Boarding Cars parked beside the mainline
June 17th, 2006
Brothers and Sisters,
Recently I was asked to participate on a Transport Canada Steering Committee investigating derailments and the risk to stationary cars, especially those containing Dangerous Goods. I will be attending my first meeting in September and am studying, and familiarizing myself with, all of the relevant documentation prior to that.
I can assure you that I will be bringing up the issue of the risk of derailments next to Boarding Cars which are filled with our members trying to sleep. One derailment could cause the deaths of dozens of our members, as the derailed car rips through the flimsy walls of the white fleet.
Attached are a couple of items to do with parking the Boarding cars next to the mainline.
You will note that in the BCO-11406 VSA document, the company mentions that this revision is due to "issues raised". I think that it should be noted, that the issues were raised by the TCRCMWED members on the boarding cars, the TCRC MWED Safety Representative Brian Black and myself. Though we will never agree that it is safe to park boarding cars full of our members directly beside live track, it is nice to see that the company is finally beginning to recognize some of the concerns with this extremely dangerous practice.
CPR's position shortly after the derailment at Haig was that they would just carry on and park the outfits (boarding cars) next to the mainline in Monte Creek. This was stopped due to the Union, and its members', protests. If you look at the risk assessment write up you can see that under "Mitigation and Control Strategies" , the item expressly stating " Don't park the boarding cars next to the mainline at Monte Creek" has the most "undesired/undesirable events" letters next to it. This was, by far, the best solution arrived at by H&S committee.
Stay safe out there. Remember, your safety is much too important to leave in the hands of TP&E management.
Fraternally,
Bill Brehl
President
TCRCMWED
Document 1 >>>
Document 2 >>>
