Small tree-falling firms that face large safety risks are trying to survive in an increasingly competitive marketplace, say company operators.

Ted Beutler, owner of Nanaimo-based Aggressive Timber Falling, says companies are struggling to keep up with the competition - and fallers' safety is being compromised because many tree-falling firms are given an unrealistic timeframe to fall trees. Tree-falling companies are also constantly under-cutting each other's prices, he adds.

"The profit margins are shorter and (large forest companies that hold timber licences) have to meet their profit margins and everybody down below can just fight it out," he says.

The operators' comments come in the wake of a report by Mike McKibbin, president of the 250-member Western Fallers Association, which contends tree fallers in British Columbia's forests are dying at alarming rates. The report blames the industry, WorkSafeBC - formerly known as the Workers' Compensation Board (WCB) - and the Forests Ministry for the death rates.

Photo courtesy the Western Fallers Association
Most timber fallers are now independent contractors, but death and injury rates are rising.

According to McKibbin, there have been 59 fallers killed in the last 10 years and four in this season already. Eleven have been involved in crippling accidents. The association estimates there are more than 2,000 fallers now working in the province.

Fallers are the workers who are among the first into an area that is slated for logging. Their job, which is to cut down the trees, has always been regarded as one of the most dangerous occupations.

McKibbin and Tanner Elton, CEO of the B.C. Forest Safety Council, list a litany of reasons for the high fatality and accident rates. But the general theme is that rules and regulations in place are not enforced by the industry, the Forests Ministry and WorkSafeBC.

While McKibbin's report, entitled A View from the Field, points to the dangers on the job, it also cites the difficulties faced by falling companies, most of which are small firms.

"Independent falling companies no longer work well due to standards and instability created by the forest industry," the report contends.

McKibbin notes that many fallers are operating companies by necessity, not choice. In the 1980s, it became "virtually impossible" for fallers to find employment unless they started up their own one-man companies, he says.

In his report, McKibbin argues integrated companies could not afford to keep fallers on staff because of high WCB costs.

With each death, he says, the WCB rates went up. (However, he contends, large firms would still not have employed fallers if WCB rates had remained the same.)

Only a handful of payroll-based falling companies remain and the IWA-Steelworkers union - the organization formed from the merger of the Industrial, Wood and Allied Workers union and United Steelworkers of America in September 2004 - has to fight to keep every job, he adds.

Aggressive's Beutler, who is in his 19th season as a faller, believes falling companies face too much competition because large corporations and their main contractors stand to gain the biggest profits.

"Smaller companies at the lower end of the chain need to reap more of the benefits," says Beutler.

He adds the industry needs to address the key issue of inadequate lead times for fallers to go into an area before chokermen, equipment operators and heli-logging firms start hauling logs out of an area.

As a result of tighter schedules, he says, falling companies are being forced more often to have fallers working above other fallers - which poses more risk, especially on hilly terrain. Longer lead times and contracts would give tree-falling firms time to plan and fall trees in a safe, efficient manner, he adds.

Widely known in the industry, Aggressive employs approximately 50 fallers, but according to McKibbin's report, most falling companies are one-man operations.

The forest industry's objective is to have zero accidents, but Beutler says "it's just a simple fact that accidents happen.”

However, serious mishaps can still be prevented, he believes. "It's the ones that are caused by poor planning and management that really get under everybody's skin."

He says his company has a good safety record, and always strives to improve safety. But many other firms break safety rules, he believes, in order to make a profit and meet timeframes.

Unions can set the standards when it comes to safety and financial benefits for fallers, he adds, but the labour organizations are being "phased out" by the corporations that operate large forest companies.

"Back when unions were stronger, there's no way we would have helicopters logging our wood in such a short timeframe," says Beutler, who started working in the industry at the age of 17 and has been a union member in the past.

But Aggressive is a non-union firm because it couldn't compete as a unionized firm, he says. He hopes McKibbin's report prompts safety improvements, but is wary of angering companies that use Aggressive's services.

Elizabeth Therrien, co-owner of Terrace-based B.C. Contracting, also says her firm is constantly challenged over its rates because logging firms want to pay less.

"Every time we go up on a new contract, it doesn't matter what job it is, they say you're charging too much," says Therrien. "The rate that we give them is (always) way too much."

Elizabeth manages the financial side of the business while her husband Ray, a veteran tree faller, works in the bush. The company, which employs eight fallers and works exclusively in northwestern B.C., started up 15 years ago after Ray's former employer told him that he would have to start his own business. There was no official layoff or buyout package, but B.C. Contracting continues to do work for his former employer, says Elizabeth.

However, the firm has to deal with days when it can't charge for its services because of windy or unsafe conditions where fallers are forced to walk too far in the bush or climb over logs on roads or deal with other risks - "and then you get flak from the head foreman."

"There's no way we'll ever put a man in a position where he's going to lose his life or a limb," she says.

That approach has helped her company's business remain steady despite a downturn in the lumber industry in recent years, she says. But her small business is still not making large financial gains.

"Well, we're keeping our head above water - and that's about it," says Therrien.

The B.C. Forest Safety Council's Elton notes the proliferation of several small companies as a result of the restructuring of the forest industry has caused many concerns.

"It's hard to deliver safety programs to the very small companies," he says. As a result, the industry may have to introduce new tree-falling safety initiatives on a more "sectoralized" basis, he adds.

Elton says companies should not view safety as a cost of doing business, but a fundamental part of doing business.

Company size is not necessarily a factor when it comes to a tree-falling firm's safety record - or any other type of firm's record. But safety does make a difference between profit and loss, he adds.

"Safe companies tend to be profitable and efficient," says Elton. "And those that don't have good safety records, they'd have problems in other areas."

- With files from The Canadian Press

(Monte Stewart can be reached at monte@businessedge.ca)