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11/2/2020
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) last week released its Watchlist 2020 list of eight key safety risks that require government or industry attention, including the risk of unplanned or uncontrolled movements of railway equipment.
The list is compiled as a result of hundreds of investigations, compelling findings, data and active TSB recommendations, board officials said in a press release. The list evolves each year, with the TSB removing some risks and adding new ones as they arise.
New to this year's list is the railway movement issue. The number of uncontrolled movements is climbing, with last year's total of 78 well above the 10-year average, TSB officials said. The board made two recommendations related to uncontrolled movements, R14-04 and R20-01 and issued one safety concern.
"Recent occurrences in British Columbia and Saskatchewan have taken a deadly toll," said TSB Chair Kathy Fox. "Reducing these numbers will require collaboration between Transport Canada, the railways and their labor representatives as they devise strategies and implement physical and administrative defenses to reduce the risks."
Removed from this year's list is slow progress responding to TSB recommendations, which was first highlighted in 2016. At that time, there were 52 outstanding TSB recommendations that were at least 10 years old with more than half over 20 years old. In 2020, the board determined that the progress made to date is sufficient for its removal.
One rail issue that remains on the list: following railway signals. The number of reported occurrences of signals not being followed has increased, as train crews misinterpret or misperceive a signal indication. In the absence of physical fail-safe defenses, this could result in a collision or derailment, TSB officials said.
One of the most "pervasive" issues that remains on the list is fatigue, which TSB officials say poses a risk to the safety of air, marine and freight-train operations because of its potential to degrade several aspects of human performance.