COVID -19 IN THE WORKPLACE, FOOD FOR THOUGHT

December 2, 2020 by Bill Layton

Be sure to make sure you have COVID – 19 Safety protocols in place at your worksite. Worksites can be outside, in the cab of equipment or a logging truck as well as inside an office.

There is a large amount of information from the news and on the internet. Public Health Orders issued by the Chief Medical Officer for the Province must be adhered to and police and bylaw officers have the authority to enforce them through fines.

There are many different scenarios around how COVID rules apply. For instance, if a worker tests positive for COVID and has been in contact with workers, then there needs to be a 14 day quarantine put in place for all workers who were in contact.

Other scenarios are less clear. For example, a workers daughter was exposed to someone at school who tested positive. The daughter showed up at the worksite without knowing she was exposed. She shows no symptoms but she was still in contact with other worker in the workplace. What’s the protocol?

In this instance, the daughter couldn’t get a test because she had no symptoms but was still required to self isolate along with her mom who wasn’t allowed to come to work. What about all the other staff who were in the building?

So we need to be cognizant of this and management needs to make a decision. Should everyone self quarantine for 14 days as well?

Make sure you are clear on the rules around COVID-19 at your worksite.

MFLRNO Contractors Must Be Safe Certified

January 10, 2017 by Craig Kennedy

Deadline for Ministry of Forests Contractors

Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations (FLNRO) will soon require contractors to be Safe Certified for all competitively tendered and direct award contracts. Some subcontractors will also need to be SAFE certified.

The deadline for contractors to become SAFE certified is April 1, 2017.

You’ll need SAFE certification if you provide any of the following services:

Road construction, maintenance and deactivation;
Silviculture;
Forest health;
Contracts that involve hand falling;
Range ecosystem restoration work;
BC Timber Sales contracts;
Recreation Branch contracts;
BC Wildfire Service operational contracts; and
Professional service contracts.

How to Become SAFE Certified

To become SAFE Certified you need three things:

Register your company with the BC Forest Safety Council,
Create an Occupational Health and Safety Program, and
Submit a certification audit to the BCFSC.

It’s that simple.

Kennedy Forest & Safety Consultants can help you create your Health and Safety Program and help you through the process to become SAFE Certified.

Please contact Craig Kennedy today for more information!

Call Craig Kennedy

250-305-6633

2014 Fire Crew Standing Offers

January 31, 2014 by Craig Kennedy

January 28, 2014

From: Craig Kennedy, Kennedy Forest & Safety Consultants

Williams Lake, BC

250-267-3722

Re: 2014 Fire Crew Standing Offers with Wildfire Branch

Hello Everyone!

The Ministry of Forests’ Wildfire Branch will be issuing a Request for Standing Offers (RSO) for Five Pack Fire Crews in April of this year. It’s time to start putting together your training and business plans for having contract fire crews, and to prepare the Standing Offer proposals.

The goal is to have two or more “5-Pack” Fire Crews registered with the Wildfire Branch and available for fire-fighting duties. There are a minimum of two 5-Pack Fire Crews in each Standing Offer.

Time is Limited

The Standing Offer proposal to Wildfire Branch a is a detailed document and assembling all of the records and information is time consuming. Now is the time to start on yours if your community or company hopes to have it ready for April.

Completing a Fire Crew Proposal

Here is a brief summary of the RFP requirements:

Pricing for each 5-pack fire crew
Customized Safe Work Procedures
Training records and certificates for all crew members
Vehicle inspections and approvals
Equipment list including tools, radios etc.
WCB Clearance Letter
Certificate of General Insurance
Resume of crew leader
Fax machine that is monitored daily
Two-way radios
24-hour emergency kits

The Standing Offer means your crew is approved to be on-call for fire crew services to the Ministry of Forests. A Proposal must be submitted to the Wildfire Branch by the due date and it must be complete or it will be rejected.

Kennedy Forest & Safety Consultants is available to assist you in submitting a Request for Standing Offer On-Going Fire Crew Services to the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resources.

How We Prepare Your Standing Offer

Collecting Crew Information

The proposal includes detailed training and work experience information. It helps for us to do some of this in person and to develop relationships with key people.

We come to your office, if requested, and spend a day scanning resumes and training records to build into the proposal.

This is a good opportunity to get started with the person who will be getting all this information from crew members. It’s also a chance to meet with admin staff and discuss equipment purchases and vehicle upgrades.

Pricing

The Proposal includes day rate pricing for each 5-person fire crew.

We help price your services so that they meet the terms of MOFLNR. It’s critical that crew prices fit within Wildfire Branch’s criteria.

Insurance, WCB and Safe Work Procedures

The corporate entity holding the Standing Offer (Band, development corporation, etc.) must show that it carries sufficient insurance, is in good standing with Worksafe BC, and has a safety plan specific to fire operations.

We work with your insurance agent to ensure your General Liability policy is adequate and help them prepare a certificate to include in the Proposal.

We get a Clearance Letter from WCB for inclusion in the report, or work with your staff to get a Clearance Letter in place if it is not available.

We develop a customized Safe Work Procedure for your 5-Pack Fire Crew that meets the MOFLNR requirements.

Vehicles more than seven years old must be certified and inspected and each one specifically listed on the proposal.

We work with your staff to meet this requirement of the Proposal. This might involve repairs, maintenance and inspections, or looking at leasing options.

Training

Training is a key part of meeting the proposal requirements, any lack of training must be addressed immediately.

We work with your staff to create a list of people and certificates for inclusion in the Proposal and make sure it is complete and properly formatted for acceptance.

We create a list of training that is up to date, missing or needing updating and use this to plan training needs.

We work with Band staff to arrange for funding as well as training through training agencies or private suppliers.

Vehicles and Equipment

Each vehicle put forward in the Proposal must meet safety requirements and its VIN must be recorded in the proposal. The vehicle will be part of the subsequent inspection by MOFLNR.

Equipment must be ready for inspection as well.

We assist you in getting all equipment sourced, purchased and inventoried. We work with a supplier in Williams Lake to get the best pricing on tool sets.

There are also opportunities to bring supplemental equipment to fires and generate additional revenue.

We work with your staff to determine if equipment is available already or whether it’s worth obtaining this equipment.

Administration

Your Band staff or Dev. Corp. (or a Band contractor) must be prepared to support the 5-Pack fire crew when it is called out on a fire or put on standby. That means monitoring a fax machine for alerts and having the infrastructure in place for invoicing and time keeping.

We will provide templates and instructions for invoicing so that this takes place in a timely manner and meets the billing cycle of the MOFLNR. Cash flow is a critical aspect to this contract work and it doesn’t pay to get behind in billing.
We will also show you where there are opportunities for additional billing to make your crew more profitable.

Admin Training and Support

We provide the following manuals and templates to help manage your crew:

Office Manual: how to invoice the MOFNLR and manage cash flow
Invoice Templates (Excel) to speed up the billing process
Customized Safe Work Procedure for each 5 Pack crew
Tip Sheet: how to take advantage of extra billing opportunities for your crew
Payroll Management: how to make sure timesheets are filled out and submitted so they don’t hold up payment
How to Maintain Equipment: a manual for the fire crew so you don’t lose the investment in fire tools
How to Keep a Fire Diary: so the foreman maintains adequate records

Extras

If requested, we provide extras like:

Appropriate Fire-Rated clothing for crew members
Personal Protective Equipment (hardhats, gloves, boots, etc.)
24 Hour Emergency Kit for crew including lockable tote box
special price on 2 Way Radios
food kits and emergency supplies
Ready-to-Go fire-fighting tool kits

The extras are things we have sourced ourselves. The Emergency Kit, for example, can be supplied ready to go with all the necessary supplies. We have an independent radio programmer in Williams Lake for the two way radios.

Our Services

Please contact us as soon as possible if you think you are interested in submitting a Standing Offer proposal to the Wildfire Branch. We would be happy to discuss helping you build a fire crew business for your community.

Here is a summary of what we do to create a successful Standing Offer:

Prepare and submit “Proponent Response” Proposal to MOFNLR.
Show your staff how to price the service to make a profit from the crew
Perform Training Needs Analysis and facilitate training
Arrange for fire training services for S-100 group of courses
Work with your insurance agent to prepare a Certificate of General Insurance
Show you strategies for extra billing
Get a WCB Clearance Letter
Assist in collecting personnel information
assembling vehicle list and information for the proposal
help schedule preparation activities in May

If requested, we provide extras like:

Fire Rated Clothing and PPE
24 Hour Emergency kit for crew
Special price on 2 Way Radios
Food kits and emergency supplies
Ready-to-Go tool kits

Our Goal

Our goal is to submit a fully complete proposal to Wildfire Branch for two or more 5 Pack Fire Crews for your community. This is an excellent economic opportunity for Bands and their development corporations.

A 5 Pack Crew generates significant employment and revenue and crews tend to be busy during the fire season when other activities like silviculture are slow or even shut down.

Our objectives are to:

get your proposal submitted.
have the proposal be complete and accepted when submitted, and
ensure your crews are priced and managed to make a profit for the Band.

This is an all-in-one service. Pricing will vary somewhat if you already have key pieces complete (like a 5-Pack Safe Work Procedure). The “extras” mentioned above are not included in this cost, we are simply able to get a good price on these items and can pass that along as a convenience.

We specialize in preparing and submitting complete proposals.

Initial Consultation

The list of requirements for a 5-Pack Fire Crew is long and detailed and the proposal will be rejected if it is missing anything. If you think you’re interested, call and let’s have an initial discussion on whether a 5 Pack Fire Crew will work for your community.

Even more important:

We will tell you if you don’t have enough people and resources to successfully submit a proposal.

Supporting a set of 5 Pack crews is a significant venture and it won’t work without the right people and administrative support. We aren’t interested in billing you for OUR services unless we know that you will be able to turn around and successfully bill for yours!

Please let me know as soon as possible if you are interested in this service, and thank you for taking the time to read this. We will be happy to answer any questions you may have and we will also gladly supply references on request.

Craig Kennedy Forest and Safety Consultant

Craig Kennedy

Kennedy Forest & Safety Consultants

250-267-3722

kennedysafety@gmail.com

bcsafetyconsultants.com

BCFSC Changes Safety Audit Format

August 1, 2012 by Craig Kennedy

How Has Safety Audit System Changed?

The BC Forest Safety Council has changed the way safety audits are submitted. I have highlighted some of the changes to the submission that I have found.

The new version:

Has categories of audit submissions on one form
Removed the scoring summary
No longer requires you to disclose where you keep your files.
Does not require you to explain how the supervisor is qualified
Does not require you to submit basic Safety Rules
Safety Orientations are submitted for new workers only.
Has less policy required in your submission.

What I like About New Safety Audit Process

The BC Forest Safety Council is listening to Industry and working to streamline the safety audits.

The older audits were organized by elements with letters, A,B,C etc. The old audit has basically been pulled apart and rebuilt in a different format using elements with numbers, 1,2,3, etc. A 10% reduction in submission documents.

What I Don’t Like About New Safety Audit Process

The BC Safety council has indicated in its explanation of the new safety audit version that the supervisors and owners of forest companies should be conducting safety site inspections themselves, including hazard assessments and any other site related inspections.

According to BCFSC, third party inspections are not sufficient to be submitted with the safety audit.

Many older logging and silviculture contractors prefer to hire safety contractors to visit their sites and complete the paperwork. The information collected by a third party is still communicated to the owners and workers and kept on file.

Conclusions

Hiring a contractor like Finning to come on a work site site and fix a piece of equipment to keep a business running is essentially like hiring a safety consultant to come onsite to keep the paperwork organized so Safe Certification can be maintained allowing the business to continue.

The BCFSC is working to make it easier for companies to gather information and submit their own audits. I do think that safety consultants provide a valuable service in helping keep companies on track by providing safety advice and site visits which helps owners and supervisors run their business safely and efficiently.

What does the SAFE Companies program mean?

June 18, 2012 by Craig Kennedy

The letters SAFE stand for Safety Accord Forestry Enterprise.

The Safe Companies program was an initiative developed by the BC forest sector to address safety in the forest industry. It was designed to provide assistance for companies in improving their safety performance and to evaluate company safety programs using industry recognized audit protocols.

Since the inception of this program, the types and sizes of companies that can be evaluated using one of three different audit tools has changed.

BASE audit (Basic Audit Safety Evaluation) is for companies that have 20 or more workers,
SEBASE audit (Small Employer BASE) is for companies that have between 6 and 19 workers,
ISEBASE audit (Independent Small Employer BASE) is for companies between 2 -5 persons and
Independent Owner Operator (IOO) program is for independent owner operators of 1 person companies.

More companies are becoming SAFE CERTIFIED!

I have been getting alot of enquiries lately from companies who are Individual Owner Operator mechanics and crane companies for example who want to become certified because they feel they may be loosing out on work to other companies that are safe certified.

It’s a great idea to get the designation regardless because it makes sense to continuously be looking at your safety practices and think how you can improve on them. I am always looking at better ways of conducting my business as well as yours more effectively and efficiently.

I get satisfaction from seeing workers wanting to talk about safety concerns at safety meetings and genuinely contributing to the companies overall safety program.