Occupational Health and Safety and the Forestry Professional

This past February I had the opportunity to speak at the Ministry of Forests and Range’s Provincial Engineering Meeting, and my thanks go to the Resource Tenures and Engineering Branch’s Chief Engineer Brian Chow, M.Eng, P.Eng, for the invitation. When Brian first approached me he indicated that he was interested in a discussion of occupational health and safety in the forest industry from a legal perspective. Given I have spoken and worked in this field on numerous occasions I gladly accepted, fully expecting to speak to the usual questions of how the liability pie for occupational health and safety is divided up among various actors in the forest industry. As we discussed the matter further, though, Brian came up a more original idea: what responsibility, if any, do forestry professionals have for occupation health and safety on account of their status as forestry professionals?

I had not previously looked at the question from this perspective, and the slide show below outlines the resulting presentation. It is aimed more at RFPs and RFTs then PEngs or PGeos, though I think the overview of professional responsibility generally is potentially of broader interest.

I do not presume that my presentation is the complete and final word on the matter. Instead, the intent was more simply to raise the notion of occupation health and safety as a matter of professional responsibility for RPFs and RFTs given I had not previously heard it discussed so much in these terms. Please feel free to email me with any thoughts you may have on the matter.





The commentary in this blog is general in nature and does not constitute legal advice. Persons requiring further information or advice should contact Jeff Waatainen at 250.758.9485 or jeff@bcforestrylaw.com