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Effectiue communications can help loggers stay safe. UIe take a look at the pros and cons of uarious systems.
Logging is a dangerous business, and the risks are even higher for "lone loggers": the people working by themselves in the bush. This is why reliable two-way communications is vital to the industry and its workers. When accidents and injuries occur, two-way communications can sometimes be a logger's only hope for quick outside assistance and rescue.
There are a number of two-way communications systems currently available to Canadian logging companies, both for lone loggers and logging crews. The bad news is that each system has its limitations. The good news is that innovative solutions have been developed to enhance the safety and reliability of these systems; making the life of loggers less dangerous.
Radio Dominates
Glenn Graham owns Timberline Radio Systems (www.timberlineradio.com) in Richmond, B.C. He supplies two-way communications products to the logging industry, so he knows what's being used by loggers throughout western and northern Canada.
"There are two basic types of radio communications used in the industry," Graham tells Canadian Forest Industries magazine. "The first type is Repeater Access, where the transmission from one truck radio is relayed to a tower equipped with repeater equipment that picks up the signal, and then rebroadcasts it over a wide area of terrain. This is especially necessary here in British Columbia where we have mountainous terrain."
Most loggers, however, rely on two-way radios operating in "Simplex mode," which means they talk to each other without the benefit of a signal-boosting repeater. "The disadvantage of Simplex mode is the inability to communicate over long distances, unless one truck is high atop a mountain and overlooking the area where another truck may be," Graham says. "In most cases, Simplex mode is used on a road-by-road basis."
At the Weyerhaeuser Company - which has Canadian logging operations in Alberta, B.C., Ontario and Saskatchewan - "all of our sites use two-way radios for communications between company personnel, between company and contractors and from contractor to contractor," says spokesman Wayne Roznowsky. "Most units have a way of accessing a telephone line from their two-way radio for emergencies."
Radio is also used in Newfoundland, where Corner Brook Pulp and Paper (CBPP)...