Canadian Occupational Safety

8 Canadian Occupational Safety www.cos-mag.com UPDATES FROM THE WORLD OF HEALTH & SAFETY By Phil Wahba (Reuters) — Two residents of the Quebec town of Lac-Megantic, where a runaway train derailed and exploded into a wall of fi re that killed 50 people, have launched a class action lawsuit to win compensation for the small community. e plaintiff s, Guy Ouellet and Yan- nick Gagné, are seeking damages a er the Montreal Maine & Atlantic Railway train of 72 oil tanker cars crashed on July 6 into the centre of the lakeside town near the Maine border, destroying buildings and businesses, and leaving a community in mourning. Ouellet lost his partner, Diane Bizier, in the explosion, while Gagné's popu- lar bar, the Musi-Cafe, was leveled by the blast and subsequent fi re. e bar was fi lled with people at the time of the accident, and most are presumed dead. irty-seven bodies have so far been recovered from the blackened remains of the town's historic downtown, with around 13 people still missing and pre- sumed dead in what is one of the worst railway disasters in Canada's history. e railway's chair, Edward Bur- khardt, apologized to the town of about 6,000 following the incident and acknowledged corporate liability. e company has said the engineer who parked the train in a nearby town uphill from Lac-Megantic likely failed to set suffi cient hand brakes. e centre of Lac-Megantic was closed to residents and visitors as police and investigators si through wreckage and tear down buildings considered structurally unsound a er the explosions, which have reopened the debate over the safety of moving crude oil by rail. e probe, which could take months to complete, is also likely to spur tougher regulations for companies operating in the railway industry. e motion to bring a class action suit seeks compensation for those who have lost loved ones or were injured in the explosions. It also includes claims for property or business losses. Burkhardt and railway president Robert Grindrod are named in the document, along with numerous other company executives, as is omas Harding, who was the train's engineer. Representatives from the company did not respond to e-mail and telephone requests for comment. Harding has remained out of sight and Reuters has not been able to reach him for comment. "The suffering endured by this community and the suff ering that is still ongoing has been truly incomprehensi- ble," Daniel Larochelle, a Lac-Megantic based lawyer who assembled the legal team, said in a statement. at team includes the Consumer Law Group of Montreal, Rochon Genova LLP of Toronto and Lieff Cabraser Heimann and Bernstein LLP of New York and San Francisco. " ese fi rms have extensive experi- ence pursuing large tort actions and in seeking compensation for victims fol- lowing disasters including the BP Gulf oil spill litigation and in Exxon Valdez," Toronto law fi rm Rochon Genova said. e case number is Quebec Superior Court 450-06-000001-135. By Peter N. Henderson (Reuters) — Canadian railways should bring in automatic braking sys- tems and video-recording devices to help prevent accidents like a fatal 2012 passenger train derailment, according to the country's transportation watchdog. e Transportation Safety Board of Canada's proposals would apply to both passenger and freight travel, bringing railways in line with air travel, where fl ight recorders and automatic pilot sys- tems have long been required. e new rules would also bring Canada's railway regulations closer to those of the United States, where a 2008 overhaul means nearly all rail lines must introduce automatic control sys- tems by the end of 2015. The board's recommendations came in its report on the 2012 acci- dent, which killed three engineers and injured 45 passengers. e board said the train was travel- ling more than four times the rated speed for the track near Toronto where the accident took place, and engineers apparently ignored or misunderstood track signals that told them to slow down. "Missed signals are a real risk," said Wendy Tadros, chair of the Transporta- tion Safety Board. "Every day, hundreds of freight trains encounter thousands of signals all over Canada. ose trains carry chemicals. Flammable liquids. And more and more oil." Canada has limited passenger rail service, but railways carry more than 310 million tonnes (One tonne = 1.102 tons) of freight a year includ- ing ever-larger volumes of crude oil. Oil accounts for around fi ve per cent of total rail traffi c in Canada, National Bank research analysts say. In May, a train spilled 575 barrels of crude oil onto the Saskatchewan prairie a er it derailed. e TSB said rail operators should install automatic, fail-safe override systems that can stop or slow a train if it misses a signal. It also said locomo- tives should be equipped with video monitoring systems to make crash investigations easier. A spokesman for Canadian National Railway, one of Canada's two big rail companies, said CN Rail is already rolling out fail-safe control systems in Canada and the United States, where it also operates. But Mark Hallman said it was unwise to move beyond what is currently man- dated in Canada until the system has been proven reliable. "It's a technologi- cally complex system that as of yet has not been proven in any large scale indus- try implementation," Hallman said. Transport Canada, the industry regulator, has 90 days to respond to the TSB recommendations. Canada's transport watchdog calls for tougher safety systems for trains Survivors of Quebec train crash fi le class-action suit The law firm that does more than defend OHSA charges. At Fasken Martineau, lawyers and consultants work together to provide clients with OHS and Workers' Compensation training, consulting and legal solutions, all protected by solicitor and client privilege. 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