VANCOUVER—To honor the safety efforts taking place across its operations, TimberWest recognized three contractors for their contribution and leadership in 2016 by awarding three Safety Leadership Awards.

The three safety leaders are:

  • Crew Safety Champion: Andy Harvie from Wolf Lake Logging
  • Safety Leader in Innovation: Coastline Forest Group, Don Bahen and Mary DeLury
  • Best Safety Culture: Spuzzum Contracting, Alben Stromquist and Jesse Stromquist

TimberWest works with a group of contractors who coordinate and manage close to 1,000 people in the woods every day. In a blog post about the safety awards, president and CEO Jeff Zweig wrote: “We have a tremendous amount of respect for the experience and capability our contractors, and their staff, bring to the job. In fact, many of the best ideas on how to improve efficiencies and safety have come from our contractors working on the ground.

“Our first, and most important, shared goal is getting everyone home safely every single day.”

Last year, TimberWest took the initiative to begin a step-change in workplace culture by engaging DuPont, a world leader in safety, to conduct a safety survey of all TimberWest and contractor staff across our operations.

The results led to some clear indicators for safety improvement, Zweig noted. “In 2016 we achieved a below coastal industry average medical incident rate of 3.31 per 200,000 hours worked. That is commendable. Our goal for 2017 is a further 50 per cent reduction in injuries, and so far, we are tracking well thanks to the commitment of our contractors.”