’s brand-new blog, just up this week.

Our plan is simple: Provide a forum where everyone who has a stake in the logging/service side of B.C.’s forest industry – loggers, truckers, woodlot operators, suppliers, fallers and silviculture people -- can connect with mill staff, government types, environmentalists politicians and each other to discuss current issues.

We want to lead reasoned discussions that focus on improving our collective circumstance, and the better the information flow and the diversity of posts and comments, the more we’ll all benefit -- so, don’t hold back.

Roy Nagel,

General Manager, CILA

MoF pamphlet defines road authority

2006-02-21T14:09:00.000-08:00

The Ministry of Forests and Range has issued a brochure called Forest Service Road Use and Timber Transportation – a Guide for Timber Transporters and Users of Forest Service Roads that outlines its areas of jurisdiction and enforcement.

Speed limits on forestry roads are 80 km/h or the posted limit, and the Ministry’s compliance and enforcement staff has authority under the Forest Service Road Use Regulation to enforce road speeds, radio use, vehicle maintenance, insurance requirements and road damage. To get a copy of the brochure contact your local MoF office.

The Safety File: An update

2006-01-23T22:45:00.000-08:00

The BC Forest Safety Council has rolled out its SAFE Certified Companies program aimed at bringing all forest companies and contractors up to higher levels of safety. It will also hire safety advocates to help companies meet the new standards, and an independent safety ombudsman will deal with workplace concerns.

The provincial government has also taken several steps on the safety front, planning to hire a special coroner dedicated to forest safety and a safety officer to help implement safety programs. It has already hired a safety officer for Timber Sales BC.
Lee Doney has been appointed co-chair of the BC Forest Safety Council for a two-year term. Doney was B.C. deputy forests minister from 1999 to 2001.

At some point, Timber Sales bidders will have to be safety-certified, and some licensees have said they’ll move to a system where they’ll take logs from only safety-certified contractors.

Beetle workshops set

2006-01-23T22:36:00.000-08:00

The Forest Research Extension Partnership (FORREX), and FERIC will hold two workshops in March to provide more information on harvesting beetle-attacked timber.
Topics of interest to contractors include sensitive site harvesting, transporting beetle-attacked logs, and fire in beetle-killed stands.

Other topics range from shelf-life study and tools to determine fibre grade to issues affecting MPB management and sawing performance and lumber output from declining log quality

Dates: March 9, Prince George, at the Treasure Cove Casino, and March 14, Kamloops, at the Executive Inn. Registration is $125 (GST included) per person, and lunch will be provided. Deadline for registering (with payment) is March 3.

For more information, call Albie Thomson, 250-960-5869 or email: albie-t@vcr.feric.ca and check out www.feric.ca/en/wd/home/events/events.htm.

Safety responsibility a shifting target?

2006-01-09T17:29:00.000-08:00

A WorkSafe BC report into a Maple Ridge gas station attendant’s death raises big questions about how responsibility for safety is assigned.

The attendant was dragged to his death by a car after he tried to stop a driver from leaving without paying for gas. The investigation raised these key points:
* The station had a late-night policy requiring advance payment at the service window, or ‘at the pump’ credit card payment.
* The station owner says the attendant was told of the late-night payment policy and was expected to follow it.
* The attendant didn't follow safety rules that would have made him stay inside during his shift, and the report suggests management knew he often went outside during his shift.
* The report says the death wouldn’t have happened if the company had properly enforced its payment rules.

WorkSafe BC has ordered the station to improve employee training and supervision, including enforcing a late-night payment policy, and the company faces the threat of penalties that could go as high as $500,000.

Now, to the big question: If you manage a service station (or a logging company) and set a formal safety policy, make workers aware of it and tell them they must follow it, what else do you have to do?

Safety rules must be enforced, no question – but are we being pushed into uncharted territory where a manager/supervisor has to assume the employee will violate the rules instead of abiding by them? Has individual responsibility for one’s own safety been tossed away?

Road-widening held up by appeal

2006-01-09T17:24:00.000-08:00

Babine Forest Products has lost an appeal over a log-hauling fatality near Burns Lake almost three years ago, and may face a penalty set by WorkSafe B.C.

Craig Payne of Burns Lake was killed in February 2003 when the logging truck he was driving crashed head-on with another logging truck on a one-lane logging road. A WCB report in March, 2004, concluded that one cause of the crash was the unsafe practice of hauling logs in both directions on an extremely narrow road that was never designed for two-way hauling.

WorkSafe BC said this week Babine has made improvements to signage, vision and operating procedures recommended in the 2004 report, but one recommendation –- widening some sections of the road -– couldn’t go ahead until the two-year appeal process was completed. Now, apparently, the pressure will be on to widen parts of the road.

We have to ask the obvious: If the 2004 crash report said the road wasn’t wide enough to handle two-way traffic safely, why couldn’t officialdom –- WorkSafe BC and/or the Ministry of Forests –- have worked around the problem and gone ahead with the road-widening, assessing costs later, after the appeal? Who, or which agency, would have been found to blame if there had been another crash and death on that road in the past 22 months?

Your tax dollars at work?

2006-01-09T17:07:00.000-08:00

The B.C. Court of Appeal is trying to put the brakes on the flow of
money to a Victoria law firm that represents a Chilcotin native band in
a land claim.

Two years ago, the Supreme Court of Canada said indigent native bands must receive public funding for lawsuits over important public issues.

In 2004, the judge hearing the Chilcotin case ordered Ottawa and B.C. to pay 100% of the legal fees and other costs as they were incurred,
not at the end of the trial, subject to a 20% holdback.

So far, the law firm has collected more than $10 million in public money and expects to bill several million more before finishing the case, which has had 300 days of court time already and will likely last another 18 months.

Skilled worker shortage hitting harder

2006-01-02T21:18:00.000-08:00

How bad is the skilled worker squeeze? A glance through the newspaper help wanted classifieds tells most of the story:
In one day, there were 38 ads for everything from danglehead, butt'n'top and feller-buncher operators to truck drivers and buckers.

We're at the peak of the logging/hauling season in this area, so demand for skilled operators and drivers is at a seasonal high -- and the mild weather is slowing harvesting and hauling activities and threatening to bring road restrictions on earlier than usual.

But this is more than a seasonal issue.We're in competition with other industries for skilled workers, and pay rates aren't the single deciding factor in recruiting or keeping them. We now hear words like 'quality of life' which can mean everything from long hours and compressed seasons to long-distance commuting, camp life, and safety.

Before this gets worse, we should be calling an industry summit of employers, workers, trainers and educators to plan our recovery.

Supervisors on the line for safety

2006-01-02T14:00:00.000-08:00

Some interesting trends in prosecution for workplace safety violations: The Ontario version of WCB is prosecuting supervisors at the rate of one every two weeks, and in Nova Scotia, a safety director of a construction company has been charged with six OH&S violations in connection with a workplace fatality.

Supervisors have also been cited and fined in BC under the WCB Act and OH&S Regulation. Descriptions of responsibilities and duties of employers and supervisors are in the Workers Compensation Act: Sections 115, 117 and 119 cover general duties of employers, supervisors and owners, and sections 217 to 219 cover penalties. OH&S Regulation Section 1.1 defines a supervisor, and Section 3.10 covers reporting an unsafe condition – a supervisor responsibility.

What happens as timber supply drops?

2006-01-02T13:05:00.000-08:00

An interesting perspective on the long-term impacts of B.C.’s forest policy came out this week in Bruce Strachan’s column in the Prince George Citizen.

Strachan, a former Socred MLA, pointed out that while Central Interior sawmills are pumping out lumber, profits and jobs at a good rate right now, the long-term picture isn’t rosy. We’ll eventually see a shortage of timber, and Strachan says before that happens, government has to funnel more timber to value-added producers:

“... insisting on value-added licences that maximize the return on our reduced resources is the only way to ensure sustainable forest revenues in the future.”

Should new park be a go?

2006-01-02T12:59:00.000-08:00

A pet peeve: Studies that get big media coverage but don’t tell the whole story.

Case in point: A report that said the economic value of creating a 40,000-hectare national park in the Flathead Valley of southeastern B.C. easily exceeds any economic loss from ending logging and trophy hunting in the area. Maybe so ....maybe not, depending on the data that was fed into the study.

By the way, the study was commissioned by the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, which has been campaigning for another national park in the area.

Beetle wood for power?

2006-01-02T12:40:00.000-08:00

Could Quesnel eventually be the site of a woodfired power plant that could produce 300 megawatts of electricity a year for central B.C.?

A research report for the B.C. government says beetle-killed trees could supply such a plant at reasonable cost, using 50 million cubic metres of timber over 20 years.

A sigh of relief

2006-01-02T07:08:00.000-08:00

No problems with loading an empty truck/Btrain unit onto another B-train combination as long as they’re secured properly and aren’t higher than 4.3 metres. CVSE did stability testing and cleared it. Single and long-term permits are available.

Hauling hours, safety a balancing act

2005-12-12T15:28:00.000-08:00

Labour Minister Mike de Jong said as a safety measure to reduce trucking crashes, he may remove Employment Standards Act exemptions that allow Interior log-haulers to operate 15 hours a day.

De Jong isn’t alone in linking long trucking hours and safety -- Transport Canada will reduce trucking hours of service in January, 2007, based on extensive research on the effect of fatigue on safety.

We know that one way or another, shorter hours are coming, so how can we regain the hauling capacity we’ll lose? We’re in the midst of a worsening driver shortage, so forget about finding more drivers.
Let’s put our efforts into extending the operating seasons. If we can haul all the logs a mill needs in 120 days by running 15 hours a day, we can just as easily (and more safely) haul 12 hours a day for 150 days and deliver just as many logs.

Thirty more hauling days a year eliminate the need for exemptions, but let’s not stop at 30. Government and industry can extend the seasons by changing the quarterly stumpage adjustment system to end Stumpage Bingo, and by upgrading the roads so they are usable over more days of the year.

Those two moves will make log-hauling safer, help truckers earn a reasonable living and over time, attract more people to the sector. The real question is: Can we afford NOT to do it?

Action Plan focuses on risks to truckers

2005-12-12T13:43:00.000-08:00

The BC Forest Safety Council rolled out its 20-point Forestry TruckSafe Action Plan this week, calling on partners ranging from the Ministry of Forest and Range, WorkSafe BC, ICBC and CVSE to forest companies and front-line workers to tackle issues that compromise safety for industry truckers.
Of 43 forestry deaths so far this year, nine were drivers.
Among the key actions highlighted in the report are calls for the plugging of jurisdictional gaps, effective enforcement of existing truck and road safety regulations, addressing Stumpage Bingo, a driver training and qualification program and a comprehensive Resource Roads Act to improve safety on B.C.’s more than 140,000 kms. of gravel resource roads.
Several of the report’s specific recommendations are already being implemented by forest companies and different agencies. The Action Plan flows from Forestry TruckSafe Summits held in June and October that brought together representatives from industry, government, communities and associations.
The Action Plan entitled On The Road to Safety is available online at www.bcforestsafe.org

A forest safety ombudsman? Yes!

2005-12-12T13:26:00.000-08:00

Labour Minister Mike de Jong says he will appoint a special ombudsman to investigate what factors contribute to the rising death toll in B.C.’s forest industry.
De Jong envisions creating a special position with power to dig deeper into accident causes than is possible now, and wants someone with investigative skills who knows the industry and has credibility.
The ombudsman’s findings on accidents would be made public.
The value of that post hinges on three factors – credibility, unfettered access to investigation data done by other agencies, and timely reporting of findings if lives are to be saved.
The credibility comes when government and industry sectors and groups agree on the appointee, and then the hard slogging begins. Yes, it’s another position, and it will cost money, but it must be done.

Coroners to focus on forestry deaths

2005-12-12T13:12:00.000-08:00

The B.C. Coroners Service has taken a cautious step to address calls for public inquests into forest industry deaths.
When investigating a sudden death, the coroner will look for any linkage between the most recent death and previous deaths. If the coroner decides there are similar circumstances such as location, sector or work-specific situations, he or she may call a public inquest – but is not actually required to do so.

Log hauling safety a high priority

2004-11-11T13:51:00.000-08:00

Hard on the heels of creation of the BC Forest Safety Council and the commitment to follow through on faller certification and training comes the news that the Council has rated log-hauling safety as the next high-priority concern to address.
Some work has already been done to gather information and statistics, and to identify people in both log-hauling and milling industries, and on regulatory groups such as WCB, ICBC, RCMP and others who should have a role in building a log-hauling safety framework.
With recent uplifts in the AAC around this region, certain roads from Smithers through Prince George and south to Quesnel-Williams Lake will see big increases in log-hauling and other forestry traffic this winter logging season. The safe log-hauling initiatives will be focused first on these areas.
We’ll provide regular updates via this newsletter as planning and activities progress.

Breathing space on TAC wheelbase rule

2004-11-11T13:50:00.000-08:00

If you’re running short-log trailers that have wheelbases shorter than 6.25 metres, you’re allowed a small sigh of relief – you’re not in deep trouble with Transportation of Canada (TAC) standards now, although that might change in a few months.
Logging association representatives, trailer manufacturers, FERIC and staff from the Commercial Vehicle Safety and Enforcement Division met in Kamloops last week to discuss short-log triaxle wheelbase requirements under TAC, and other log-hauling concerns.
After some discussion and a clear understanding that a significant number of short-log trailers were not designed to meet the TAC wheelbase standard, everyone agreed the best time to look at changing logging-truck./trailer configurations is after this winter season.
We still don’t know whether the CVSE Division will follow other TAC provisions such as the wider steering tire requirement, or grant an exemption for log-hauling, and we’re trying to get clarification.

Firefighting planning to involve logging groups

2004-11-11T13:48:00.000-08:00

The CILA will represent all four logging associations in discussions next month on developing a better communications system for forest firefighting.
The Ministry of Forests has already had some discussions with forest companies about firefighting issues because as licence-holders, they ’re directly involved. The next step is to involve others who need to be linked to the planning process, including contractors.
Among topics to be discussed meeting: risk management, cost recognition, liability and insurance issues, and worker safety and training.

Northern Caucus gets update on concerns

2004-11-11T13:46:00.000-08:00

CILA representatives met with the Northern Liberal Caucus recently to outline our concerns on the big issues facing our sector, and to make some suggestions on how government might address them.
Major topics included Stumpage Bingo and the need to change the quarterly stumpage rate adjustment process that contributes to it, and the need to upgrade the Woodworker Lien Act, so contractors and subcontractors have a better tool to collect money they’re owed.

Faller certification program unveiled

2004-11-01T13:56:00.000-08:00

The newly-formed British Columbia Forest Safety Council and the Workers’ Compensation Board announced the implementation of the BC Faller Training Standard and Certification Program this week in Prince George.
The certification program will require mandatory testing and a skills demonstration by experienced fallers. All experienced fallers must be certified by next July 31, and as of Jan. 1, 2005, new fallers will have to undergo a comprehensive training program to become certified. Certified fallers will also have to renew their certifications regularly.
Faller certification and training previously co-ordinated under FISA, the Forest Industry Safety Association, will now be offered through the Safety Council, which can be reached at 250-562-3215.
The Forest Safety Council is a direct result of the Forest Safety Task Force, chaired by WCB Chair Doug Enns, which produced a report on the industry in February 2004.
The task force, made up of senior representatives from large forestry employers, contractors, fallers, IWA-Canada and the WCB, found that BC’s forest sector requires many changes to reduce high rates of serious injury and death. Along with ensuring that the recommendations of the Forest Safety Task Force are fully implemented, the Forest Safety Council is also responsible for developing and coordinating safety strategies and programs across the industry. It represents all the forest industry organizations and the Steelworkers-IWA.

New Chief Forester in P.G.

2004-11-01T13:47:00.000-08:00

B.C.’s new chief forester comes from the north and will be based at the University of Northern British Columbia.
Jim Snetsinger, regional executive director for the Northern Interior Forest Region since 2002, takes over the post of chief forester next week. He replaces Larry Pedersen, who has been appointed assistant deputy minister of B.C.Timber Sales in September. Snetsinger has led implementation of forestry revitalization policies within the ministry, and now, in his new role, will be responsible for developing plans and programs to manage provincial forest and range lands. He will also be responsible for determining timber harvest levels for each timber supply area and tree farm licence in the province, and will also oversee the ongoing implementation of the new Forest and Range Practices Act and regulations.

Text of the announcement

Audit OKs forest activities

2004-11-01T13:40:00.000-08:00

Canfor has been given a clean review by the Forest Practices Board for its forestry operations in the Chetwynd area.
The board conducted an audit of Canfor’s planning, field activities and obligations in areas of operational planning, timber harvesting, road deactivation, silviculture and fire protection on Forest Licence A18151, and found the company is compliant in all significant respects under the code and the Forest and Range Practices Act.
The licence covers timber in the area around Chetwynd, Hudson’s Hope, Dawson Creek and Tumbler Ridge.

Forest companies show strong profits

2004-11-01T13:24:00.000-08:00

Canfor reported net income of $201 million for the third quarter, up 40% from the $143 million it earned in the same period last year. Earnings for the first nine months of 2004 were $377 million compared with $51 million for the same period in 2003.
West Fraser Timber Co., North America's fifth-biggest lumber company, had a 25-fold profit increase in the third quarter as prices climbed and exports to U.S. homebuilders increased. Net income rose to $78 million from $3.1 million a year earlier. Sales rose 45% to $700 million from $484 million.
TimberWest also had a strong third quarter, with profits tripling to $35.9 million compared with $12 million in the third quarter of 2003. To date this year, the company has more than doubled its profits over the previous year -- $107.1 million compared with $42.4 million for the same period in 2003.
Weyerhaeuser’s third-quarter profit soared from a year ago, to $594 million US compared with profits of $82 million in the same period a year earlier. Even taking out one-time gains totalling $208 million after taxes that included $179 million from the sale of timberlands in Georgia, the company still recorded a profit from operations of $386 million, 4.7 times higher than in the same quarter a year earlier. Year to date, Weyerhaeuser’s profits were nearly $1.1 billion, 5.9 times higher than the $185 million in profits in the first nine months of 2003.
Georgia-Pacific reported third-quarter profits at 30% higher than in the same quarter of 2003 – $239 million compared with $184 million in the same period last year.

Northerner added to board

2004-10-31T13:43:00.000-08:00

Guenter Stahl, a long-time employee of the Ministry of Forests, has been appointed to the Forest Practices Board for three years.
Stahl worked at the Ministry of Forests from 1967 to 2001, serving as district manager for the Bulkley/Cassiar Forest District from 1985 to 1999. He worked with community, industry and environmental leaders to form the Bulkley Valley Community Resources Board and helped oversee the introduction and implementation of the Forest Practices Code and results-based code pilot projects.