Mining & Forestry Safety Training

Remote work means help can be far away. It can also mean saws, off-highway vehicles and wildlife.

• Working alone. Alberta treats working alone as a hazard and requires an effective communication system with regular contact (OHS Code ss. 393 and 394). BC requires a written check-in procedure, and training in it for both the worker and the person checking (OHS Regulation ss. 4.21 and 4.22). The course description says it suits workers in energy, forestry, mining, construction and utilities.
• Chainsaws. About 75 minutes on PPE, pre-operational inspections, start-up, cutting techniques and chain filing.
• ATVs and UTVs. About 90 minutes on inspections, driving on hills, soft ground and slippery surfaces, and loading machines for transport.
• Wildlife and the outdoors. Bear encounters and bear spray, plus emergency shelters, signalling for help and preventing hypothermia.

If you'll work out of reach of help, start with Working Alone Awareness Training, then add courses for the equipment you'll use. For a shorter bear-only option, see Bear Awareness Online. More field courses are in construction site and field safety training, and digging near buried lines is covered in ground disturbance training.

• A chainsaw course doesn't certify you as a faller. In BC, WorkSafeBC says anyone who fells a tree larger than 6 inches in diameter must be certified to the BC Faller Training Standard.
• Ontario mining employers must train workers in the Common Core and Specialty Modules under Regulation 854. These courses don't replace that program.