PRACTICES AND PERSPECTIVES

Barry Touzin, PPWC Local 15 – Skookumchuck Pulp and Joint Safety Committee Co-Chair, explains how trained safety captains drawn from the unionized workforce at the Skookumchuck mill are one of the broad-based efforts to achieve better safety outcomes.

Practices and Perspectives

The last lost-time injury at Paper Excellence’s Surrey Distribution Centre (SDC) was so long ago that it would be at least a year-and-half later before the word “COVID” became part of our daily lexicon.

That injury in 2018 was an unfortunately severe one. But the fact that there have been no lost-time injuries since is an impressive achievement. And while there’s never a safety silver bullet, this can likely be credited to a focus on a few key practices.

Although they have had to be deferred due to pandemic distancing requirements, SDC typically holds monthly all-employee safety meetings, with presentations and discussions of risk factors and incidents.

Pre-shift safety discussions are also consistently held, in part to focus attention on timely considerations such as weather and other seasonal factors. And all employees are encouraged to formally identify any hazards they observe.

A union-chaired joint safety committee has been empowered with the resources to effectively engage in tasks such as workplace inspections and incident and near-miss investigations, and there is a rigorous focus on reporting back on investigation results and corrective actions.

SDC also had a complete absence of any incidents requiring medical attention in 2021.

Practices and Perspectives

To successfully help nearly 25,000 hatchery coho salmon fry to mature over the course of a summer, you need both large-capacity tanks and a reliable supply of cool water.

Our Howe Sound mill happens to have both (it used to have an on-site hatchery). So when the Sunshine Coast Salmonid Enhancement Society had difficulties with water availability and temperatures at its nearby Chapman Creek Hatchery, Paper Excellence was a natural partner for it to turn to.

In late June, with creek temperatures rapidly climbing past 15°C, the Society transferred the fish to the mill, where much cooler water was available from Rainy River. And although water supply became tight over the summer at the mill too, careful management ensured sufficiency for all needs. The salmon stayed at Howe Sound for about 10 weeks, during which they matured from roughly 1.5 to 3.75 grams.

This avoided the risk of having to release them at an early stage from the hatchery, which significantly lowers their survival rate. The fish were transferred back to the hatchery at the end of August, and were due for release into Chapman Creek in spring 2022.

In the meantime, the Society has increased its well-based water supply, to give it more water-management latitude. But the “salmon summer camp” at Howe Sound mill was crucial to continuity of operations in 2021.

Practices and Perspectives

Transportation disruptions in British Columbia were so severe that at one point in late 2021 that Metro Vancouver – home to some 2.5 million people – was briefly cut off from any road connection with the rest of Canada due to flooding.

Rail operations in various parts of the province were also impacted, as they had been earlier in the year during large wildfires. And this was on top of pre-existing port congestion and shipping-pattern disruptions caused by the pandemic.

It amounted to major challenges for Paper Excellence, which continued in 2022. There were delays in getting raw materials to mills, and inventories climbed as it became harder and more expensive to get products to customers.

Supply-chain and weather challenges at times exacerbated each other. Lack of chips resulted in a sudden December production halt at Port Alberni, without time for the usual scope of pre-shut down procedures. Then unusually low temperatures caused equipment freeze-ups that delayed the re-start even when chips were available.

But ingenuity and exceptional effort helped moderate the impacts, particularly for customers. This involved using multiple transportation carriers and modes, and creative routing to get product to them.

Some pulp from Skookumchuck, for example, was sent by rail to the Surrey Distribution Centre, put on empty barges going back to the Crofton mill, and then loaded onto break bulk ships at Crofton’s deep sea port. This was a particularly useful work-around when shipping container capacity was at a premium.

PRACTICES AND PERSPECTIVES

Larry Cross, a recently retired Environment Manager at our Catalyst Port Alberni, explains how 40+ years ago an environmental management role at a mill could be a lonely undertaking. But how over the decades, everyone has come on board and it’s a team effort now.

PRACTICES AND PERSPECTIVES

Laura Thompson, MS and PhD, Principal at 4 Minutes LLC Consulting, explains how the paper industry stands apart from many others as a circular solution, and is an industry that is constantly feeding back into its own supply chain