Transportation Safety Board of Canada’s recent investigation calls for change

Comprehensive emergency procedures, training, drills among the suggestions

A recent Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) investigation highlights the need for comprehensive emergency procedures, training and drills, the investigation report states.

The TSB was looking into the May 16, 2013, grounding of the passenger vessel Louis Jolliet and released the report with suggestions on Oct. 2.

Although there were no injuries or pollution reported, the investigation found negligence on the part of the master, who had left navigation to a recently hired chief mate.

The TSB also discovered key crew members were not familiar with their emergency dutires and those emergency procedures that were in place had shortcomings when it came to passenger safety management.

None of the emergency procedures had been practiced “in a realistic way” by the crew, the report says.

Despite no injuries in this incident, the report notes the vessel was capable of carrying more passengers and without comprehendive and detailed procedures, training and drill in passenger safety management, the outcome in another incident could be much different.

The investigation also highlighted the need for effective oversight of passenger safety by Transport Canada (TC).

Since the incident, the owner and operator of the vessel, Croisières AML, has implemented many safety actions addressing the issues in the TSB’s report, including new procedures to familiarize the crew with their duties in an emergency situation.

TC also passed a notice to inspectors on their requirements under the current regulations and made improvements to their reporting system.

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