B.C.'s new 'death zones' - by Gordon Hamilton, Vancouver Sun
Elton said it will take a concerted effort at every level of the industry to turn around the fatality rate. With 2,000 fallers employed in B.C. at any given time, the report states that 58 have died in the past 10 years. So far this year, four fallers have died, and 11 have suffered crippling accidents.
McKibbon explained how harvesting practices have become more dangerous, singling out one type of eco-friendly logging, selective harvesting, that exposes fallers to additional hazards. He said companies target valuable trees and species, leaving the rest behind. Environmentalists approve because much of the forest is left intact. But when fallers drop trees in a thick forest, limbs and tops are broken and hurled back at the faller as the trees go down.
"Selective harvesting forces fallers to break numerous WCB rules and regulations that have been put in place for faller safety. It's an old fact with us. The practice of falling selective trees in congested areas must be stopped, or at least done by qualified fallers."
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