WESTIERN ASSOe[ATf[0N NEWS

Mountain States Lumber & Building Material Dealers Association's fall management conference will be Oct. 6-8 at the Westward look Resort, Tucson, Az.

The program will kick off Friday morning with Bill Lee, Lee Resources, Inc., presenting a half-day program on "Protecting the Bottom Line in a Highly Competitive Market."

Andy Hickman will present "Awakening the Hero in You" at the annual banquet that evening. The gavel exchange and inftoduction of new officers will take place afler his talk.

Saturday will feature a special keynote address followed by dealer roundtable discussions and a closing lunch session.

Registration information is available from the MSLBMDA office.

Lumber Association of Southern California will hold its annual fall man- agement conference Nov. 6-8 at I-a Quinta Hotel, La Quinta.

Directors will meet Sunday with the conference officially opening with a luncheon speaker Monday. Panel discussions will take place during the aftemoon.

An insurance breakfast will precede meetings the next morning, followed by lunch and table top exhibits during the afternoon. Roundtable discussions will be held Wednesday morning.

Topics to be covered during the meeting include inventory control, computers, mill direct buying, insurance, trucking, safety, collections, incentives, employee recognition, service and survival against the "big box boys."

Lumber Merchants Association of Northern California is sponsoring a workshop on forklift safety in five cities. Paid for with grant money received from the LMA Insurance Trust workers' compensation program, tbe "Fork Lift Safety: Training the Trainer" seminar will visit Reno. Sacramento, Santa Rosa, San Jose and Fresno Dec. 5-9.

Planned for yard foremen and safety coordinators, the training will satisfy CAL OSHA requirements.

Moming roundtable discussions at La Rinconada Counky Club, t-os Gatos, followed by lunch and golf, are planned for the area meeting Sept. 29.

Association members toured Sierra Pacific Industies, Lincoln, Sept. 9.

Kathleen Patterson, Central Valley Builders Supply, St. Helena, Ca., will accept the president's gavel from Frank Solinsky, Payless Building Supply, Chico, who is completing an l8-month term, during the President's Banquet at the 56th annual convention Nov. 3-5 at Embassy Suites, South Lake Tahoe, Ca. The President's Award winner will be announced.

Dr. Lynn Michaelis will open the Friday session. Roundtable discussion groups and a Young Westerners meeting with election of officers are planned.

Cheryl Bann will speak on "Managing Excellence: Retailing 2000" the next morning. Bruce Pohle, Southern Lumber, San Jose, will lead an owners'seminar and various committees will meet. Theme is "Transition for Managing Excellence."

Retailers No Longer Exempt From Hazcom Regs

Retailers of wood and wood products are no longer exempt from OSHA's HazCom Standard (see The Merchant, Aug. p.36).

Standards have been amended to include wood and wood products which have been treated by a hazardous chemical or which may be sawed and cut, generating dust. Information on possible hazards must be communicated to employees by labels on containers, Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) and training programs.

The sawmill or wood treatment plant is responsible for supplying the retailer with MSDSs which describe the products; all hazards associated with their handling and use, and methods for preventing injury from the use or clean up of the products. If these items are not provided with the first shipment, the retailer is responsible for requesting the information from the supplier.

Labels accompanying the first shipment of a product need !o be kept with the shipment in storage to alert employees and handlers to possible hazards. Retailers must include labels on the fhst shipment of any wood or wood products lo commercial customers. It is important retailers be aware that only commercial customers must receive the warning labels. They may be bundled, but are better attached to bills of lading directed to the main office of tle account.

Retail employees must be educated on hazards involved with contact and or processing of wood. Retailers must incorporate MSDS requirements for handling precautions, first aid procedures and spill/leak clean up procedures into their training progrirms.

MSDS must be kept on file with copies available to customers on request. Notices to this effect must be posted in the storage area. Labels also must be posted on-site, although some leeway is allowed. Signs, placards, process sheets, batch tickets, operating procedures or other written materials are acceptable if they arc accessible to employees and convey label infomntion.

Records must be kept of commercial accounts receiving labels and training for employees. Documentation of efforts is considered an important part of the program.

$50 Million Duty Refund

In an inifial step toward complying with a recent decision by a bi-national panel, the Commerce Departrnent has instructed Customs Service to refund $50 million of the $450 million in duty deposits collected on Canadian lumber shipments to the U.S. during the past two years.

The refund was ordered following the Extraordinary Challenge Comnittee's binding decision early last month !o dismiss a U.S. appeal of the bi-national panel' s eadier decision that Canada was not subsidizing its forest products industry. After the 21 vote in favor of Canada. the ECC also rejected a U.S. claim that the binational committee was biased.

An estimated $600 million was collected from importers of record, mostly Canadian producers, with the 6.51% duty imposed on Canadian softwood lumber shipments to the U.S. after July 1992. The $50 million ordered returned represents duties collected since March 17 of this year when a previous bi-national panel revoked the duty.

After reviewing the ruling, Commerce officials will decide if and when the remainder will be returned.

Although Canadian officials welcomed the decision, some in the U.S. including the Coalition for Fair Lumber Imports vowed to continue the fight. Chairman Harold Maxwell indicated the Coalition will now explore all options including legislation and new cases. "The struggle to terminate or offset the subsidies will continue." he said.

Lumber buyers were hopeful that eliminating the duty would lower prices on lumber from Canada.