A safety management system requires a profound change in culture that does not happen overnight. It takes a great deal of time before the companies and the operators, both in the rail, air and marine sectors, fully embrace the SMS philosophy. We estimate that this will take between eight and ten years. We are currently taking our first steps toward changing this culture.
We have a very good record. There was a drop in the number of accidents in nearly all modes of transport, except in 2004 and 2005 in rail transportation. We admit that and we are addressing the situation, but we have not managed to generate a significant drop in the rates. Only minor changes have been made. We are trying to see what we could do to generate a significant change and lower these accident rates. After numerous discussions with international risk management experts over the past ten years, we asked ourselves the following question: would our transportation system in Canada be safer if a Transport Canada inspector were placed on each plane, boat and train? Would it be safer than it is today? Would we succeed in lowering the accident rate?
I want to make an analogy with road transportation. If there were a police officer in every car, would the roads be safer? All the experts have said no. In order for road transportation to be safer, the operator must integrate the philosophy that security takes precedence over all else.