international railway safety conference october 7 th, 2013 rob smith, national legislative director...
TRANSCRIPT
International Railway Safety ConferenceOctober 7th, 2013
Rob Smith, National Legislative Director - Teamsters Canada Rail ConferenceMarc Beaulieu, Regional General Manager & Chief of Transportation
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Outline
Critical Incident
Critical Incident Care Program
Continuous Improvement
Prevention of Critical Incidents
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Critical Incident
Definition:
“A critical incident is an event which has a stressful impact sufficient to overwhelm the usually effective coping skills of a group or individual. They are typically sudden powerful events, which are outside the range of ordinary human experience.”
Jeffrey T. Mitchell, Ph.D.
More specifically for railways:
Any incident resulting in serious injuries or fatalities that causes personnel directly involved to experience emotional reactions which could interfere with their abilities to function at the scene or later.
Not withstanding other circumstances; a critical incident is a contact with either a trespasser, an occupied vehicle or an unoccupied vehicle that failed to yield the right of way to a train movement.
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Critical Incident
Types of critical incidents:
Excessively violent incident
Derailment
Contact with trespasser(s)
Suicide
Collision with other rolling stock
Collision at level crossing
Contact with an unoccupied vehicle
Hold-up or hostage taking
Explosion
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Critical Incident
Some factors affecting a person’s reaction to a critical incident:
Presence at the site
Amount of time spent at the scene
Exposure to extremely disturbing sights, sounds, smells
Violence it involves
Strong identification with victim
Presence of children
On-going personal stresses (cumulative stress factors)
Degree of decision making responsibilities
Consequences:
Individual, and his/her family and friends suffer
Job performance deteriorates
Absenteeism
May create negative climate in the workplace
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Critical Incident
Types of interventions
Immediate response
Peer support
Individual counseling (Employee Assistance Program)
Critical Incident Care Program
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Critical Incident Care Program
VIA Rail Canada guidelines for all employees who have been exposed to a traumatic event during the course of their work, to prevent long-term difficulties.
Designed to accelerate normal recovery processes in people experiencing normal reactions in abnormal situations.
It gives latitude to assess employee's condition and to provide helpful alternatives such as:
- a rest period,- Peer Support,- Employee Assistance Program or a group debriefing when necessary
Complement VIA's humanitarian approach and relieve unnecessary stress and anxiety, in order to mitigate impact and accelerate the recovery process.
Developed with the support of expertise in the field of psychology
Critical incidents support is essential for an employee that has been involved in a traumatic event
They are victims and must be treated accordingly
It’s all about normalizing the situation
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Critical Incident Care Program
The program:
At the site (once locomotive engineer is relieved by a VIA Rail manager):
Support the crew.
Treat crew members as victims of the incident.
Enquire about the crew’s well being and show empathy.
Remove the crew from the scene ASAP and provide as much clear information as possible on what to expect.
Control level of questions and fact finding exercises and avoid repeating the same questions.
There should be compassionate contact with the crew
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Critical Incident Care Program
The program (cont’d):
Once employees arrive at the terminal following a critical incident:
An Employee Assistance Program counselor will meet or contact the employee
The employees will be relieved from duties for a minimum of 72 hours from the time of arrival at the home terminal
An additional 48 hours to be granted at the employee’s request.
The employees will be encouraged to accept transportation home after the arrival at the terminal
Retrieval of the employee’s personal vehicle should be mutually arranged.
Ongoing care and follow up:
Employees will be encouraged to use the EAP services
Employees may opt to seek care from their personal physician
Their Manager and Peer Support member will keep in touch with them for proper follow up
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Marc BeaulieuMay 30, 2013
Continuous improvement
Number of work accidents involving LE's and trauma
2010 2011 2012 Grand Total
Count of Incidents 13 12 8 33
Days Lost due to work accidents involving LE's and trauma
2010 2011* 2012* Grand Total
Sum of Days Lost 2639 1569 384 4592
2010 2011* 2012* Grand Total
Average DAYS LOST/CASE 203 130.8 48.0 139.2
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Marc BeaulieuMay 30, 2013
Continuous improvement
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Marc BeaulieuMay 30, 2013
Prevention of Critical Incidents
• A group of Locomotive Engineers and Managers were assembled to review « A Day in the Life of a Locomotive Engineer » to create a detailed action plan to improve their work environment as well as creating and communicating instructions, job aids, procedures and standards.
• The implementation of the following actions led to a reduction of the train incidents per million train-miles of 45% in the past four years:
Setting up of new booking rooms providing the right work environment for Locomotive Engineers to prepare for their duty.
Development of new special instructions called “Cab Red Zone to ensure Locomotive Engineers devote their full attention to the operations of the train.
Modifications of pre-work checklists and documents as well as new train summary trip reports to ensure procedures and tools in place are effective.
Ongoing involvement and participation of employees at all levels through Health and Safety committees and the development and implementation of initiatives.
New Key Performance Indicator on train incidents per million train-miles.
Introduction of a new Monthly Operations Safety Calls to closely monitor issues and overall safety performance.
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Marc BeaulieuMay 30, 2013
Safety Performance – Crossing/Trespassing Accidents
• In addition to the above-mentioned initiatives to reduce train incidents, the following initiatives were implemented to specifically address crossing and trespassing incidents:
The development of a High Risk Area program to identify and prioritize sites of frequent trespassing, crossing accidents or near misses, or areas with high potential for incidents, to identify corrective and preventive actions in order to reduce the risk of accidents.
Through the Transport Canada crossing closure program, VIA succesfully closed 53 private and farm crossings further reducing the risk of accidents.
Fences are installed in areas where there is a high frequency of trespassing.
The ongoing implementation and monitoring of train operations through joint efficiency testing with host railways and the rules compliance monitoring and training also contribute to safer operations and the reduction of trespassing and crossing accidents.
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Marc BeaulieuMay 30, 2013
Thank you!
Merci !