Evidence of meeting #38 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 training.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Ed Komarnicki Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK
Thank you.
I'll probably get right to questions for the RTL-Westcan Group of Companies.
It seems to me that you're dealing with maybe two or three variables, the equipment or the truck, the equipment design, the driver and, of course, the travelling public that you maybe don't have as much control over but need to take into account.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Larry Miller
Mr. Warnock, what we're going to do is reconnect with you.
Mr. Komarnicki, I wasn't sure who you were asking, but we will get Mr. Warnock back on.
Conservative
Ed Komarnicki Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK
Okay. I'll carry on then.
With respect to equipment design, I think the things you need to be concerned about primarily are collisions and rollovers. What specific things have been done with respect to collision and rollover, and are they mandated by regulation or an act? Can you comment on that?
Vice President, Fleet Services, RTL-Westcan Group of Companies
As far as equipment design in concerned, we've gone to the philosophy that 100 kilometres per hour is fast enough on highways, so our units are road-speed limited to that highway speed. We also track the speed while they're driving at lower speeds, where there's an 80 kilometre zone or less. All our newer tractors are equipped with roll stability built right into the truck. It is a fairly complex system that monitors road speed, it monitors positioning of the vehicle, it can sense if the load is shifting, like if you're driving off the road, and it can actually intervene and apply brakes, slow the unit down, and get it straightened out so it helps to prevent the rollover in the vehicle.
Conservative
Ed Komarnicki Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK
In terms of collision, is that rollover stability the only thing other than speed that you're concerned with? Is there's no other physical aspect to the piece of equipment that can be added, other than the rollover stability provisions?
Vice President, Fleet Services, RTL-Westcan Group of Companies
Well, we are testing some technologies, some in-cab cameras, that monitor the road ahead of the driver plus the driver's actions. It's to monitor driving habits, such as following too closely, that type of thing. A lot of the incidents we've seen are when somebody has gotten in our way or made a sudden move to force our driver into sudden braking. We're looking at other technologies; there is more out there. There's adaptive cruise control that we haven't tested yet but we're looking at, which monitors the distance between vehicles to keep them at a safe distance. And there are certain other types of technologies that can help prevent accidents with the motoring public.
Conservative
Ed Komarnicki Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK
Are all of these voluntary actions taken by the company, including the rollover protection, or are they mandated in any fashion?
Vice President, Fleet Services, RTL-Westcan Group of Companies
No, it was not.
Vice President, Fleet Services, RTL-Westcan Group of Companies
We decided as a company that we wanted to help reduce our incidents and help train our drivers. That's a big part of it. We take the data if there is any type of event, a “critical event” we call it, whether it's roll stability or hard braking, and we use that data to work with the driver for further training.
Conservative
Ed Komarnicki Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK
You mentioned you have a lot of other things happening, electronic monitoring and so on.
On the safety management system, my first question is how do you get the drivers to buy into that program? Secondly, what do you have to say to the smaller operators that have very few people working with them. How do they deal with the safety management system and what might you suggest needs to happen with respect to those operations that don't measure up in number to the type of operation you have?
President and Chief Executive Officer, RTL-Westcan Group of Companies
In terms of getting our drivers to buy into this, our approach is more about ensuring that our entire company buys into these systems and programs and preventative actions. From our perspective, it's our culture. We do that through education, through training, and through visible leadership. Everybody across our company and across our team has certain goals and expectations in terms of being out in the field promoting the message, promoting the education, and supporting our employees across...and truly leading the path by example. For us, it's all about education, training, and engagement.
Conservative
Ed Komarnicki Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK
Okay.
Do you have any comments or suggestions as to how you might deal with smaller operators?
Vice President, Fleet Services, RTL-Westcan Group of Companies
Through our associations, both the AMTA and the CTA, we collaborate with regard to preventative measures and how to make all of us more reliable, safer, and more professional. Together, from a safety perspective, there's lots of collaboration in the industry to ensure we all get better all the time.
Conservative
Ed Komarnicki Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK
I have a quick question with respect to your transload facilities.
The Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act and regulations apply to interprovincial and international transport, but you obviously do short hauls to a transload facility. Who governs what needs to happen and what needs to be in place for a transload facility?
Vice President, Fleet Services, RTL-Westcan Group of Companies
It's Transport Canada.
Conservative
Ed Komarnicki Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK
I understand that Transport Canada rules, as far as truckers are concerned, relate to interprovincial travel. For international travel, you're saying Transport Canada rules apply to a stationary facility and short hauls?
President and Chief Executive Officer, RTL-Westcan Group of Companies
Yes.
We were active with Transport Canada when we first designed the facility. We'll have periodic audits from them as well in terms of how we're operating.
Conservative
Ed Komarnicki Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK
I know when you're dealing with a transload facility, obviously the municipality is important as are the availability of water and the availability of firefighting capabilities.
Who makes the final decision in terms of what has to be in place before you can operate your facility with respect to things like a volunteer fire department and water availability to ensure that you are able to operate within that element?
President and Chief Executive Officer, RTL-Westcan Group of Companies
There are a number of different levels of permitting with regard to designing and building of the facility. The fire department would certainly be involved, and within Calgary the municipality and Transport Canada were also involved in approving the design and with regard to the equipment, the availability of water, and all the safety features that we have at our transloading facility.
Conservative
Ed Komarnicki Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK
So you are saying that a transload can't be operated until it is approved by who?
President and Chief Executive Officer, RTL-Westcan Group of Companies
The final approval was done prior to my joining the company, but I believe the final approval did come from Transport Canada and the City of Calgary.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Larry Miller
Your time has expired, Mr. Komarnicki.
We'll now move to Ms. Morin for five minutes.
NDP
Isabelle Morin NDP Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Mitchell, your website mentions daily procedures for mechanics and drivers. In the morning, they ensure that everything is working well. So the day begins with those checks.
How is the inspection done? Do you sometimes find issues, and how are they resolved?