Railway Accountability: Again

Since the tragic accident in Quebec, pressure has been building to ensure that Transport Canada is effectively ensuring railway safety across the country. As a result there was the Protective Direction due to talks with FCM. More pressure is being mounted today after the release of the Auditor-General's report outlining 'gaps' auditing the safety programs of the railway companies.

Currently rail companies are not accountable for their activities in the many municipalities in which they operate. If a rail company decides to erect a building on their land within Town limits they do not need a permit to build nor are they required to inform the municipality of the activity.

Hopefully things are changing on this issue. You can find the Auditor-General's report on rail safety here. Here is the Globe and Mail coverage of the Auditor-General's report. The National Post has not reported at writing.

Below are the Auditor-General's recommendations with Transport Canada's response:

Recommendation	Response
Regulatory framework
7.26 Transport Canada should complete the implementation of the recommendations raised in the Railway Safety Act review and relevant recommendations of the rail safety review conducted by the House of Commons Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities. It should integrate the changes into the regulatory framework for federal railways to comply with and for the Department to oversee. (7.17–7.25)	Agreed. With industry and other important stakeholders, Transport Canada will continue to act on recommendations of the Railway Safety Act review and the study of the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities. For some recommendations, this will involve the integration of recommended changes into the Department’s regulatory framework.
7.32 Transport Canada should accelerate the resolution of important and long-standing safety issues. The Department should establish a formal process with clear timelines to monitor significant safety issues, from the time they are identified until they are mitigated to an acceptable level. (7.27–7.31)	Agreed. Transport Canada will continue to work with industry and other important stakeholders to mitigate important safety issues: for example, it will continue its efforts to increase public awareness of the dangers of trespassing. It will use its national database as a tool to monitor timelines and progress.
Planning for oversight activities
7.42 To oversee the safety management systems implemented by federal railways, including their compliance with the regulatory framework, Transport Canada should review its methodology to identify key safety risk and performance indicators, and the safety performance information it needs from railway companies, in order to make risk-based planning decisions; collect the relevant risk and safety performance information from federal railways and assess its completeness and reliability; and develop an approach to make better use of the information on federal railways’ safety risks and performance when preparing annual oversight plans. (7.33–7.41)	Agreed. As the Department continues to enhance its safety management system (SMS) approach to oversight, it will continue to develop/refine its methodology for identifying safety risks, performance indicators, and safety performance information needed from federal railways so that oversight activity can be targeted to the areas of greatest risk. To this end, by winter 2014, the Department will complete a review of its methodology with a view to updating and strengthening performance and risk indicators. By early 2016, the Department will introduce revised regulations clearly setting out the performance information that must be provided by federal railways. Once the regulations are in place, the Department will take account of this information into its annual risk-based planning process, the foundation for its annual oversight plans. The adequacy of federal railways’ own oversight policies and practices will be an important factor when preparing annual risk-based oversight plans.
7.49 Transport Canada should reassess the number of its planned audits and inspections so that it takes into account the new safety management system environment. It should review how it allocates resources, with the aim of conducting the minimum level of oversight necessary to obtain assurance that federal railways have implemented adequate and effective safety management systems to comply with the regulatory framework. The Department should conduct this minimum level of oversight. (7.43–7.48)	Agreed. By spring 2014, Transport Canada will review its risk-based oversight program to more fully integrate the safety management system (SMS) environment and plan for increased audits. By fall 2014, Transport Canada will adjust the number of risk-based inspections to reflect required levels of oversight based on the latest safety and risk information, traffic volumes, and taking into consideration the number and findings of SMS audits.
Conducting oversight activities
7.58 Transport Canada should provide better documentation tools to inspectors to carry out their oversight activities, so that they can better document and communicate to federal railways what they assessed and what they found; improve its oversight of federal railways’ safety management systems by having inspectors assess their quality and effectiveness; require federal railways to make the necessary changes to correct deficiencies affecting the safety of their operations; and conduct timely follow-up on deficiencies affecting the safety of federal railways’ operations, to assess whether they have been corrected. (7.50–7.57)	Agreed. By mid-2014, Transport Canada will complete implementation of Rail Safety Integrated Gateway system audit and inspection modules, including training for Transport Canada staff on documentation and communication of oversight activity findings and follow-up requirements. By mid-2014, following completion of training for all inspectors, Transport Canada will increase the number of system audits that are planned and conducted. Any deficiencies found in railway companies’ safety systems will be communicated to the companies, and the companies will be asked to address them. Where significant deficiencies have been identified, Transport Canada will, on a risk basis, conduct follow-up activity to ensure that the deficiencies have been addressed. By late 2014, Transport Canada will introduce amendments to Railway Safety Management System Regulations that require railways, in addition to having specific processes in place, to also document corrective action decisions and their implementation. By spring 2014, Transport Canada will develop a follow-up procedure and provide all inspectors with training on the procedure to enhance the consistency of follow-up activity.
7.62 Transport Canada should set a clear expectation for management review and approval in the planning, conducting, and reporting of oversight activities, with the aim of ensuring that inspectors comply with the methodology and that their reports are accurate. Transport Canada should provide guidance to management on how to document the timing and extent of management involvement. (7.59–7.61)	Agreed. In keeping with its continuous improvement practices, by March 2014, Transport Canada will have strengthened management review of staff’s oversight activities, including adherence to established oversight methodology, to ensure staff is thorough and exercising due diligence in the conduct of inspections and audits. Performance expectations will be clearly outlined in annual agreements with managers.
7.65 Transport Canada should improve its methodology to set clear expectations for planning and conducting audits and inspections, and for drafting and communicating findings to the federal railways. (7.63–7.64)	Agreed. As Transport Canada progresses to a full systems-based approach to oversight, the Department will update its audit and inspection methodology and procedures, setting clear expectations for the planning, conduct, drafting, and communication of findings to railways.
Human resource planning
7.70 Transport Canada should identify and develop a strategy to ensure that it has the needed number of inspectors with the necessary skills and competencies required to plan and conduct the oversight of federal railways, including oversight of safety management systems. (7.66–7.69)	Agreed. In order to fully integrate its systems-based approach to oversight, Transport Canada has developed a human resource strategy to ensure that it has the needed number of inspectors with the skills and competencies to plan and conduct the oversight of federal railways, including oversight of safety management systems. Training, recruitment, and retention strategies will be reflected in an updated human resource plan for the Rail Safety Program, which will also take account of the number of planned audits. By December 2014, Transport Canada will complete the skills and competencies assessment. Going forward, this information will be used to develop annual program oversight plans.
7.74 Transport Canada should ensure that inspectors and managers receive in a timely manner training to carry out their responsibilities. (7.71–7.73)	Agreed. Transport Canada will put in place an annual schedule to ensure that all rail safety inspectors receive mandatory training on a timely basis to carry out their responsibilities.
7.76 The Department should put a process in place to monitor whether inspectors maintain their independence and objectivity when conducting audits and inspections of federal railways. (7.75)	Agreed. Transport Canada addressed this recommendation during summer 2013 by providing information and awareness sessions on the updated Treasury Board Values and Ethics Code as well as developing its own Transport Canada Code of Values and Ethics. In addition, Transport Canada will require all inspectors to regularly update their “Conflict of Interest” declarations, and it will require an update when changes in circumstances would impact on an inspector’s independence or objectivity.
Quality assurance
7.81 Transport Canada should develop a detailed quality assurance plan to assess its oversight methodology against best practices and to regularly evaluate audits and inspections against its methodology, with the goal of promoting continuous improvement. (7.77–7.80)	Agreed. Transport Canada will expand its quality assurance program to include periodic testing of inspectors’ oversight activities, including testing practices related to systems-based audits. This will be completed by late 2014.