Evidence of meeting #37 for Transport, Infrastructure and Communities in the 41st Parliament, 2nd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was industry.
A recording is available from Parliament.
NDP
Isabelle Morin NDP Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC
Can you describe the exact nature of the accidents that occur? What happens during loading and unloading? Exactly what accidents are occurring?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Trucking Alliance
I'd like, if I could, to defer to Mr. Bantle on what would happen, but it's plainly human error. That's what would cause a problem at loading or unloading. There are times when the equipment would fail and that sort of thing, but it mainly comes down to human error.
I don't know, Rod, maybe you could explain exactly what happens.
NDP
Isabelle Morin NDP Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC
You said human error, but what happens specifically? I'd like you to tell me what the exact accident is, not necessarily its cause.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Trucking Alliance
When you fill your gas tank sometimes, do you ever see a little bit of gasoline dripping out at the end? That's what we're talking about.
Executive Director, Manitoba Trucking Association
For clarity, I think maybe you're thinking of the word accident in terms of a vehicular accident. We're talking about incidents, just to clarify that.
NDP
Isabelle Morin NDP Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC
Okay. What can be done to fix that? What steps can be taken to address those incidents?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Trucking Alliance
Obviously training is important, and it's an ongoing commitment to training any time you're dealing with human beings. You'll never get things perfect, but there is a commitment to training. If a leakage is strong enough, there are the other laws, the environmental laws and whatnot that come into play. If there is some systemic problem, it would show up and it would be dealt with through the enforcement system. In terms of dealing with human beings, you have to make sure that they're properly trained and that you're monitoring them as best you can to make sure the proper procedures are always being followed. That's part of a safety management system.
NDP
Executive Director, Manitoba Trucking Association
As a point of clarity as well, the number of incidents is low. Again, we're focusing on that 70%. When there is an incident, the majority of them are limited in exposure in terms of the general public. They're at shipper or receiver locations. The overall number of incidents is still very low, again, just to be clear on that 70% number.
NDP
Isabelle Morin NDP Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC
What training on this type of loading do employees currently receive?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Trucking Alliance
There's all manner of dangerous goods training that takes place. There's the regulatory requirement for training, product knowledge, what to do with regard to contacting first responders, those sorts of things, but every company as well, and many of the shippers too, would have some sort of training program related to the product and how to properly handle the product.
As I said earlier, the term “driver” really doesn't do justice to the role that they play. They really are product specialists, and that takes a lot of training. There is more training in that sector of our business than in any other sector of the business.
NDP
Isabelle Morin NDP Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC
What role do you think the federal government should play when it comes to training? Do you have any concrete recommendations in that regard?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Trucking Alliance
It's very difficult. For example, you couldn't create an omnibus training program that would cover all 2,200 dangerous goods or even those in that smaller number of dangerous goods. It would end up being so watered down that it would be meaningless. I think the system is working fairly well right now between shippers and carriers in terms of providing that product knowledge and that sort of thing.
One thing we do recommend be looked at is whether the people providing the training, whether within a company or through a third party institution of some sort, have proper training not only in dangerous goods but in terms of how to train people and whether they are getting the proper training. We think there needs to be some sort of a certification process for the trainers themselves. You'll see lots of ads in newspapers for people providing training, and it's not always clear that they know what they're doing.
NDP
Isabelle Morin NDP Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC
I think Mr. Benson would like to comment as well.
Lobbyist, Teamsters Canada
Just to reiterate, the information I had from our end was that the training on these dangerous goods and on flammables, etc., which is provided by the shippers and the companies and the industry, is very rigorous. It was put to me that the third party liability is such that they make sure it's done. Training the trainer and having better training are things we work on together with the sector council. They're things we strongly support as well.
The one point we did have is that the training should be consistent, and the best way to do that is to make sure the trainers are trained according to a consistent model.
Conservative
Conservative
Jeff Watson Conservative Essex, ON
Thank you to our witnesses for appearing.
I have a few practical questions.
I'm not very familiar with electronic logbook technology. What happens? Does a trucker put certain information into an electronic system? Does that interact with the inspection stations along a highway such that you can't bypass them? Could you explain the technology briefly?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Trucking Alliance
I'll ask our VP of safety, “Mr. ELD”, Geoff Wood to take you through “ELD-101”.
Geoffrey Wood Vice-President, Operations and Safety, Canadian Trucking Alliance
It's an electronic device that's tied into the engine of the truck and it monitors everything the driver does. The driver gets into the truck and logs in. It's an electronic record that follows him through his whole time on duty.
In terms of information that's available to the inspection stations, when the truck comes across the scale, the officer wants to see it. It can be displayed on a screen. It can be emailed to him. It can be faxed. Again, it's real-time information on what has been happening.
Conservative
Jeff Watson Conservative Essex, ON
Would an inspection station get that information if he's driving past it instead of into it?
