Summit plans crackdown in the woods

Summit plans crackdown in the woods - Vancouver Sun
'What the hell is going on out there,' said moderator Jack Munro, former head of the IWA, now merged with the Steelworkers. 'We have reported 41 forest industry deaths and the year is not yet finished.'

'What kind of insane world does this forest industry live in when a sub-contractor faller is working alone to clear a right-of-way on a Sunday with his wife who was working as a safety spotter?' Munro asked, citing the lonely death Nov. 13 of faller James Warner, who died when he was struck by a falling snag. His wife discovered his body.

Munro said 'cardinal rules,' like never working near a snag, appear to have been forgotten.

The fatalities summit was organized by the Steelworkers in response to growing awareness of the death and injury rate in the forest sector.

'We don't think and never have thought that it is okay to go to work and die,' Steelworkers western regional director Steve Hunt said.