FOREST AROUND

FINLAND

 

 

operations.
....Winner of many safety awards, including the coveted Esco Safety Award, Viv’s logging philosophy is quite basic; with safe production you get steady production. He has sat on countless committees investigating the problems of safety in the woods, and must be considered to be among the leaders in the forest industry in his knowledge of industrial accidents and their causes.
....I’ve known Viv for many years, and one of the fondest memories I have of this man and his relentless campaigns for logging safety was back in 1964. That January, Williams Logging Company was presented the Esco Safety Award for achieving the lowest accident frequency, the previous year, in the B.C. Truck Loggers Association. It had been a big event at the T.L.A. convention, but Viv felt that while it was nice to be so honored, his crew at camp, who had earned the award, were not getting their share of the honors.
....At the time, Viv was logging up in South Bentinck Arm, about 40 miles from Bella Coola.
....He decided to have a gala celebration in camp and have the awards re-presented in front of the entire crew and their families.
....Viv had a charter aircraft bring guests from Vancouver, 300 miles away, and residents of Ocean Falls – Bella Coola area came in boats and planes for the event.

.....Expected to take over the role of president of the B.C. Truck Loggers Association at its 29th annual convention in January is well-known logging contractor Viv Williams. In his column this month, Bill Moore pays tribute to Williams, and reflects on an interesting past and his involvement in the B.C. forest industry.
 

 
Viv Williams – when all else fails

....This forest around us has some of the finest, brightest, and biggest pieces of machinery at work in the industrial world today.
....With apologies to Mr. Madill, and all his colleagues in the movable iron business, I find the people of this forest much more interesting than its magnificent machines.
....Viv Williams may not be the tallest man in the logging scene on the B.C. coast, but he’s a man that stands pretty high in the eyes of those who know him, from the Queen Charlottes to Spuzzum. A logger he is, and best of all a machinery logger; a man who understands the cogs and wheels that are buried inside the steel monsters we call engines.

 

....At the Williams Logging Co. camp near Spuzzum – on – the – Fraser its an everyday sight to see Viv, walkie-talkie radio in one hip pocket blaring out where some log driver is, and a few tools sticking out the other hip pocket, wandering about his shop yard, sizing up mechanical problems.
He’s a machine man, from helicopter, which he flies, to log loaders, snow plows and mouse traps.
....In talking to various would-be mechanics, Viv’s golden words are simple and direct about mechanical breakdowns: “When all else fails – read your instruction book.”
....Viv Williams has long realized the vital importance of safe logging production in his and other logging

 
Striking it up for safety in the woods with an oversized match are Viv Williams, left, and Bill Moore. Viv takes over as president of the Truck Loggers Association at their convention in January.
British Columbia Lumberman, December, 1971
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....Among those from Vancouver was Ben Nyline, the president of Esco, and donor of the Esco trophy. Along with Ben came others from the Workmen’s Compensation Board and from the forest industry.
....Those of us who were Viv’s guests at that remote coastal camp will never forget it.
....The Williams camp of about 50 employees, had gone 160,000 man hours without a compensatable accident, a very enviable record, especially in such tough logging country.
....The camp recreation hall, rocked that night to the sounds of an imported orchestra, happy loggers, and some very impressed visitors.
....Viv had his good friend Ronnie Chu come up from Vancouver and prepare a fabulous Chinese banquet dinner for the more than 150 guests.
....It was a great night, complete with fortune cookies.
....But this is Viv Williams. He wanted that crew recognized on their own home ground so they could be directly involved in the receiving of the award.
Viv has always been an “in camp” operator. He and his wife Lucille have a lovely home, and busy summertime swimming pool, right on the camp grounds at Spuzzum.
....He makes frequent trips into Van- couver – a two-hour drive – to comp-
 
lete his busy day’s schedules.
....Chief task among these lately have been his duties as the convention chairman of the upcoming Truck Loggers Convention in early January. Viv has been vice-president of the TLA for the past two years, and is expected to succeed Jack Sexton into the presidency in January. When this occurs one thing is certain; Viv will tackle that job just the same as he does any other – intelligently and with common sense.
....Williams has been flying buff for many years. He learned to fly years ago in the Queen Charlottes, where he had a small logging outfit and was contractor to Crown Zellerbach.
....It wasn’t too long, however, that the simple 180 float plane gave way to the helicopter. He uses it constantly in his business, from timber cruising to freighting blocks and rigging up sidehills to get the job done easier and safer for all concerned.
....Viv has had his share of mishaps in the helicopter, particularly in the rugged area of the Fraser Canyon. While taking a telephone man up to the top of one of the mountains near Hope one winter to inspect a relay installation, he broke a rotor blade and had to spend the night in the sub-zero weather awaiting a search party.
....The old woods survival under-standing of Viv’s did not let him panic,
 
and he and the other man came through the night by keeping a fire going, with Viv not letting his com-panion fall asleep and freeze to death.
....Viv has been an active supporter of loggers sports, seeing in it a way to build the morale of the everyday logger. He has at considerable cost to himself, logged and donated two climbing spars to the Festival of Forestry show at the Pacific National Exhibition, and he is one of the mainstays of the annual Hope Loggers Sports Days in early September.
....The logging season in the Fraser Canyon is a tough one, with snow hitting the area before the end of November and not starting to clear away until mid-April. Viv contracts logs for Rayonier at Spuzzum, and what with the snows of winter that turn into an oven in the summer he has to have a fast stepping crew to make his near 20 million board foot cut per year.
....Early shift is the byword around Spuzzum and it is quite often impossible to get a full eight-hour work day in due to the intense heat of summer in the brush. But as the old saying goes, “You hired out to be tough,” so Viv and his gang cope with the situation and make it work their way.
....This forest industry could use a lot more Viv Williams. There have been those who ignored the basic rules of safe production, those who couldn’t meet their payrolls, and those whose hard hits were too small for their heads.
....The Viv William’s are here to stay.
....This type of operator contributes not only to the area they operate in, but by devoting their time to industry associations and committees, they contribute to the entire forest industry.
....It’s the kind of world Viv William’s likes to roll up his sleeve in, and get something done.
....So Viv, we’ll all be there at the Truck Loggers Convention in early January to cheer you and your col-leagues on.
....This forest around us is just a little bit better place to live and work in because of fellows like you.

Keep out of the bight,

British Columbia Lumberman, December, 1971
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