Category Archives: Health & Safety

There was a fire in Interfor‘s waste wood piles at its Castlegar sawmill in British Columbia yesterday.

High winds yesterday afternoon caused smoke to cover the Castlegar/Robson area.  Fighting the fire proved difficult due to the winds.  Two helicopter with bucket crews were brought in to assist and the fire was extinguished by midnight.

The cause of the fire is unknown. Fire Chief Gerry Rempel said the fire is not being treated as suspicious.  No one was injured and structures were damaged.

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A fire yesterday at Domtar‘s Dryden, Ontario mill is under investigation.

The fire was reported between the 4th and 5th floors of the building, burning in the equipment.

“It was product burning, combustible materials inside of the equipment of the machinery on the fourth and fifth floors of the seven story building. It was contained to the equipment and extinguished by the mill fire crews,” Dryden fire chief Ken Kurz said.

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A logging truck driver was killed in British Columbia on April 8.  The death is the second direct harvesting fatality of 2013 in British Columbia.

The driver was fatally injured while attempting to cut free a log that was not positioned properly in the load. After using a chainsaw to buck a section of the log free, the remainder of the log swung around and struck the driver.

This incident occurred on West Thurlow Island, which is located east of Campbell River.

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A committee has been formed in Thunder Bay, Ontario that is looking into cancer rates at the their pulp and paper mill.

Bob Hoffman, a spokesman for the CEP, said, “In general [the cancer rate is high] in Thunder Bay, but it seems to be higher at certain areas of the mill.”

The committee includes Resolute Forest Products, as current owner of the mill, and representatives from the 4 unions present at the mill.

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CBC is reporting that Northern Pulp in Nova Scotia has again been ordered by the provincial Department of the Environment to fix their air pollution.

The mill’s total reduced sulphur and particulate levels have exceeded allowable levels.

Nova Scotia’s Environment Department’s Regional director Jay Brenton told the CBC that the company has been issued an order to fix the problem.

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There was a incident reported at the McKenzie Forest Products mill in Hudson, Ontario on Tuesday.

An employee suffered a crushing injury to his left arm and was transported to a Winnipeg hospital.

The injury occurred while the employee was changing saw blades.

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There are 2 meetings scheduled for the public this week over Peace Valley OSB‘s application to use methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) as the new resin in their OSB product.

At a public meeting in December, residents expressed their concerns about the use of MDI on their health.

The first meeting this week will be tonight at the Baldonnel School where residents will be invited to speak.

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The OSB plant in Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan hopes to reopen soon after a fire on Friday.

“Due to the effective functioning of the facility’s fire suppression systems, quick action by our emergency response team and the Meadow Lake Fire Department, there was relatively little damage to the plant and equipment and we are targeting to be operational again by Tuesday,” said Parker Snyder Tolko’s plant manager at Meadow Lake.

Most of the clean-up operations have now been completed.

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The fire at the oriented strand board (OSB) plant in Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan started in the bulk storage facility adjacent to the main facility around 3am local time on Friday.

“The definite cause of the fire is still under investigation, but the origin is not dust or explosion related,” said Parker Snyder Tolko’s plant manager at Meadow Lake.

No one was injured.

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A fire started overnight at the oriented strand board (OSB) facility in Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan.

The plant’s fire control system activated correctly and Tolko’s emergency team responded immediately. With assistance from the Meadow Lake Fire Department it took a few hours to bring the fire under control. No one was injured.

“Ensuring the safety of employees is always our first priority, and an evacuation order was issued,” said Parker Snyder, plant manager at Meadow Lake.

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