WESTERN REPORT: Safety training that meets real-world needs
by Steve Mueller

Last spring, Canadian Silviculture covered BC research into tree planting safety that brought mixed news for silviculture (see the article “Safety is a powerful tool for worker retention” in the May 2007 issue). Comparing work site attitudes and behaviours in 2004 and 2006, the study found generally safer behaviour, some persisting unsafe conditions, and indications that recruiting and retention of tree planters could be affected by their growing intolerance for risk.

The following statistics were especially interesting to me, because of the work I do now after spending 22 years in the silviculture industry:

Tree planters and on-the-job safety                      2004      2006
Expected supervisors to correct unsafe behaviour    22.0%    37.2%
Actually had supervisors correct unsafe behaviour    33.3%    41.7%

Workers want more and better supervision, and they’re starting to get it. Credit for this change, and for generally improving safety attitudes, belongs to WSCA and its members.
A silviculture supervisor training.program is being developed by the BC Forest Safety Council. Until the program is ready, contractors should take advantage of another council program introduced this year to train supervisors in all areas of the forest sector. 

The bare-bones description of our Basic Forest Supervisor course is two days of classroom instruction and a written exam, followed by one day of applying those lessons in the bush. But what’s truly important is that it meets practical, real-world needs. We focus on what supervisors must have to function effectively and protect workers. What would be “nice to know” isn’t part of our training - not only because that would mean producing a college course, but also because staying safe doesn’t need to be complicated.
Here are the simple facts:

• Supervisors are legally obligated to ensure their workers’ safety and to know the safety legislation and regulations covering the work being supervised. Given the human and financial costs of injuries, this is a moral obligation and a business imperative.

• Satisfying those obligations isn’t as hard as it seems. In BC, most supervisor responsibilities are spelled out in WorkSafeBC forest safety regulations. They’re the backbone of the council’s supervisor training.
This emphasis surprises some supervisors, but only until they see how it lets them take a regulatory requirement and make it work on the ground. The regulation should work for you, not the other way around, but you need to know how to use it. 

A guided tour teaches supervisors to pinpoint and apply regulations relating specifically to their work. Think of it as translating what looks like regulatory theory into real-world practice. For instance, take the broad requirement for regular inspections “of all workplaces, including buildings, structures, grounds, excavations, tools, equipment, machinery, and work methods and practices, at intervals that will prevent the development of unsafe working conditions.” The course helps supervisors figure out what this means to a tree planting operation with a few dozen young workers.

This is useful, potentially life-saving information, and at the very least a starting point for getting clarification. It’s always better to ask a hypothetical “how to” question than explain what happened after an injury. In that sense, the council’s supervisor training meets everyone’s real-world needs.

• Employers have a concrete way of demonstrating due diligence.

• Trained supervisors can meet their own legal obligations and be more valuable employees.

• Silviculture workers can count on able supervision improving their odds of going home in one piece. 

I don’t know anyone who can argue with that.

Steve Mueller is Director of Worker Development at BC Forest Safety Council. Council training and other initiatives are described at www.bcforestsafe.org. The research reported last May can be accessed at www.wsca.ca.