Keeping Canada’s backbone safe
With transportation an essential part of Canada’s economy, more needs to be done to address key issues impeding worker safety in the road and rail sectors
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TRANSPORTATION is a key industry in Canada, especially the road and rail sectors. As it is one of our backbone industries, we need to ensure that those in transportation are given the tools that they need to succeed.
And a huge – essential – part of building a strong industry is ensuring that workers are as healthy and safe as possible. While strides have been made in the past few years in road and rail safety, more still needs to be done to address key issues affecting each sector.
Aside from speeding, distractions are also a problem for drivers. Dilgir says that there has been an increase over the last several years in the role played by distraction in collisions and high-severity collisions. This distraction is primarily from mobile phone use, but it can also come from other sources.
“It hasn’t been increasing significantly lately, [but] it’s still claiming a lot of lives and injuries. The driving task is challenging enough, so when you distract yourself from that important task, it’s only going to lead to worse outcomes.”
Nevertheless, this has yet to translate into decreased use of mobile phones while people are driving – to say nothing of adopting different habits such as putting the phone in the glove box or the trunk. “But we could manage it better as a system to really discourage and perhaps penalize that behaviour even more strictly than we are now.”
Impaired driving also continues to be an issue. “For a long time, strict legislation as well as social non-acceptance of drinking and driving resulted in fatalities and serious injuries involving impaired driving going down over the last few decades,” Dilgir says.
That has stabilized and even fluctuated with the legalization of cannabis. Dilgir says that drug-related collisions or injuries on the road have gone up. It poses “quite a significant risk,” he says.
“I’m typically involved in developing guidelines for the use of these devices in order to then encourage their greater use so that we can get the outcomes that we all want to minimize fatalities and serious injuries,” Dilgir says.
Lastly, with sustainability being a key focus for Canada, and electric vehicles becoming more common, safety around these types of vehicles also needs to be considered.
Rail safety recommendations
Canada has one of the largest railway networks in the world, and rail safety is typically highly regulated across the country. But that doesn’t mean that improvements can’t be made.
The Transportation Safety Board has issued a few outstanding key recommendations for the rail sector. One of the longest-standing of these is on the use of fail-safe train control methodologies.
“The trains that are operating rely on the individuals in the cab of the locomotive to follow the signal indications, to obey the signals and to slow down or stop – whatever the signal says. But if, for some reason, the human makes a mistake, there is nothing to protect the train from running into another train or having an accident because the switch is in the reverse position,” says Faye Ackermans, a member of the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.
This physical failsafe train control notion has actually been around for a while, but Ackermans says that the TSB is still waiting for Transport Canada and the rail industry to move forward on this “in a meaningful way.”
Rail safety facts and figures
Education and culture go a long way in improving knowledge around impaired driving, he says, but stricter enforcement always helps as well.
Dilgir, a road safety engineer, says that there are a couple of things that can be introduced on roads to improve driving safety, one of which is the roundabout. “It’s been very common in other parts of the world, and it’s caught on a little later here in Canada. There’s a large focus now on implementing roundabouts as an alternative to traffic signals, or even stop signs in some cases.”
Roundabouts have been proven to slow a vehicle down; they simplify things in the sense that a driver has to look in only one direction for one vehicle.
Edward D. Jones Sr. establishes Edward D. Jones & Co. in 1922, determined his company will treat associates as partners and treat clients fairly by offering appropriate, quality investments. The firm’s office in downtown St. Louis is a single room furnished with a desk, three chairs and a hat rack.
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Edward D. Jones Sr. establishes Edward D. Jones & Co. in 1922, determined his company will treat associates as partners and treat clients fairly by offering appropriate, quality investments. The firm’s office in downtown St. Louis is a single room furnished with a desk, three chairs and a hat rack.
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“Most players in this industry are looking at this and see why apartment values are going up, not down,” he says. “Most building owners are looking straight through [the pandemic]. Even if they own in an area where rents are soft today, this will come back when the borders open, students return and we are bringing 400,000 people in per year. We are not building enough housing for that many people.
“Pre-pandemic, the market was super tight almost everywhere, so I see that when the pandemic ends or at least the borders reopen, the demand for rental units will
Edward D. Jones Sr. establishes Edward D. Jones & Co. in 1922, determined his company will treat associates as partners and treat clients fairly by offering appropriate, quality investments. The firm’s office in downtown St. Louis is a single room furnished with a desk, three chairs and a hat rack.
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“[Railway companies and Transport Canada] don’t understand the risks that they take on when they change something in their operation – and it results in accidents”
Faye Ackermans
TSB
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Improving road safety
In a country as vast as Canada, driving is essential. And recent events such as the pandemic have proven how critical our country’s drivers are. As such, driving and road safety is paramount. A number of issues plague the sector, however – among them, speeding.
“Vehicles are still designed to speed; most vehicles can go speeds much faster than any posted speed limit in Canada. So the question is why? If road safety really is a priority, then why is [speeding] allowed to happen?” asks Raheem Dilgir, president of TranSafe Consulting. Dilgir is also president of the Canadian Association of Road Safety Professionals (CARSP).
Many industries, such as trucking, put speed limits on their vehicles. But outside of, perhaps, fleets that are in the business of transporting, such limits are not widespread.
“With every increase in kilometres per hour, there's an increased chance that somebody could die or get seriously injured,” says Dilgir. “We've got to manage speeds better in order to improve safety.”
Some studies have indicated that over the course of the pandemic, average speeds have increased. This is linked to a few things, including the “anxiety and urgency about everything” that has “caused people to drive faster and be more distracted while they're driving,” he says.
She also says another big issue in the rail sector is around uncontrolled and unplanned movement of equipment. The TSB has issued two recommendations around runaway equipment, one on additional physical defences and the other to protect employees in yard facilities, which is where the majority of uncontrolled movements take place.
There needs to be “more protection put in place for the employees, who are mostly affected by what is going on in the yard,” says Ackermans.
In addition, safety management oversight, or regulatory surveillance and safety management processes, need to improve.
“What we’re seeing is that even though [railway companies and Transport Canada] have safety management system regulations, they are not always doing risk assessments when we feel they should be. And therefore they don’t understand the risks that they take on when they change something in their operation – and it results in accidents,” she says.
The TSB is also looking into managing fatigue for operating employees, which is a long-standing issue in every industry – “every transportation mode has its own issues around fatigue and fatigue management. The rail industry is no different.”
And when looking at accidents in the rail space, Ackermans says that the biggest source of fatalities is people on the track who shouldn't be there. The second-largest source is accidents at road/rail crossings.
Ackermans says that we should be aware of the effect on rail employees when people are killed or injured after being struck by a train.
“That has an impact on the employees involved, because they can end up with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder [PTSD]-like symptoms,” says Ackermans. “It really affects the individual’s mental health.”
“With every increase in kilometres per hour, there's an increased chance that somebody could die or get seriously injured. We've got to manage speeds better in order to improve safety”
Raheem Dilgir
TranSafe Consulting
Industry experts
Raheem Dilgir
TranSafe Consulting
Faye Ackermans
TSB
Industry experts
Faye Ackermans had 25 years of experience in the rail industry, with over 15 of those years spent in senior positions in rail safety and regulatory affairs, before being appointed to the Transportation Safety Board (TSB) on July 2, 2014. Ackermans began her career with Canadian Pacific Railway in 1982. From 1996 to 2008, as general manager of Safety & Regulatory Affairs, she was responsible for corporate-wide oversight for safety management, security planning, operations regulatory compliance, and occurrence investigations. Over that period, Canadian Pacific reduced train accidents by 65% and personal injuries by over 70% (source: TSB).
TSB
Faye Ackermans
Raheem Dilgir is a Level 2 Road Safety Professional, with 27 years of experience in Canada and internationally. Over the past 10 years, Raheem has operated TranSafe Consulting, through which he assists road agencies across Canada in the development, delivery, and evaluation of road safety plans and projects. Raheem is currently the co-chair of the TAC Vision Zero and Safe System Subcommittee, and president of the Canadian Association of Road Safety Professionals. Raheem regularly offers workshops on modern approaches to road safety, presents to municipal councils and international conferences, and is called upon as an expert witness (source: CARSP).
TranSafe Consulting
Raheem Dilgir
Raheem Dilgir
TranSafe Consulting
Faye Ackermans
TSB
Industry experts
Faye Ackermans had 25 years of experience in the rail industry, with over 15 of those years spent in senior positions in rail safety and regulatory affairs, before being appointed to the Transportation Safety Board (TSB) on July 2, 2014. Ackermans began her career with Canadian Pacific Railway in 1982. From 1996 to 2008, as general manager of Safety & Regulatory Affairs, she was responsible for corporate-wide oversight for safety management, security planning, operations regulatory compliance, and occurrence investigations. Over that period, Canadian Pacific reduced train accidents by 65% and personal injuries by over 70% (source: TSB).
TSB
Faye Ackermans
Raheem Dilgir is a Level 2 Road Safety Professional, with 27 years of experience in Canada and internationally. Over the past 10 years, Raheem has operated TranSafe Consulting, through which he assists road agencies across Canada in the development, delivery, and evaluation of road safety plans and projects. Raheem is currently the co-chair of the TAC Vision Zero and Safe System Subcommittee, and president of the Canadian Association of Road Safety Professionals. Raheem regularly offers workshops on modern approaches to road safety, presents to municipal councils and international conferences, and is called upon as an expert witness (source: CARSP).
TranSafe Consulting
Raheem Dilgir
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Faye Ackermans
TSB
Raheem Dilgir
TranSafe Consulting
Stewart Saunders
Heritage Bank
Christopher Lee
MFAA head credit adviser, Finsure Finance and Insurance
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MFAA head credit adviser, Finsure Finance and Insurance
Mark HarChristopher Leeon
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Heritage Bank
Stewart Saunders
Raheem Dilgir is a Level 2 Road Safety Professional, with 27 years of experience in Canada and internationally. Over the past 10 years, Raheem has operated TranSafe Consulting, through which he assists road agencies across Canada in the development, delivery, and evaluation of road safety plans and projects. Raheem is currently the co-chair of the TAC Vision Zero and Safe System Subcommittee, and president of the Canadian Association of Road Safety Professionals. Raheem regularly offers workshops on modern approaches to road safety, presents to municipal councils and international conferences, and is called upon as an expert witness (source: CARSP).
TranSafe Consulting
Raheem Dilgir
Faye Ackermans had 25 years of experience in the rail industry, with over 15 of those years spent in senior positions in rail safety and regulatory affairs, before being appointed to the Transportation Safety Board (TSB) on July 2, 2014. Ackermans began her career with Canadian Pacific Railway in 1982. From 1996 to 2008, as general manager of Safety & Regulatory Affairs, she was responsible for corporate-wide oversight for safety management, security planning, operations regulatory compliance, and occurrence investigations. Over that period, Canadian Pacific reduced train accidents by 65% and personal injuries by over 70% (source: TSB).
TSB
Faye Ackermans
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Rail fatalities totaled 59 in 2020, down from 72 in 2019, and below the previous 10-year average of 73
Two rail employees were fatally injured in 2020, which is below the 10-year average of three employee fatalities
Among all railway accidents reported to the TSB in 2020, 82 involved dangerous goods, down from 171 in 2019
Source: Transportation Safety Board of Canada
In 2020, 965 rail accidents were reported to the TSB, down from the 2019 total of 1,256. This represents an 11% decrease from the previous 10-year average of 1,083 (2010–2019)
27% of traffic fatalities on Canadian roads are the direct result of speeding
Source: tests.ca
Road safety key statistics
In Canada, there are 160,000 car accidents each year, of which 2,800–2,900 result in deaths
In 2011, one in three speeding drivers involved in a fatal crash had been drinking
More than 90% of road crashes are the result of human error or condition
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Copyright © 2022 Key Media
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About us
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Privacy
Terms of Use
RSS
Newsletter
Digital editions
Authors
External contributors
News
Topics
Resources
Events
Best In Safety
Subscribe