Dig it! Students get real work experience.

Tree planting is a summertime right of passage for many students.

It means a 6 a.m. wake-up in call rain, shine or sometimes even snow, followed by a bumpy bus ride down a washboard-surfaced logging road into a planting block. Sometimes it involves a "heli-plant" drop into a hilly remote area.

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Once there, it's repetitive, stoop labour where production pays off. This blackfly-infested character-building work can also be downright hazardous at times for the inexperienced.

"The day is about bending over, kicking dirt and using a shovel anywhere from 1,000 to 2,000 times a day," says Johanna Rowe, health and safety manager for The Wilderness Group, a Wawa-based forest service company.

Besides the camaraderie, the reward involves piecework, usually about eight to ten cents per tree. "The tougher the ground, the higher the piece rate."

The eight-to-10 week period between late April and late June is prime planting season for forest service companies.

A typical day for the 300 to 800 college and university-aged planters they recruit annually for bush work in northwestern Ontario can be both "physically and mentally demanding," says Rowe.

Ankle sprains from trips and falls on rocky, loose terrain are common, as are lower back strains. Sometimes heat exhaustion and second-degree sunburns require treatment.

A vital piece of gear is a Fox 40 whistle to ward off aggressive bears. "We've had planters attacked in the past," says Rowe. "We're getting into a position where more people are in the bush and we're starting to have more interaction with bears."

Experienced planters know the rigours of the bush, but the company makes a conscious effort to instruct newcomers on how to avoid accidents. Planters receive instruction on proper technique, warm-up exercises, accident-reporting procedures, WHMIS and MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) for handling propane and coming in contact with tree fungicides. Planters must also be cognizant about working near active logging roads.

They also deal with the mental element on how to best repel insects without going crazy and to prepare themselves for going days without a shower.

Forest fires can also be a real danger especially if planters don't respect regulations on working in restrictive fire zones.

Tree planting companies like Wilderness. Group also place a premium on individual physical fitness. Before on-line job applications, companies attending university and college fairs could size up if a person is right for the work.

"Now we have to word our questions of what's expected in terms of lifting and walking distances. We try to provide as much website information as possible to avoid any surprises on the job."

The silviculture industry has placed a great emphasis on bush safety for summer students in recent years.

The Ontario Forestry Safe Workplace Association's (OFSWA) health and safety guides for planters covers safe work habits, how to deal with bears and even offers health tips for women working in the bush.

"Up to 50 per cent of lost time injuries in tree planting are strain and sprain injuries," says John Levesque, an OFSWA program developer, "but also over-exertion and repetitive motion from bending down."

They offer a six-module course through their website (safeplanting.com) which forest companies can purchase online and use to fulfill their health and safety obligations, or use as a condition of employment.

Despite all the precautions, planting will always be dangerous work for the inexperienced. Many Ontario workplace injury statistics consistently show job inexperience plays a huge factor in young workers getting hurt.

"The work is gruelling and it's very long hours," says Levesque.

"There's an incentive to work as hard as possible and if (planters) haven't properly conditioned themselves before the work begins, there's a large number of injuries that occur in the first few weeks.

"In our program, we emphasize getting yourself ready weeks before the work actually starts or you'll find it a pretty tough slog and dangerous in terms of repetitive strain injuries."

OFSWA statistics show musculoskeletal injuries--also known as sprains and strains--accounting for almost half of all lost-time injury claims in all forestry sectors in 2004, with 48 per cent occurring in silviculture and other forestry services. Others injuries include tears of muscle, tendon, ligament and joint damage from falls, followed by being struck by objects, bodily reaction, over-exertion and repetitive motion.

Young workers in the service and retail business were the leading sector for lost time claims in the 15-24 age group, reports the Industrial Accident Preventation Association (IA-PA). That is followed by the manufacturing, transportation and construction sectors. Seasonal forestry work is in the middle of the pack.

In 2000, there were 17,089 lost time injury claims (where an individual took more than one day's work off) in that age group in all sectors. Those figures were reduced to 13,354 in 2004. Fatalities dropped from 16 to seven in the same period.

While more safety-conscious young people and volunteer outreach programs are having an effect on the statistics, those 13,000 injuries are still cold comfort to IAPA vice-president of operations, Michael Abromeit.

"That's the equivalent of one bus load of kids getting hurt each day on the job."

New and young workers are five times more likely to get hurt during the first month of the job, he says, a fact they've incorporated in their CD and web-based First 4 Weeks training program.

A lack of awareness and work experience is a leading cause of injury, but sometimes over-enthusiasm to please the employer plays a factor as well.

"We see this time and again with young people trying to impress the boss," says Abromeit.

Many kids are reluctant to ask questions, which is dangerous if they're entering the work place with a reduced hazard perception.

Abromeit encourages parents and students to ask questions about safety procedures and encourages employers to provide a "welcoming" environment where young people won't feel intimidated to speak up.

At Sault Ste. Marie's Flakeboard Company, students aren't just relegated to sweeping floors and carrying out the trash, they're thrown right into the production mix. But the makers of medium density fibreboard (MDF) back it up with a rigorous and award-winning safety orientation program.

"We keep a tight leash on our students," says Kieran Foley, the mill's health and safety coordinator. Flakeboard's safety policies are a combination of guidelines from their predecessor company, Georgia-Pacific, OSHA (the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration), the Ministry of Labour and industry best practices.

The mill boasts a virtually clean safety record since they ran the first MDF (medium density fibreboard) board in 1996. Only one lost-time injury claim was recorded, in March 1997, when an employee suffered a slight back injury.

"We really stress the training," says Foley.

Before setting foot on the shop floor, students spend a full orientation week with health and safety officers reviewing practices such as lifting and carrying, fall arrest, lockout, working in confined spaces, dust combustion, hot work understanding and emergency procedures.

For many summer hires, it's their first time in a manufacturing environment and they're paired up with an experienced worker for two more weeks of competency training.

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Though many companies prefer experienced workers operating equipment such as forklifts, Flakeboard has no qualms about summer students as drivers, provided they meet certain strict criteria. A summer employee must possess a clean driving record and must successfully complete a day and a half of theoretical and practical training.

"We scrutinize them through their time here and if they have any slight incidents, they are withdrawn," says Foley.

Young forklift drivers are not allowed to be storing in the warehouse or loading trucks, but are confined to short, small lifts such as placing units of board on the in- and out-feed of the production process.

Safety in many summer jobs is basically learning to keep one's head on a swivel and knowing where to stand, as is the case at Tulloch Engineering and Surveying.

Hard hats, safety vests, fly dope and sunscreen are all standard issue with the Thessalon-based highway engineering firm that is currently engaged in the Highway 69 four-laning project between Sudbury and Parry Sound.

"Heavy truck traffic while on the highway is the number one hazard," says Pat King, Tulloch's health and safety officer. He says general awareness of where to stand is heavily promoted.

Many summer workers either work in bush survey crews or as junior inspectors, acting as traffic spotters or ticket takers for heavy trucks hauling granular material to the work site.

All young employees receive a four-day safety orientation that includes advising them of their basic health and safety rights (right to participate, right to refuse unsafe work, etc.) and what hazards they can expect.

Part of that training involves positioning in relation to traffic and falling trees.

"We always try to have a third person--usually a student watching for traffic--when walking across highways to take (survey) shots on shoulders and on the centre line," says King.

Luckily, he says the company has had no incidents with speeders or rubbernecking drivers.

"There's been a few close calls with (motorists) hitting our signs."

Most of their common ailments include strain injuries and eye problems caused by dust and twigs while walking through bush without safety glasses.

King says their safety policies stem from company best practices while others, like chainsaw courses, are developed through the Ontario Forestry Safe Workplace Association.

www.safeplanting.com

www.ofswa.on.ca

www.iapa.ca

www.tulloch.on.ca

www.wilderness.on.ca

By IAN ROSS

Northern Ontario Business