(The following story by Laura Severs appeared on the Business Edge website on March 7.)
OTTAWA — A national railway industry group has appointed a former CN Rail dangerous-goods expert to take on the same task across the West.
The Ottawa-based Railway Association of Canada (RAC), which represents about 60 freight and passenger railways and promotes the safety and growth of the industry, says Curtis Myson will take on the role of dangerous-goods specialist for Western Canada as of April 1.
Dangerous goods – ranging from chemicals to petroleum products – account for approximately 12 per cent of all rail traffic and while there are federal safety regulations in place, the RAC says its three-person team provides an additional safety layer.
It wasn’t an easy task finding a new team member to take over from retiring dangerous-goods specialist John Lewis, says Andy Ash, the RAC’s manager of dangerous goods.
“The person has to be proactive, helpful, provide knowledge and have experience. That’s why hiring a person for Western Canada was very difficult. There’s not a lot of people qualified to do the whole job in Canada,” says Ash.
Myson will be based in Edmonton and be responsible for the area from Winnipeg west to the Pacific Ocean. He has 24 years of experience in the field, including stints as an emergency response contractor and as a trainer at the former Alberta Fire Training School, along with 15 years of firefighting experience.
He’s also completed training as a tank-car specialist with the Transportation Technology Centre – Emergency Response Training Centre in Pueblo, Colo., and with the Association of American Railroads’ bureau of explosives in 2006.
“Most of this job is travel, boots on the ground, waving the flag saying, ‘Here we are, how can we help today,’ that kind of thing,” says Ash. “I’ll bet you we’re on the road 80 per cent of the time.”
Canadian railways haul an estimated 65 per cent of surface freight and move 63 million passengers annually.
However, it’s not just about railways and doing railcar inspections. RAC dangerous-goods team members also deal directly with the companies that manufacture and ship potentially dangerous freight to ensure a safe journey from the plant to the railcar’s destination.
Team members also do outreach work in communities along rail lines, talking to police, fire and municipal officials about rail operations that pass through their communities.
The RAC signed a two-year partnership with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities in 2007 to work together to improve community relations, develop new techniques for mitigating noise and vibrations, and enhance public safety around railway operations.
“This opens up the communications lines out there, it gives them a bit of training and tells them what dangerous goods go through their communities so first responders (police, fire) can plan for emergencies – so there are no deep, dark secrets out there,” says Ash.
But how safe is railway shipping when it comes to transporting dangerous goods?
In 2006, “99.998 per cent of all dangerous goods got to their destination safely,” Ash says. “You’re talking millions of carloads, not only across Canada, but transborder to and from the U.S. Dangerous-goods (related) incidents over the last five years have dropped.”
RAC team members also sit on various committees, such as the North American tank-car committee. Ash is part of this group, which is working on making more robust tank cars to improve safety when transporting poisonous inhalation hazards such as chlorine.
Both CN and Canadian Pacific Railway endorse the work of the RAC’s dangerous goods unit.
“They allow the industry to further the dangerous-goods regulations across the board,” says Bryan Tucker, senior manager of public affairs and media relations for CN.
“(These regulations) are very advanced at CN and CP, but some of the short lines might not have the same resources. By working with the RAC, they can have an extra set of eyes and ears and that’s great for everyone in the industry, because we all work very closely together.”
CP spokeswoman Breanne Feigel adds that safety is always a top priority for the railway.
“CP views this appointment as just one more resource we can draw on from an organization that we already support,” she says.
Once Myson starts his new job, says Ash, all three RAC team members will be former CN employees.
“We have a mechanical background, we also have dangerous-goods emergency response background and we’re all tank-car specialists,” says Ash.
“We’ll go wherever we’re needed. We have our ‘go bags’ and will be on first chartered flight out (in the case of an emergency),” says Ash. “We could be hands-on, or in the event of a major incident, be there as an adviser and a facilitator from a railway standpoint.”
Myson will cover the western part of the country, while Ash is responsible for Ontario and areas west to Winnipeg. A third team member covers Quebec and the Maritimes.