dhc2widow
2nd Apr 2010, 03:22
Hearings began on March 30th, with just days of notice.
Day One:
Transport Canada Promises More Oversight
By Sarah Schmidt, Canwest News Service
March 30, 2010 1:38 PM
Top officials at Transport Canada on Tuesday vowed to step up oversight at major airlines after admitting government inspectors did fewer spot safety checks in the last few years.
"We haven't done as much surveillance activities as we wanted to do, but that will change in the next three years," Marc Gregoire, assistant deputy minister of safety and security, told MPs at the launch of parliamentary hearings into aviation safety in Canada.
Gregoire and deputy minister Yaprak Baltacioglu kicked off the hearings by acknowledging problems with the way the government has been implementing its new oversight regime, called safety management systems (SMS). But they both defended the approach, already fully phased in at such large carriers as Air Canada and WestJet.
Transport Canada has delayed implementation at small carriers for at least a year after being inundated with concerns from its own inspectors about problems during the initial phase in at these smaller operations, often serving remote communities.
The system puts more onus on carriers by requiring them to develop and oversee an in-house system of safety checks tailored to their operations. Transport Canada inspectors still ensure all safety regulations are followed, but the emphasis is placed on reviewing a company's SMS to determine whether the internal plan to reduce aviation hazards and risks is effective.
This regulatory system is a shift away from traditional oversight where government inspectors had a much more hands-on role in auditing the safety operations.
Gregoire said Transport Canada is committed to hiring 60 additional aviation inspectors on an "urgent basis" before summer and another 38 before autumn to boost oversight. That will include random safety checks at targeted operations based on risk assessments.
"A lot of work has been done and is continuing to make improvements to an already very solid system. I am confident that all this work will go a long way toward improving understanding of SMS by our employees and the public. The bottom line is that Canadians can be confident in the aviation safety surveillance program," he told MPs on the House of Commons transportation committee.
"The only reason we're implementing SMS is to save lives and improve safety," Gregoire added later in response to questions from opposition MPs.
"SMS is not about no government oversight. It is about proper government oversight. It's about using our resources to the weakest areas. It's not deregulation, it's smarter regulation," said Baltacioglu.
They pointed to decreasing accident rates as evidence of a strengthened aviation system. The accident rate for 2008 — 5.7 accidents for every 100,000 hours flown — was the lowest rate in the last 10 years.
Accidents are investigated by the Transportation Safety Board. Correspondence released to Canwest News Service under access to information suggests SMS is at times under scrutiny by board investigators.
In February 2009, the TSB asked Transport Canada officials a series of questions pertaining to two carriers that had mid-air contact a few months earlier. Both were approaching the airstrip in the Labrador community of Natuashish at the time.
"Once again this seems to be turning into an SMS investigation," Don Sherritt, Transport Canada's director of standards, wrote to senior colleagues at Transport Canada.
Sherritt, who also testified at the parliamentary hearings on Tuesday, told MPs airlines are the best positioned to identify hazards and risks in their operations.
The aviation safety hearings continue Thursday.
© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service
Link to original (http://www.timescolonist.com/news/canada/Transport+Canada+promises+more+oversight+major+airlines/2744924/story.html)
Listen to the Committee meeting by following this link (http://parlvu.parl.gc.ca/ParlVu/ContentEntityDetailView.aspx?ContentEntityId=5831)
Day 2
Traditional Safety Checks Depend on Extra Resources
By Sarah Schmidt, Canwest News Service
April 1, 2010 4:32 PM
OTTAWA — Despite assurances from the top brass at Transport Canada that the government will step up safety checks at airlines, newly released instructions to inspectors says this will only happen if there are extra resources available in any given year.
Transport Canada's staff instructions on "surveillance procedures," tabled Thursday at parliamentary hearings into aviation safety in Canada, reveal that traditional forms of oversight, such as inflight inspections, ramp inspections during day-to-day operations and aircraft inspections, are to be considered discretionary and contingent on resources.
"Where surveillance resources are still available after the annual surveillance planning is completed . . . other surveillance activities may be planned," the instructions state.
These "additional surveillance activities" will not be undertaken at any prescribed frequency and "shall supplement, not replace assessments and program validation inspections."
Assessments and program validation inspections form the basis of Transport Canada's new oversight regime, called safety management systems (SMS). The approach is already fully phased in at all large carriers, but Transport Canada has delayed implementation at small airlines for at least a year after being inundated with concerns from its own inspectors about problems during the initial phase-in at these smaller operations.
The system puts more onus on carriers by requiring them to develop and oversee an in-house system of safety checks tailored to their operations. Transport Canada inspectors still ensure all safety regulations are followed, but the emphasis is placed on reviewing a company's SMS to determine whether the internal plan to reduce aviation hazards and risks is effective in complying with regulations.
This system is a shift away from traditional oversight where government inspectors had a much more hands-on role in auditing the safety operation and conducting spot checks.
On the first day of the aviation safety hearings Tuesday, Marc Gregoire, Transport Canada's assistant deputy minister for safety and security, told MPs on the House of Commons transport committee that these traditional safety checks will be brought back to be conducted alongside the SMS program.
"We haven't done as much surveillance activities as we wanted to do, but that will change in the next three years," Gregoire testified, committing to hire 60 additional aviation inspectors on an "urgent basis" before summer and another 38 before autumn to boost oversight.
Richard Balnis on Thursday cast doubt on such assurances during his testimony. The aviation specialist with the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents 8,500 flight attendants at six major airlines, highlighted the discretionary language in Transport Canada's new procedures manual for inspectors, in place since February.
"If there are sufficient resources remaining, there may be other government surveillance activities," said Balnis, who provided copies of the manual to the MPs.
Transport critics for the Bloc Quebec and the NDP expressed concern about the new instructions.
"When the directive says, 'If there are additional resources,' it's the directive we need to change," said Bloc MP Mario Laframboise.
"When you read the paragraph, 'If resources are still available, other surveillance activities may be planned,' that worries me," added NDP critic Dennis Bevington. "I feel like the surveillance aspect of it can't be dealt with in this policy."
Ron Smith, a national representative with the Canadian Auto Workers, told MPs on Thursday that one of the "fundamental cornerstones" of SMS, the ability of employees to flag safety concerns without risk of reprisal so employers can take corrective action, is more theory than reality.
"Employers don't respect the non-punitive reporting aspects of SMS," said Smith, whose union represents about 14,000 customer service staff and aircraft maintenance engineers at two airlines.
Conservative MPs on the parliamentary committee acknowledged there have been problems with the implementation of SMS, but defended the new safety approach.
© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service
Link to Original (http://www.canada.com/Traditional+airline+safety+checks+dependent+extra+resources/2754371/story.html)
Listen to the Committee meeting by following this link (http://parlvu.parl.gc.ca/ParlVu/ContentEntityDetailView.aspx?ContentEntityId=5856)
Next meeting set for 13th April, with witnesses from the Transportation Safety Board.
Day One:
Transport Canada Promises More Oversight
By Sarah Schmidt, Canwest News Service
March 30, 2010 1:38 PM
Top officials at Transport Canada on Tuesday vowed to step up oversight at major airlines after admitting government inspectors did fewer spot safety checks in the last few years.
"We haven't done as much surveillance activities as we wanted to do, but that will change in the next three years," Marc Gregoire, assistant deputy minister of safety and security, told MPs at the launch of parliamentary hearings into aviation safety in Canada.
Gregoire and deputy minister Yaprak Baltacioglu kicked off the hearings by acknowledging problems with the way the government has been implementing its new oversight regime, called safety management systems (SMS). But they both defended the approach, already fully phased in at such large carriers as Air Canada and WestJet.
Transport Canada has delayed implementation at small carriers for at least a year after being inundated with concerns from its own inspectors about problems during the initial phase in at these smaller operations, often serving remote communities.
The system puts more onus on carriers by requiring them to develop and oversee an in-house system of safety checks tailored to their operations. Transport Canada inspectors still ensure all safety regulations are followed, but the emphasis is placed on reviewing a company's SMS to determine whether the internal plan to reduce aviation hazards and risks is effective.
This regulatory system is a shift away from traditional oversight where government inspectors had a much more hands-on role in auditing the safety operations.
Gregoire said Transport Canada is committed to hiring 60 additional aviation inspectors on an "urgent basis" before summer and another 38 before autumn to boost oversight. That will include random safety checks at targeted operations based on risk assessments.
"A lot of work has been done and is continuing to make improvements to an already very solid system. I am confident that all this work will go a long way toward improving understanding of SMS by our employees and the public. The bottom line is that Canadians can be confident in the aviation safety surveillance program," he told MPs on the House of Commons transportation committee.
"The only reason we're implementing SMS is to save lives and improve safety," Gregoire added later in response to questions from opposition MPs.
"SMS is not about no government oversight. It is about proper government oversight. It's about using our resources to the weakest areas. It's not deregulation, it's smarter regulation," said Baltacioglu.
They pointed to decreasing accident rates as evidence of a strengthened aviation system. The accident rate for 2008 — 5.7 accidents for every 100,000 hours flown — was the lowest rate in the last 10 years.
Accidents are investigated by the Transportation Safety Board. Correspondence released to Canwest News Service under access to information suggests SMS is at times under scrutiny by board investigators.
In February 2009, the TSB asked Transport Canada officials a series of questions pertaining to two carriers that had mid-air contact a few months earlier. Both were approaching the airstrip in the Labrador community of Natuashish at the time.
"Once again this seems to be turning into an SMS investigation," Don Sherritt, Transport Canada's director of standards, wrote to senior colleagues at Transport Canada.
Sherritt, who also testified at the parliamentary hearings on Tuesday, told MPs airlines are the best positioned to identify hazards and risks in their operations.
The aviation safety hearings continue Thursday.
© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service
Link to original (http://www.timescolonist.com/news/canada/Transport+Canada+promises+more+oversight+major+airlines/2744924/story.html)
Listen to the Committee meeting by following this link (http://parlvu.parl.gc.ca/ParlVu/ContentEntityDetailView.aspx?ContentEntityId=5831)
Day 2
Traditional Safety Checks Depend on Extra Resources
By Sarah Schmidt, Canwest News Service
April 1, 2010 4:32 PM
OTTAWA — Despite assurances from the top brass at Transport Canada that the government will step up safety checks at airlines, newly released instructions to inspectors says this will only happen if there are extra resources available in any given year.
Transport Canada's staff instructions on "surveillance procedures," tabled Thursday at parliamentary hearings into aviation safety in Canada, reveal that traditional forms of oversight, such as inflight inspections, ramp inspections during day-to-day operations and aircraft inspections, are to be considered discretionary and contingent on resources.
"Where surveillance resources are still available after the annual surveillance planning is completed . . . other surveillance activities may be planned," the instructions state.
These "additional surveillance activities" will not be undertaken at any prescribed frequency and "shall supplement, not replace assessments and program validation inspections."
Assessments and program validation inspections form the basis of Transport Canada's new oversight regime, called safety management systems (SMS). The approach is already fully phased in at all large carriers, but Transport Canada has delayed implementation at small airlines for at least a year after being inundated with concerns from its own inspectors about problems during the initial phase-in at these smaller operations.
The system puts more onus on carriers by requiring them to develop and oversee an in-house system of safety checks tailored to their operations. Transport Canada inspectors still ensure all safety regulations are followed, but the emphasis is placed on reviewing a company's SMS to determine whether the internal plan to reduce aviation hazards and risks is effective in complying with regulations.
This system is a shift away from traditional oversight where government inspectors had a much more hands-on role in auditing the safety operation and conducting spot checks.
On the first day of the aviation safety hearings Tuesday, Marc Gregoire, Transport Canada's assistant deputy minister for safety and security, told MPs on the House of Commons transport committee that these traditional safety checks will be brought back to be conducted alongside the SMS program.
"We haven't done as much surveillance activities as we wanted to do, but that will change in the next three years," Gregoire testified, committing to hire 60 additional aviation inspectors on an "urgent basis" before summer and another 38 before autumn to boost oversight.
Richard Balnis on Thursday cast doubt on such assurances during his testimony. The aviation specialist with the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents 8,500 flight attendants at six major airlines, highlighted the discretionary language in Transport Canada's new procedures manual for inspectors, in place since February.
"If there are sufficient resources remaining, there may be other government surveillance activities," said Balnis, who provided copies of the manual to the MPs.
Transport critics for the Bloc Quebec and the NDP expressed concern about the new instructions.
"When the directive says, 'If there are additional resources,' it's the directive we need to change," said Bloc MP Mario Laframboise.
"When you read the paragraph, 'If resources are still available, other surveillance activities may be planned,' that worries me," added NDP critic Dennis Bevington. "I feel like the surveillance aspect of it can't be dealt with in this policy."
Ron Smith, a national representative with the Canadian Auto Workers, told MPs on Thursday that one of the "fundamental cornerstones" of SMS, the ability of employees to flag safety concerns without risk of reprisal so employers can take corrective action, is more theory than reality.
"Employers don't respect the non-punitive reporting aspects of SMS," said Smith, whose union represents about 14,000 customer service staff and aircraft maintenance engineers at two airlines.
Conservative MPs on the parliamentary committee acknowledged there have been problems with the implementation of SMS, but defended the new safety approach.
© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service
Link to Original (http://www.canada.com/Traditional+airline+safety+checks+dependent+extra+resources/2754371/story.html)
Listen to the Committee meeting by following this link (http://parlvu.parl.gc.ca/ParlVu/ContentEntityDetailView.aspx?ContentEntityId=5856)
Next meeting set for 13th April, with witnesses from the Transportation Safety Board.