(Canwest News Service circulated the following story by Amy Husser on May 30.)
OTTAWA — Nearly a year after an advisory panel concluded consultations aimed at modernizing Canada’s Railway Safety Act, a parliamentary transport committee said their conclusions don’t go far enough.
“While we endorse the findings and recommendations contained in the Advisory Panel’s report, we believe that more needs to be done and there is considerable room for progress to ensure that rail safety meets the highest practicable standards,” the House of Commons transport committee wrote in a report released on Thursday.
The committee was responding to an advisory panel report tabled last March in response to a series of accidents and derailments between 2002 and 2005.
After extensive consultations across Canada, the panel found the major Canadian railways were among the safest in North America, but there had not been sufficient improvement in their safety since 1999, when the Railway Safety Act was last revised.
The parliamentary committee found the implementation of Safety Management Systems – the formal framework for integrating safety into the railway’s daily operation – was the most important issue. The committee had “serious concerns” regarding the delays and the way the system was utilized.
“We believe that much more progress should have been made during the past seven years in implementing the Safety Management Systems,” the report said of the system, which was established in 2001. “Some witnesses have said that the rail systems are fragile and safety improvements take time. We do not entirely agree with this view.”
“If you don’t set timelines and guidelines, they sometimes get overlooked,” said MP Mervin Tweed, chair of the committee.
Transport Canada was criticized for lacking “stringent oversight” and the railroads were warned to maintain a strong sense of safety.
VIA Rail was given a glowing review, and CP Rail was found to be making “great strides.”
CN Rail, however, was blasted when its employees said they were reluctant to report safety violations because they were working within a “culture of fear.”
The committee also said a proactive approach was needed by all groups involved in rail operations and that more communication was necessary.
William Brehl, president of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, couldn’t agree more.
“I’ve been saying that all along, you’ve got to involve everybody,” said Brehl, whose labour union represents 4,000 workers who inspect, monitor and repair rail tracks. “You can’t have the railways doing it on their own. You can’t have the foxes guarding the henhouse.”
Brehl says that after 28 years of working in the industry, he is “cautiously optimistic” about the committee’s recommendations.
“I don’t think we’re far enough yet, but we’re making the steps in the right direction to get far enough,” he said. “We still have a long way to go to make a completely safe railway system in Canada. I don’t want to spend time patting everybody on the back until we are there.”