Although this blog is predominantly focused on my music
and DJ’ing career, I also want to share some information about my other
career: Canadian Reforestation.
The information in this post is part of a training series
from the Replant.ca website. More
information can be found at this link:
I’ll put the text and audio download link from this
training module below, but let’s start with the YouTube video for the module:
Section 04 - “Working Safely,
Hazards”
In this section, we’re
going to focus on Safety within the reforestation industry. Topics that will be
covered include assessing risks, identifying hazards, some common safety
hazards, and official industry-sponsored training courses.
You may wonder what a
workplace hazard is. Basically, it's anything
that can injure workers or damage equipment.
It could be a physical item, like a bear. It could be an intangible item, like a cold
day. It could be the absence of
something, such as not having a safety barrier on the side of a road along the
edge of a cliff. It could be a process,
such as a poor technique used by a planter to squeeze dirt around a tree. It's easy for me to talk about hazards
without it being an abstract topic. The
thing about tree planting is that if something can go wrong, it often
will. Just about every type of problem
or accident that I'm going to talk about is something that I've unfortunately
seen first-hand.
Risk is the likelihood
that a hazard will cause harm.
In my mind, the biggest
problem in our industry is that many new workers are afraid to speak up when
they see something that doesn’t make sense.
The entire tree planting industry is basically focused on a system of
seniority, from the very core. The
people who have been planting for the longest time are often the best and
fastest planters, which means that they’re making the most money. In many cases, they’re also the most
respected. So when a first-year planter
sees something odd happening but another planter with several seasons of
experience doesn’t say anything, the first-year planter is probably going to be
reluctant to speak up and question what’s happening. This is a huge problem. Luckily, the situation is changing slowly. The planting industry is increasingly able to
attract larger numbers of applicants, which means that newly hired planters are
often high-quality candidates who are intelligent and have common sense.
It's important to remember
that a planting block and a planting camp are both examples of locations that
are considered to be part of the workplace.
A worker is not allowed to take "private" risks that are
deemed dangerous in the workplace. You
cannot voluntarily choose to ignore safe work practices. Put quite simply, that
would be grounds to have your employment terminated. Working safely means that you're taking
conscious steps to mitigate any known or potential hazards through engineering,
administrative, or elimination/substitution controls, or through the proper use
of Personal Protective Equipment.
If you see something that
looks unsafe, or doesn’t make sense, please say something! Just because something has “always been done
that way” doesn’t mean that it’s the best way.
If you’re worried about looking ignorant or ruffling a few feathers,
just be diplomatic about how you say something.
You might be able to pick your wording carefully to help convey a
message. A good supervisor or foreman
usually has a lot of experience and their approach to a problem or situation
probably makes sense. But a good
supervisor or foreman will always listen to a first year planter, consider what
they’re saying, and explain why their suggestion may or may not be appropriate
for the situation. Even with the
experience that I’ve accumulated over the years, I’m still surprised at least
once every season when a first-year planter brings up a suggestion and I think
to myself, “Wow, why didn’t I think of that a decade ago?”
Assessing Risk
Assessing Risk involves
prioritizing a possible problem based on two separate factors: the likelihood
of it occurring, and the severity of the results if it does occur. Events with insignificant consequences are
given low priority, even if the chance that they’ll happen is high. Events with potentially severe consequences
are given high priority, even if the chance that they’ll happen is fairly
unlikely. Let’s look at two
examples: a mosquito bite, and the
rollover of a crew truck. A mosquito
bite has a high chance of happening, but unless the mosquito happens to be
carrying some deadly disease, which is unlikely in BC, then the risk is not
high. As for the truck accident, the
chance of being in a rollover is lower than that of being bitten by a mosquito,
but the consequences could be very severe.
Therefore, the vehicle has a high risk priority. Any incidents in high risk categories should
be examined carefully. In this example
of the truck rollover, some proactive solutions might include:
- More focus during safety
meetings.
- Consistent use of PPE
such as seatbelts.
- Administrative controls,
such as requiring drivers to have clean driving abstracts and take bush driving
courses.
- Engineering controls,
such as installing GPS trackers in trucks that allow the company to monitor
speeding remotely via satellite.
Every company should
prioritize focus on worksite activities that present the most potential risk to
planters. Even a potential event such as
tendonitis, which only has a medium impact, should receive significant
attention if there's a moderately high chance of it happening to any individual
planter.
Risk awareness and risk
identification skills should be taught by supervisory staff to all new
workers. If you don't feel comfortable
in looking around the workplace and trying to identify potential hazards, ask
your foreman or trainer for a demonstration of how he or she would do a risk
assessment.
Personal Protective
Equipment
Some examples of Safety
PPE for planters include a safety whistle used to alert others in an emergency,
bear mace, a hard hat, hi-visibility vest, a personal first aid kit, compression
bandages (pressure bandages), and so on.
Most of these items are not usually required when planting in the BC
Interior. However, on higher-risk sites
such as on the BC coast, many of these items (except for mace) are mandatory
for all planters.
In some areas, the use of
CSA-approved climbing helmets has been permitted as a substitute to wearing a
hard hat. If you're working on a
contract where a hard hat is required, check first before you invest in a
climbing helmet. Most first-year
planters won't have to worry about this, because protective headwear is
typically only required on coastal contracts.
Some examples of other
Safety PPE that you might see around a planting camp could include ATV helmets,
chain saw pants, oven mitts for the cooks, a hard hat and face shield and ear
muffs for someone using a chain saw, or rubber gloves for washing dishes.
Vehicles
Vehicles should be the
first hazard on anybody’s list. The sun
may burn you, mosquitoes may bite you, slash may cut you, bears may scare you,
but realistically speaking, the main hazard in the planting industry that has a
significant history of causing fatalities is our vehicles. And the fault there is almost always due to
human error.
Every day you’ll be
travelling to work sites in one kind of a vehicle or another. Active logging roads can be challenging, and
other bush roads can be even worse. Our
transportation is not just limited to trucks either. Sometimes we use helicopters, water taxis,
rolligons, or tracked vehicles to get to the blocks.
The most important thing
that you can do as a planter is to wear a seatbelt, every time you’re in a
vehicle. Period. All season.
It doesn't matter whether you’re on gravel or pavement. It doesn't matter whether you’re sitting up
and wide awake or leaning over sleeping.
It doesn't matter whether you’re travelling at highway speeds, or just
moving a few hundred meters to a new cache.
The second most important
thing that you can do as a planter is to make sure other people in your truck
are wearing their seatbelts. You may
think that it's none of your business, but you’re wrong. A vet or a foreman who is used to driving
without a seatbelt might look cranky if a first-year planter tells them to put
their seatbelt on. That’s their problem,
not yours. Point out that if there’s a
rollover, they become a projectile inside the cab, and they could kill YOU if
they’re not belted in. You have a right
to refuse unsafe work, and that includes the right to refuse to ride in an
unsafe vehicle. A vehicle is unsafe if
there are other passengers who aren’t wearing their seatbelts. Incidentally, you should also try to keep all
other projectiles out of the cab, ie. things like old plates, shovels, cattle
skulls, and the other crap that tends to accumulate in a planting truck.
Let me tell you a sobering
story. Over the years, my own camp has
had TEN trucks (so far) that were involved in flips, rollovers, or significant
accidents, and the result was that most of these trucks were written off. In every case except the first accident,
every single person who was involved in each accident was wearing a seatbelt,
and the worst injury that any of those people wearing seatbelts got was a
two-inch long scratch.
I regularly talk to
planters and supervisors at about three dozen planting companies other than the
ones that I work for, so I get a lot of informal insight about what’s happening
around the industry - feedback, rumours, talk about prices and problems, accidents,
and so on. I don’t have any hard
statistical evidence to back this up, but I believe that there’s probably
almost a five percent chance that if you plant a full season this year, you’ll
be in a vehicle that flips on its side, or is involved in a rollover or
collision. That’s ridiculous. Those are terrible odds. I'm not really surprised by these odds,
because sometimes we drive to work in conditions that are pretty terrible. In fact, I’m actually shocked that there
aren’t more serious accidents. No matter
how careful your driver is, conditions can sometimes conspire to make something
go wrong. A deer can suddenly jump out
in front of the truck. A tie-rod could
snap and your truck could roll. Another
vehicle could lose control and hit your vehicle. If everyone in the vehicle is wearing a
seatbelt, you’re less likely to be seriously injured when things do go wrong.
Above and beyond
seatbelts, here are a few other suggestions to keep safe when in and around
vehicles:
- Fatigue is another huge
problem, especially for drivers who are foremen. Planters often sleep on the drives to or from
the block, but the driver can’t. Make it
a rule that whoever sits beside the driver isn't allowed to sleep, so they can
talk to the driver and keep him or her alert.
- Although most companies
have designated drivers assigned to each specific vehicle, it’s wise for your
company to also have a designated backup for each truck, who has the required
licensing and training. That way, if the
designated driver is concerned about falling asleep at the wheel, they can ask
the backup to sub in for an hour or so.
- Offer to help the driver
by navigating and making radio calls.
- Avoid distracting
behavior.
- Keep the volume of the
music radio low enough that the VHF radio used for truck-to-truck communication
can always be heard clearly.
- Ensure that the vehicle
has clean headlights, taillights, mirrors, and windows. This should be done daily.
- You should clean the
license plate too, while you’re at it, if you’re driving on pavement. It might save you from getting a ticket.
- Avoid standing on the
downhill side of a vehicle parked on a steep slope. If the emergency brake fails or the truck
starts to slide, you could be crushed.
This type of accident has recently killed several log truck drivers.
- Always block the wheels
of a vehicle on a steep slope if there's any risk that it could slide or slip
out of gear. A couple of rocks or pieces
of slash will do.
- Avoid standing in the
driver’s blind spot. The driver may not see
you when maneuvering.
Natural Worksite
Hazards
While it's possible for
new hazards to appear in the workplace, most of the time a planter or foreman
will simply have to notice whether typical hazards are present, in order to
determine if special safety considerations need to be implemented on a
site. I’ll start by listing some typical
hazards that you might find on a block, and how to deal with them.
Slash is the debris that
gets left behind after logging. It
basically consists of chunks of trees ranging from tiny pieces of branches, to
large logs that are difficult to climb over.
A block without much slash is said to be fairly clean. A slashy block can present problems. Slash is uneven and slippery, it’s difficult
to walk over, and broken branches can cut or impale you. Some of your best options if you’re working
on a block with a lot of slash are:
- Wear caulk boots.
- Choose your foot
placements carefully. Don’t jump from
log to log with reckless abandon. I’ve
known planters who have slipped and gotten concussions while doing this.
- Test logs or branches
for their ability to hold your weight before stepping onto them.
- Use your free hand or
shovel for additional balance, in what is referred to as “three point contact.”
- Avoid walking on logs
with loose bark.
Many blocks are not
flat. When you're working on a slope
that starts to exceed maybe 25% or 30%, you should start to consider it to be a
bit of a hazard. Even if your footing is
still stable on a slope that isn’t too steep, you may be putting your knees,
ankles, and neck under more strain than usual.
Steeper slopes have a greater risk of slips or falls. A planter working up-slope from you can
accidentally knock rocks or other debris down onto you. Here are some suggestions when working on
steeper slopes:
- Wear caulk boots, and
choose your footing carefully.
- Avoid working directly
above or below another planter.
- Eat properly and be
well-rested so you have more energy.
Rocky terrain is hard on
the body, even if you don’t fall down.
Rocks buried in the ground will jar your planting shovel, creating
vibration in your planting arm. Rocky
terrain can also be a problem for slipping, tripping, or falling. Here are some suggestions if you’re working
on ground that's especially rocky:
- Learn to recognize
softer spots, based on slight variations in the contour of the ground, and on
vegetation coverage. This is a very
tough skill to learn, and it's usually only acquired after a great deal of
time. Many first-year planters are
amazed when they see vets hopping around on a rocky block and almost always
seeming to find soft spots. This only
comes with a lot of practice.
- Tap the ground lightly
with your shovel to see if there are rocks near the surface, before trying to
stick the shovel in deeply.
- Use your kicker instead
of trying to drive the shovel in with your arm.
- In really rocky ground,
try wiggling the shovel rapidly with constant pressure on the kicker, instead
of actually kicking it.
- Loosen your grip on the
shovel.
Brush and other
undergrowth can present some of the same navigational problems as slash, and
can also scratch and injure a planter.
Here are some suggestions for dealing with brush:
- Wear long pants and
long-sleeved shirts, plus a pair of gloves.
- In extreme cases, if
there's a risk of an eye-poke when you bend over to plant a tree, consider
wearing safety glasses.
- Tuck loose boot laces
into your boots, or put duct tape over them, so they can’t snag on brush.
Snags are mature trees
that have become dangerous because they’re unstable and at risk of falling over
and crushing someone. Often the trees
could be dead or dying, but not always.
Some snags, which are also known as “danger trees,” might not be likely
to completely topple, but there could be a large upper section that looks ready
to break off. Some reasons why a tree
might be classified as a danger tree could be because of a windstorm that
starts to push it over, some sort of logging activity or erosion that loosens
the roots from the ground, or a ground fire or animal damage or rot that
weakens the trunk at the base. Here are
some suggestions for dealing with danger trees in your piece:
- Tell your foreman about
it.
- Don’t work under
it. In fact, don’t work within one and a
half tree lengths of the base, because branches can go flying and injure you
when the tree falls, even if the trunk itself can’t hit you.
- Consider putting up some
flags to designate the dangerous area as a “no work zone” so other workers
notice and don’t walk under the snag.
- Don't try to push a snag
over. A dislodged branch could break off
and land on you.
You may occasionally have
to cross a river or stream on foot, for some reason. This can be extremely hazardous due to the
risks of slipping and falling. It
shouldn’t be a large risk because we don’t usually have to cross streams on
foot without a bridge, but silviculture workers have occasionally died from
drowning, such as from when an ATV accidentally goes into a brook. Here are some suggestions:
- Follow directions from
your crew boss.
- Wear caulks for any log
crossings.
- Cross when there is
someone else around to watch, who can help you if you fall in.
- Don’t walk through
flowing water if it’s more than knee deep.
Even water that is that deep is risky.
- Un-strap your bags, so
if you trip and go under, your bags don’t get caught and pin you underwater.
Weather
There are five main risks
due to inadvertent weather conditions:
cold, heat, wind, lightning, and rain.
Let's cover a few recommendations for each of these conditions.
Early in the season, it's
possible to spend entire days working in near-freezing conditions. The effects of cold are compounded with wet
conditions. You need to keep both warm and
dry to avoid hypothermia:
- Own a set of good rain
gear, and make sure you always bring it to the block, even when the forecast is
good.
- Dress in many layers
rather than just one or two thick items.
- Wool does a great job of
retaining its insulating value when it gets wet. A wool shirt like a Henley brand from
Stanfield's is not cheap, but it's favored among professional planters in the
cold, wet conditions of the coast.
- Bring an extra set of
dry clothing in your day-bag. Make sure
you keep it dry by wrapping it in a plastic bag.
- Try to keep moving, as
muscle movement generates body heat.
You'll stay a lot warmer if you keep moving than if you sit shivering at
a cache.
- Watch for signs of
hypothermia in yourself or others.
You'll often be working in
open areas with little or no shade. Even
in the shade, you can become overheated if the weather is very hot. Heat exhaustion is a precursor to heat
stroke. Symptoms include cool, pale,
clammy skin, headaches, nausea, dizziness, and fatigue. You need to cool down and drink lots of
fluids. Heat stroke can follow heat
exhaustion. Symptoms include lack of
sweat, shallow breathing, rapid heart rate, and confusion. Heat stroke is an extremely serious medical
condition, where you need to cool the victim immediately and seek medical
attention:
- Dress appropriately in
lightweight, loose, light coloured clothing.
- Wear some kind of head
covering to protect your head from direct sunlight.
- Long-sleeved loose
shirts are best, but if you have exposed skin because you're wearing a t-shirt,
use sunscreen.
- Carry lots of water,
drink water before you start your day, and re-hydrate frequently throughout the
work day. As I've mentioned, I always
carry a couple of small water bottles on every run, so I can drink small
amounts every fifteen minutes or so.
- Continue to drink lots
of fluids in the evening, to help your hydration levels to fully recover for
the next day.
- If you show signs of
heat exposure, stop work and find a cool, shaded place to rest while you
re-hydrate.
Wind will be most
dangerous when there are scattered "residuals" or danger trees
throughout your piece. Strong winds can
knock branches off trees, injuring workers below. Entire trees can topple and be fatal to a
planter. If you're working in an area
that suddenly becomes very windy and you see that there are overhead risks,
take the initiative to move to a safer area immediately, before a foreman comes
and tells you to move. The wind is
usually less active in the morning, so you may want to plant the areas along
your tree-lines first, if that's possible, before the wind picks up.
Lightning storms usually
happen on your blocks a couple times per year.
If lightning appears to be a risk, there are a couple things you can do:
- Return to the trucks,
which are insulated from the ground by the rubber tires, or move to a low-lying
area.
- Avoid hilltops, ponds,
lakes, and standing in the immediate proximity of large trees.
- There is a myth that
lightning always hits the tallest objects in an area, however, lightning will
frequently bypass tall objects and hit items closer to the ground. Regardless of this, it's best to keep a low
profile.
Wet conditions can lead to
chilling and hypothermia, which we've already covered. It's best to get out of wet clothes and into
dry clothing as soon as possible. If you
have a dry change of clothes with you, you should change into them immediately
before the drive home. There are also
other hazards associated with rain that you should be aware of:
- Drivers should be more
cautious on slippery gravel or muddy roads.
- Wear good footwear to
keep from slipping. Caulks are
especially good at preventing your feet from slipping on wet slash.
- A wide-brimmed hat
and/or a good scarf can help keep water away from your neckline. The back of your neck is one of the worst places
for heat loss from your body.
Chemicals in the
Workplace
You may encounter several
different types of chemicals in the workplace.
Every worker in BC should take a WHMIS course sponsored by your company,
which might be done online before the season starts. WHMIS stands for Workplace Hazardous
Materials Information System.
Some of the chemicals that
you might encounter on a block include pesticides and fungicides that may be
applied to trees. Be aware that when
these chemicals are sprayed onto the seedlings at the nursery, they are usually
diluted by large amounts of water. Even
the concentrated original chemicals can be handled safety by nursery workers
with proper precautions, so the risk to planters is probably not
significant. However, that doesn’t mean
that you should ignore it. If the trees
have been sprayed with anything, you should wear gloves when planting and when
handling them, and wash your hands before eating. Some planters wear an inner layer of latex
dish gloves covered by strong but thin nitrile outer gloves, to ensure that
chemicals and pesticides don't come into direct contact with the skin. Try to avoid rubbing your face and around
your eyes with dirty gloves. Not all
trees are sprayed with chemicals. You
can ask your supervisor for more information.
He or she should be able to get more information, including Material
Safety Data Sheets, known as MSDS sheets, that explain the chemicals used.
Some blocks are also
sprayed with herbicides that are intended to kill vegetation that competes with
the seedlings that have been planted.
These herbicides are usually water soluble and will dissipate within 24
to 48 hours, so there's generally almost no risk of planters coming into
contact with significant concentrations.
Herbiciding doesn’t usually happen at the same time of the year as
planting.
Wildfires
Wildfires sometimes burn
hundreds of thousands of hectares in a single year in BC, which can be a larger
amount of land than is reforested in any given year. Fires are a huge problem that cost hundreds
of millions of dollars in losses each year.
However, it's also important to remember that a wildfire is Nature’s way
of tidying up and renewing an aging forest.
Ask a dozen environmental experts about their views on fires, and you’ll
get a dozen different opinions.
Regardless, everyone can agree that they can be dangerous to people who
are unaware or unprepared.
Planters don't often
encounter wildfires, although every year or so, I hear of a planting camp that
had to be evacuated due to a fire, or a crew that got shut down because of a
fire in the area in which they were working.
Your company will provide some wildfire safety protocols, just in
case. For planters though, the biggest
concern is probably not in how to react to a fire, but rather, how to keep from
setting one by accident.
Lightning is the biggest
cause of fires in BC. Humans usually
start about 40% of wildfires, either by accident, through negligence, or
occasionally from arson. There have been
numerous cases of planters accidentally starting fires on blocks or in camps,
and one planting company in the 1990’s was blamed for a multi-million dollar
fire outside of Prince George that eventually bankrupted that company in
court. I’ve even set a block on fire
myself once, completely unexpectedly and by accident, when the exhaust pipe
from my ATV lit some grass on fire and I didn’t notice for about twenty
minutes. That was an expensive accident,
considering that we had to call in a heli-attack fire-fighting crew to assist
us.
Here are some ways to
minimize the chance that you’ll set a fire:
- Never throw a cigarette
butt out of a truck window.
- Always smoke on a bare
road, not out on the block.
- Keep your exhaust
tailpipes clean on trucks and quads, so they’re less likely to overheat.
- Don’t light campfires
when the fire risk rating is High or Extreme (you may not be allowed to
anyway).
- If you do have a
campfire at any other time, dig a good fire pit, line it with rocks, don’t let
it get too large, and have some fire tools ready by the fire, such as a couple
of filled water backpack spray-packs.
The number for reporting
wildfires in BC changes from time to time.
Make sure you memorize it at the start of the season.
Bears
There are two species of
bears that an Interior BC planter might encounter – black bears and grizzly
bears. You may hear all kinds of other
names like brown bears and cinnamon bears, but these just refer to the colour
of the coat of a black bear. Bears can’t
see that well, but they have a great sense of smell and are always looking for
food. Here are some recommendations to
minimize the chance of a problem with a bear:
- Never store food in your
tent!
- Avoid wearing perfumes
or anything that makes you smell especially good.
- Don’t carry smelly food
around in your planting bags.
- Dispose of garbage in a
box at the cache rather than leaving it on the block.
- Don’t get in between a
mother and her cubs.
- Be alert for signs of a
carcass, like a rotting meat smell or a group of scavenger birds, as this might
be a bear’s food cache.
- If there’s enough brush
to hide the presence of a bear, avoid surprising one by making noise while you
work.
- If you run into a bear,
try backing away slowly and calmly. If
the bear continues to approach, stand still and try to look as large as
possible, while shouting and appearing aggressive.
- Watch BC’s “Bear Aware”
video. It was produced by the provincial
government, and your company should have a copy for you to watch.
- Very few planters carry
bear spray, known as mace. Some checkers
and foresters, who typically work alone, are more likely to carry mace. I've seen several cases where bear mace
discharged accidentally and caused problems for planters. Incidentally, if by some small chance you DO
carry bear mace, make sure that you never take it into the cab of a
helicopter. Bear mace must always be
transported in the cargo hold or in a sling.
It's also smart not to keep mace in the cab of a truck, in case it
discharges accidentally.
Other Large Animals
Very few planters will
ever see a cougar during their career, unless they perhaps work on the coast or
down in the southern Interior. It’s the
only large animal in BC that I’ve never seen.
They like to hang out on cliffs, bluffs, and in steep, rocky areas. If you see one, or signs of one, let your
supervisor know.
Ungulates is the name for
the group of animals that includes moose, elk, deer, and caribou. Moose are probably the most dangerous, and
I’ve had planters who were chased by moose.
Keep an eye out. You'll probably
run into deer fairly often, but they're generally small enough that they run
away immediately when they see you.
Caribou and elk are bigger than deer, especially elk, but they're not
very common on planting blocks.
Wolves are secretive and
shy away from people. I’ve only seen a
handful of wolves on the blocks. If you
run into one, stand your ground and be calm, and don’t turn away from it or try
to run. I can’t think of any case in
North America where a person has ever been attacked by a healthy wolf. Coyotes are much more common than
wolves. They’re much smaller, maybe
25-40 pounds each, but I'd consider them to be far more dangerous. They’re unpredictable, and often hunt in
packs. Packs of coyotes have
occasionally been known to kill people, although I don’t believe that's ever
happened to a tree planter. After all,
you have a shovel, and you can fight back.
Sometimes you’ll plant in
areas where cattle are grazing. The cows
are generally going to run away if you get too close, but the bull won’t. If you run into a bull, and it looks like he
wants to charge you, back away slowly.
Insects
Wasps, hornets, and bees
are prevalent, especially during warm weather in July and beyond. Some of the blocks that you plant on will
have nests. Depending on the exact
species, the nest could be hanging from a branch or underground. Either way, you might bump into it or
unexpectedly open it with a shovel, and get a nasty surprise. Run away.
Don’t forget your shovel.
With some species, a
single sting is all you’ll receive, and with other species, multiple stings are
quite possible.
If you’ve been stung
before, you’ll probably know if you’re allergic to the sting. An allergic reaction to a sting is called an
anaphylactic reaction, because your body starts to go into what’s known as
anaphylactic shock. This is not
good. In some cases, people have
problems breathing, and need to be rushed to medical aid.
Even if you don’t have a
history of allergies to stings, it’s possible to develop an allergy part-way
through life, or you might be allergic to one of the several species that
hasn’t stung you yet. Some people react
differently to stings from different species.
So even if you think you’re not allergic, don’t rule allergies out entirely. Most planters, however, are able to carry on
without serious reactions to stings.
No matter what, if you get
stung, a wise first step is to take a couple of antihistamine tablets, to
temper the allergic reaction. One of the
biggest problems with anaphylactic shock is that a victim starts to panic if
they’re having problems breathing, which is a catch-22 situation that causes
additional problems. If you’re nervous
after a sting, and you're waiting to see if you’ll have a problem, my advice is
to take a few antihistamines and sit in the shade for fifteen minutes or
so. This way, you’ll be less likely to
have an accelerated pulse that speeds up the reaction. If you do this, always notify someone
first! You don’t want to sit down and
have a bad reaction in the shade while nobody notices that something is
happening to you. Sitting still and
being calm for a short period of time reduces the likelihood of a serious
reaction.
Planters with known severe
allergies are wise to carry epi-pens.
This device administers the user with a shot of adrenaline which
temporarily blocks the allergic reaction for a short time, giving the victim
time to get to antihistamines and/or medical aid. If you carry antihistamines in your planting
bags for emergencies, make sure they’re well wrapped in a couple layers of
waterproof zip-lock baggies, so they aren’t ruined when you need them.
Ticks are common in areas
with heavy brush, long grass, and areas used by herd animals, like deer and
cattle. They latch onto passing animals
or planters, crawl upward to a warm and hair-covered area, then dig in and feed
on your blood. Ticks can carry a few
harmful diseases, such as Lyme disease.
Avoid tick bites by wearing clothing that covers your skin. If you’re working in a grassy area that might
have ticks, check yourself carefully at the end of each day. I’ve rarely encountered widespread problems
with ticks in northern BC, but I’ve worked in some problem areas further south. If you discover a tick, go see your first aid
attendant for assistance.
Black flies, gnats,
no-see-ums, mosquitoes, and other small flying insects can drive a planter
crazy. Not only are they a nuisance, but
if they bite, they can cause discomfort and swelling, especially around the face
and eyes. Although some people just use
lots of mosquito repellants, other planters are leery of applying DEET and
other chemicals to their skin. If you’re
concerned, your best option is to wear long sleeves and pants. Tuck your shirt into your pants, and your
pants into your socks. I’ve never seen
a planter wear a bug net hat for more than a single day, so I can only assume
that they’re not practical. BC is
generally a lot better for black flies and mosquitoes than most other
provinces, although they can get to be pretty bad in the northern part of the
province, up north of Prince George.
Miscellaneous
You may end up working
with helicopters at some point. Every
single pilot will give you a detailed safety briefing before you use the
machine, and if you switch pilots or helicopters, you’ll have to go through
another. Pay attention, especially if
you’ve been using helicopters for less than three or four seasons. Every helicopter is slightly different, and
every pilot has some variations on their exact preferences around their
machine.
Here are some useful
safety points for working around helicopters, although you'll definitely need a
much more detailed safety briefing when that time comes:
- Wear your seatbelt. It’s probably a full harness, not a lap belt,
and some of them fasten quite differently than car and truck seatbelts. Helicopters can crash too.
- Don’t smoke around a
helicopter. Jet fuel is fairly
flammable.
- Never go uphill when
walking away from a helicopter. Even an
extra foot of height could be enough to put your head into the spinning rotor
blades. Many pilots will prefer for you
to crouch beside the machine, with everyone in eyesight of the pilot, before
they take off again.
- Watch out for loose
bundle wrappers. It’s amazing that a
little piece of saran wrap can get sucked up into the rotors and force a
shutdown and inspection. If a bundle
wrapper got sucked into the engine, the situation would be even worse, and very
expensive.
- Secure all tarps, pieces
of clothing, and anything else that weighs less than about a hundred pounds if
it’s near a potential landing zone.
- Don’t use flagging tape
within about a hundred feet of a landing zone.
Or if you really have to, tie it to branches instead of throwing it
loosely onto the ground.
Hydrogen sulfide is a
poisonous gas that is commonly found around planting sites in Alberta, but you
can also find it less frequently in parts of BC, especially northeastern
BC. It's also referred to by its
chemical formula, H2S. It’s highly
poisonous, and kills a few people each year in the oil & gas industry. It smells like rotten eggs, but in high
concentrations, it kills your sense of smell, so you might think that it’s gone
away. Methane, a naturally occurring
swamp gas, also smells like rotten eggs, but doesn’t kill you. I've never heard of H2S being a problem for
planters as a naturally occurring substance from a ground seep. Typically, it's much more of a risk in
enclosed spaces, and it's only something to be aware of when you’re working on
blocks beside oil & gas processing infrastructure. If that’s the case, you’ll get an extensive
safety briefing. If you smell that
rotten egg smell and you're not working near oil and gas infrastructure,
chances are high that it’s just methane bubbling up from swampy ground.
Winches are strong steel
cables attached to small motors, which can be attached to the front or back of
trucks or pieces of heavy equipment.
They can be quite useful for pulling another truck out of a mud-hole. However, when this happens, the winch cable
can be under a tremendous amount of pressure.
Planters tend to like to stand close to watch when this is
happening. This is bad. Make sure that everyone is at least two cable
lengths away from the closest point of the operation. Winch cables can easily snap under pressure,
even though they’re usually rated for at least ten or twelve thousand
pounds. When this happens, I’ve seen
parts go flying, which is obviously a danger to bystanders. You’ll understand the danger more clearly if
you ever see a broken cable punch through several radiators in the front end of
a crew cab, or put a hole through the hood of a truck. There are similar problems with tow ropes,
although my experience has been that winch cables are by far the more dangerous
of the two. If you drape a heavy jacket
over the middle of a winch cable that's under pressure, it's less likely that
the cable will cause damage if it snaps.
If you’re using axes or
hatchets around camp, make sure the heads are attached properly to the handles. You don’t want to be swinging one of those
and have the head go flying off and injure someone. Also, make sure the shaft is in good shape
and isn’t cracking.
In every camp, and on
every block, there should be designated Mustering Points. A mustering point is the location where
everyone gathers if there's an emergency signal. For an emergency signal, you can pick
something that creates as much noise as possible, such as repeated safety
whistles blowing, or repeated truck horns.
When you hear the emergency signal, everyone should immediately stop
working and meet at the mustering point, to react to the emergency. It could be a bear on the block, a planter
who has collapsed from heat stroke, a fire discovered on a nearby block, or any
of dozens of other problems. During an
emergency, it’s good to have a lot of helping hands, in case someone needs to
be evacuated from the block on a stretcher.
Roll Call is another good
practice. In an emergency situation,
when everyone has met at the mustering point, there needs to be a way to
quickly check to ensure that nobody is still out on the block. All crews must also do a roll call at the end
of the day before driving home for dinner, to make sure that nobody gets left behind. Planters have occasionally been forced to
spend a night on the block when roll call was forgotten.
Industry-Certified
Training Courses
There are a number of
industry-certified training courses available from various training
institutions. Most of these are not
cheap, although in some cases, your company will pay for them. These courses are more frequently taken by
experienced workers or management personnel than by first-year planters. Here’s a short list of some of the common
courses:
- Transportation of
Dangerous Goods (TDG): This course is
targeted at drivers, and educates them about policies that need to be followed
when someone is transporting dangerous goods in large quantities (ie. tanks of
gasoline or diesel or jet fuel, large numbers of propane canisters).
- S-100 Fire Suppression: This is the basic entry-level course for
people who might become involved in fighting wildfires. It teaches participants about things like
fire behavior, and basic equipment operation and management. There are additional higher level courses in
this series (such as the S-185).
- BCTS EMS: This is a course designed to familiarize
participants with the EMS system that is used throughout the province by the BC
Timber Sales organization.
- Level 1 OFA: This is the basic entry-level occupational first
aid course. This is usually a one-day
course or, if you also take the recommended Transportation Endorsement
component, a full weekend.
- Level 3 OFA: This is an advanced first aid program that
involves two weeks of instruction. This
course is designed for first aid attendants who must work in very difficult
conditions, such as treating victims of life-threatening accidents at remote
forestry, mining, and oil & gas worksites.
Because of WorkSafe BC regulations pertaining to first aid, obtaining
your OFA3 certification is pretty much a sure way of getting your foot in the
door at just about any company you want to work for. Many planting companies are required to have
several OFA3’s in each camp.
- Many more courses have
self-explanatory names, such as H2S Alive, Safe Bush Driving, ATV Safety, and
Chainsaw Safety.
-----
Here’s an Audio version of this material, in case you
want to listen while you’re driving, running, at work, or otherwise unable to
read or watch video:
Click on the down-arrow icon in the upper right corner of
the SoundCloud widget to download the mp3.
Once again, for further information about this series of
tree planter training information, visit:
I encourage you to share this information with anyone
else who might be interested. Thanks for
your interest and support!
-
Jonathan “Scooter” Clark
