BC TIMBER SALES ACHIEVES SAFE COMPANY CERTIFICATION

VICTORIA – As part of the Ministry of Forests and Range’s commitment to improve safety for forest workers, BC Timber Sales has now achieved SAFE company certification from the BC Forest Safety Council, Minister Pat Bell announced today.

“Making the forest sector a safer place to work has always been an overriding principle in BCTS activities,” said Bell. “Being certified as a SAFE company is an important milestone, one that marks an ongoing commitment to creating safe work sites and pursuing safety improvements for clients, customers and staff.”

BC Timber Sales was registered in the Safety Accord Forestry Enterprise (SAFE Companies) program of the B.C. Forest Safety Council in April 2007. Certification is issued only when independent auditors determine a company has effectively implemented a health and safety management system that meets the shared safety standard set by industry.

In addition to achieving certification itself, BCTS is also seeking to enhance safety in the forest sector by requiring firms bidding on BCTS fieldwork contracts (such as road building or reforestation), and those directing or employing workers on timber sale licences issued by BCTS, to be SAFE Company certified after Dec. 31, 2008.

“The SAFE Companies program signals a transformative change in how our industry thinks about and manages safety,” said Tanner Elton, the council’s CEO. “The participation of Timber Sales is very important and demonstrates they are not only requiring this standard of others, they are applying it to themselves. That is real leadership.”

BC Timber Sales manages about one-fifth of the province’s allowable annual cut. It manages public forest land, issues licences to harvest public timber, and is responsible for reforestation and road construction activities in areas that it manages. Its role is to provide a credible reference point for costs and pricing of timber harvested from public forests in B.C.

The SAFE Companies program was launched in 2006, and has certified 850 firms to date. The program was developed by the BC Forest Safety Council in conjunction with industry and WorkSafeBC, with the goal of ensuring effective safety programs for forestry operations in British Columbia.

A photo of the SAFE Certification presentation is available online at www.for.gov.bc.ca/pab/media

For more information about the BC Forest Safety Council's SAFE Companies program: www.bcforestsafe.com/program-safeco-index.htm

For more details on BC Timber Sales' safety program: www.for.gov.bc.ca/bcts/safety/

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Media contact:	Robert Pauliszyn Communications Director 250 213-5096

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