Forest Safety Ombudsman appointed - CBC British Columbia
Former logger and one-time Liberal MLA Roger Harris has been chosen as B.C.'s first Forest Safety Ombudsman.
His new job is to find a way to stop the alarming rate of fatal accidents in the industry. Forty-three forestry workers died last year on the job in B.C., and another 110 were injured.
============
Powerless Ombudsman Not the Answer to Forest Fatality Woes Say Steelworkers - USW Canada: 17 MARCH 2006
Hunt said that the Council’s announcement comes days before the Steelworkers’ planned Forest Fatalities Lobby in Victoria. USW lobbyists from all over BC, along with allies from the Vancouver Island Loggers Support Group, will hit Victoria starting on Monday, March 20, to lobby cabinet ministers and MLAs for measures to implement coroner’s recommendations, a day of mourning for forest workers killed on the job and an independent review of the policy changes that undermine safety in the industry, leading to fatalities and 106 serious injuries in 2005.
“Just as was the case when we held the Forest Fatalities Summit in December, it seems that USW initiatives get industry moving,” said Hunt, noting that last December, just before the summit, WorkSafe BC announced plans for more workplace inspectors and strict enforcement of Bill C-65, the Westray Bill.