IUOE News September 2014

President’s Message
Let’s remember to be
vigilant about safety
Wayne E. Mills,
President
Hello, I hope we all had a safe summer. With the return of the
cooler fall weather don’t forget how smoking hot July and
August were! And, with that change in weather, remember it
will take a little longer to stop your car in the rain. Also, when
school starts, the kids will be very excited and not watching
where they are going. So, drive safe.
After being out of our Burnaby office for a year while the
building was renovated, we are back in. The time spent doing
the upgrade was well worth it. We can look with pride as we
go forward. It’s the same pride that the leaders of our organization
had when they moved “way out to Burnaby” some 40
years ago.
Keeping things safe
As you may have noticed, I have been trying to start my publication
articles with a safety reference. We need to be vigilant
about safety, not only our own but those around us as well.
We need to remember to keep safety at the forefront whether
we are at work, at home or on holidays.
When we are at work and we see something we can’t let go,
it needs to be dealt with right away. If you are at
home and you see something that is unsafe,
what do you do? Walk away from it or make it
safe? You make it safe. You need to do the same
thing at work. Case in point is the tailing dam
at Mount Polley where a number of people
have come forward and said they knew it was
an environmental disaster waiting to happen. That is only part
of the problem. Another big part that I see is the provincial
and federal governments shedding their responsibility when
it comes to protecting our environment by having companies
self regulate or police themselves.
Money talks, BS walks when you tell a company to look
after a problem and report. But when there is a major issue
what do you expect? People say there have been issues with
the Mount Polley dam since 2011 but the governments have
never acted to fix the problem and fix it properly. You throw a
little more dirt on a dam, ask to pump out the excess water
and hope for the best, but it doesn’t always work.
In the last year, there were 30 tonnes of lead, 84 tonnes of
arsenic and some mercury, as well as other chemicals that
went into the tailings pond. Remember, that was just the last
year. That tailings pond has been in use for a number of years.
Now ask yourself: what happens if you dump 10 million cubic
metres of this water and toxic waste into fish-bearing waters?
The company has come out and said “we’re sorry”, no one
has gotten sick – yet – and the water in the tailing pond is
“almost” drinkable. How is it “almost” drinkable if it is killing
fish and you are told “don’t touch it”, in fact, “do not even get
it on your boat if you can help it”? Sounds safe to me.
The government has told the company it has 30 days to
come up with a plan to clean up the mess. How do you clean
it up? The first waterway it hit went from 4 feet wide to 150
feet and then flowed into Quesnel Lake which –at 2000 feet–
is the deepest fjord lake in Canada. From there the toxic laden
water went down the Quesnel River, past the town of Quesnel
and into the Fraser River, just in time for the salmon runs.
I have read in various blogs and news articles that the mine
should never have been built there to begin with. I disagree.
That is always the easy way out after the fact. The problem was
not the mine itself. It is those who had the authority to say you
don’t have to meet the environmental and safety standards so
a disaster like this doesn’t happen. The mine manager is the
final authority on that site and, as such, is responsible for the
crime (and that is what it is when you destroy the
environment).
Development needs to move forward in this province but
in a safe and environmentally sensitive manner. Whether it is
a mine, a gas plant, a pipeline or a marine load out facility,
there are rules needed that must be followed. The first thing to
do is consult with the people
who live in the potentially
affected areas and always
keep safety in mind for the
communities, wildlife and
the environment. Those who
preach “no development”
need to realize that if we do not continue to encourage industry
and improve our infrastructure, we will become a have-not
province. I do not believe that is what anyone wants to see.
Remember to work safe, play safe. If you see something
that is unsafe or an “accident waiting to happen”, fix it – don’t
wait and hope someone else does it.
In closing, I would like to welcome both Brother John
Munro on staff as a new organizer and Brother Brian Lefebvre
to Burnaby as the Director of Organizing. Both are hardworking
individuals and will do a first class job for our
organization. I also want to welcome our new members and
say thanks to our stewards for the hard work they do on behalf
of the members.
Development needs to move
forward in this province but in a
safe and environmentally
sensitive manner.
2 News September 2014