Province: Officials let B.C. Ferries operate under relaxed regs
Post
Safety rules not followed, critic says, Officials let B.C. Ferries operate under relaxed regs, Christina Montgomery, The Province, March 24, 2006
Transport Canada cannot ensure the safety of B.C.'s ferry fleet if it continues to let ferry companies influence the regulations that govern them, says the man who designed the fleet's safety-management system.
Bob Beadell is the marine engineer who quit his job in 2000 after arguing for several years that B.C. Ferry Services was not living up to the safety standards it had paid him to establish.
The final straw, he told The Province, was the company's failure to either yank the Queen of the North from service or adequately stabilize it.
Beadell warned the company throughout the late-1990s that the vessel was at risk of sinking, potentially with as many as 700 crew and passengers aboard.
On Wednesday -- less than a month out of a refit where the company again failed to add the buoyancy chambers Beadell recommended -- the ferry sank.
The Queens of Prince Rupert and Chilliwack have identical design issues. The Rupert, due from refit this weekend, is being sent next week to replace the sunken vessel.
B.C. Ferries officials could not be reached for comment.
Beadell says Ottawa's safety oversight of passenger ferries is less than adequate because it engages in consultations with companies who are allowed to dilute optimum requirements.
"It's the tail wagging the dog," said Beadell, who "woke up shaking with rage" at news of the sinking. "Nobody wants to offend the stakeholder.
"Transport Canada has to take a moral position. Say 'This is what you have to do.' They discuss it to death, they beat it to death . . . in talks with the Canadian Ferry Operators Association."
Beadell, who now works as an independent marine consultant, said that during his time at B.C. Ferries he noted that once consultations were done and regulations written, the company "had a history of [then being granted] exceptions to those regulations."
Victor Santos Pedros, speaking yesterday for Transport Canada's marine-safety division, defended its regulatory process.
He said the lengthy consultations the department is required to conduct result in practical regulations that allow companies to phase out old vessels as shipyard capacity allows news ones to be built.
He noted that for single-compartment ferries like the North, the biggest threat to stability had been control of surface water on car decks. B.C. Ferries kept the North in service by installing flood doors that kept water from sloshing across its decks in a destabilizing motion, Santos Pedros said.
"So they actually are a company that has been on top of safety issues [regarding] stability," he said.
Jackie Miller, head of the ferry workers' union, said Transport Canada's consultation and enforcement regime isn't working.
Miller said the problem with Transport's approach is that its consultations fail to meaningfully include ferry workers who have to operate the vessels and react during emergencies -- and its resulting regulations fall short of what crews say they need to be safe.
She also said regulations are so loose that they consistently allow the ferry company to opt for the lowest possible crew and equipment levels.
Miller pointed to the example of the Queen of Burnaby, which came out of refit about four years ago with a new evacuation chute.
When the chute failed during inspection, the company simply shut one emergency station and closed its upper-deck lounge. In that way, passengers were, in theory, confined to a single deck and crew was sufficient to deal with them in an emergency.
Noting people have asked why there were no lights on the North's life-jackets to make it easier to find people in the water at night, Miller said it was another example of Transport relaxing its rules for B.C. Ferries.
Transport Canada cannot ensure the safety of B.C.'s ferry fleet if it continues to let ferry companies influence the regulations that govern them, says the man who designed the fleet's safety-management system.
Bob Beadell is the marine engineer who quit his job in 2000 after arguing for several years that B.C. Ferry Services was not living up to the safety standards it had paid him to establish.
The final straw, he told The Province, was the company's failure to either yank the Queen of the North from service or adequately stabilize it.
Beadell warned the company throughout the late-1990s that the vessel was at risk of sinking, potentially with as many as 700 crew and passengers aboard.
On Wednesday -- less than a month out of a refit where the company again failed to add the buoyancy chambers Beadell recommended -- the ferry sank.
The Queens of Prince Rupert and Chilliwack have identical design issues. The Rupert, due from refit this weekend, is being sent next week to replace the sunken vessel.
B.C. Ferries officials could not be reached for comment.
Beadell says Ottawa's safety oversight of passenger ferries is less than adequate because it engages in consultations with companies who are allowed to dilute optimum requirements.
"It's the tail wagging the dog," said Beadell, who "woke up shaking with rage" at news of the sinking. "Nobody wants to offend the stakeholder.
"Transport Canada has to take a moral position. Say 'This is what you have to do.' They discuss it to death, they beat it to death . . . in talks with the Canadian Ferry Operators Association."
Beadell, who now works as an independent marine consultant, said that during his time at B.C. Ferries he noted that once consultations were done and regulations written, the company "had a history of [then being granted] exceptions to those regulations."
Victor Santos Pedros, speaking yesterday for Transport Canada's marine-safety division, defended its regulatory process.
He said the lengthy consultations the department is required to conduct result in practical regulations that allow companies to phase out old vessels as shipyard capacity allows news ones to be built.
He noted that for single-compartment ferries like the North, the biggest threat to stability had been control of surface water on car decks. B.C. Ferries kept the North in service by installing flood doors that kept water from sloshing across its decks in a destabilizing motion, Santos Pedros said.
"So they actually are a company that has been on top of safety issues [regarding] stability," he said.
Jackie Miller, head of the ferry workers' union, said Transport Canada's consultation and enforcement regime isn't working.
Miller said the problem with Transport's approach is that its consultations fail to meaningfully include ferry workers who have to operate the vessels and react during emergencies -- and its resulting regulations fall short of what crews say they need to be safe.
She also said regulations are so loose that they consistently allow the ferry company to opt for the lowest possible crew and equipment levels.
Miller pointed to the example of the Queen of Burnaby, which came out of refit about four years ago with a new evacuation chute.
When the chute failed during inspection, the company simply shut one emergency station and closed its upper-deck lounge. In that way, passengers were, in theory, confined to a single deck and crew was sufficient to deal with them in an emergency.
Noting people have asked why there were no lights on the North's life-jackets to make it easier to find people in the water at night, Miller said it was another example of Transport relaxing its rules for B.C. Ferries.
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