In This Issue:

• Top Page
• Corporate News
• Operations
• Log Harvesting
• Safety Stats
• Forestry Engineering
• Environmental Mgmt. & Fire
• Mill Report
• Safety News
• Information Systems
• Calendar

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By Scott Davidson, ManagerSafety News

2009 is here and with it comes our list of annual to-do's that we must complete as operation schedules unfold over the next few months. These are valuable reminders of the safety requirements that we cannot overlook. Dates and times will be announced in the upcoming weeks.

• Job Safety Breakdowns
• New worker orientations
• Safety policy reviews
• Hearing Tests
• First Aid Training
• Safety Committee training
• Fire Safety Training

Please take the time to review both of the Coulson Group Corporate Safety Policy and the BC Forest Safety Council Safety Accord that are on the next two pages. Upcoming safety audits will question our awareness of these documents.

FOREST SAFETY ACCORD

Our Key Beliefs:

• We believe that all fatalities and injuries are preventable.
• We believe in a culture where the health and safety of all workers is an over-riding priority.
• We believe that excellence in health and safety is important to our long-term success.

Shared Responsibility:

• We are collectively and individually responsible for the safety of all workers and all worksites.
• Individuals must assume responsibility for their own safety and the safety of coworkers by following all safety rules, procedures and practices; by refusing to perform unsafe work; and by taking collective responsibility for the unsafe conduct of others.
• Tenure holders, licencees and prime contractors must take a leadership role in ensuring worker health and safety and assuring accountability for safety on the worksite.

Recognition of Safety Performance and Practices:

• The commitment to health and safety is to all workers, not just direct employees. When engaging contractors, sub-contractors and others to provide services, the selection process and administration of contracts will include recognition and support of good safety performance and practices.
• Employers will recognize and support the safety performance of their employees.
• All owners of forested lands, tenure holders and licencees will give weight to the safety record and current practices of companies in the awarding of contracts and in the determination of fees and levies.

Commitment to Training and Supervision:

• We understand the importance of workers being fully prepared for the work they do and the provision of competent supervisors who will insist on and enforce safe work practices. All workers on the worksite must be competent and fully trained and certified for the work they are performing.

Legislation:

• It is understood that the regulatory environment of the Forest Industry can have profound impacts on safety. Accordingly, government ministries and agencies must take into account the importance of health and safety when developing, reviewing and drafting applicable areas of law and regulation.

Continual Improvement:

• We are committed to the on-going improvement of our practices and support efforts to develop and implement new methods, procedures and technologies that have the potential to improve safety.

The Coulson Group of Companies
Corporate Safety Program Policy

Wayne Coulson and the management team of The Coulson Group of Companies are committed to reducing the risk of accidents in their operations, using a problem solving approach.

Our goal is to eliminate all accidents and achieve an accident frequency target of zero.

The Coulson Group will maintain a flexible and responsive approach to solving safety problems. The problem solving approach will focus on the use of self-managed work teams. Each team will have a team leader who will either be a supervisor or a chargehand, depending on the operation. The team leaders and workers will be the critical component of the safety program. The self-managed work teams will perform job site inspections using checklists created with their input. Any issues that can not be resolved at that level will be brought to the next level of management for resolution.

Responsibilities
Wayne Coulson is responsible to insure that the safety program is part of our way of doing business in the Coulson Group of Companies.
The Coulson Management team is responsible to ensure that safety is not compromised for reasons of productivity or cost.
Supervisors are responsible for taking a problem solving approach to safety and ensuring that they remove the obstacles to safe work performance.
Team leaders are responsible for safety inspections and for ensuring that all crew members are adequately trained.
Workers are responsible to work safely, to ask for help if they need it, and to report any unsafe situations to the team leader or supervisor.
The Safety Coordinator is responsible to review the Corporate Safety Program annually and incorporate approved program evaluation recommendations.

Inspections
Condition and procedure inspections will be developed with crew input focusing on risk assessment. The risk assessment will be based on exposure to hazard, consequences of the exposure, and likelihood of an accident occurring. First aid records, crew experience and W.C.B. requirements will all be used to develop the inspection checklists.
Inspections will be conducted monthly. The results of these inspections will be forwarded to supervisors for corrective action as required. Response to these results will be a first priority for all supervisors.

Instruction of Workers
Written procedures for the safe performance of duties will be developed for all jobs. Written safety rules will be provided to all workers. Workers changing jobs will be provided with training on the new job. The minimum standard for training will be show, tell, test, check. We will maintain records of workers training.

Management Meetings
Weekly management meetings will include safety as an agenda item. Management will review the safety activities and results of the previous week and the planned activities of the upcoming period.

Federal Employees
Worksafe BC is an insurance provider for Federal Employees. The materials provided will enable you to included essential reporting to the Labour Program.

Accident Investigations
All accidents requiring medical aid will be reported and investigated. All accidents where the victim is at risk of death, and all blasting accidents or major structural failure, will be reported immediately to the W.C.B. Any near miss incident with a high potential for injury will be investigated. Investigations will focus on risk reduction. The results of these investigations will be reviewed by management and corrective action implemented immediately.

Safety Committee
Trained joint union management safety committees will meet monthly to review safety activities and make recommendations to management to improve the program.

Wayne Coulson, Chief Executive Officer
Coulson Group of Companies