TSB Releases Annual ‘Safety Recommendations’ Assessment
Written by Carolina Worrell, Senior Editor
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) on June 20 issued an annual assessment of responses to its “outstanding safety recommendations” in the rail, marine and air transportation sectors.
The TSB, which is described as an independent agency that investigates rail, marine, air and pipeline transportation occurrences to advance safety, not to assign fault or determine civil or criminal liability, issues safety recommendations as “a call to industry and regulators to address systemic problems that pose a serious safety risk to Canada’s transportation system.” Each year, the TSB assesses progress on outstanding recommendations as part of its ongoing efforts to “urge the regulators or industry to act on the safety issues identified in TSB investigations.”
The Board’s latest assessments bring the total percentage of responses to TSB recommendations rated fully satisfactory to 83%, indicating that “some progress has been made across Canada’s transportation system,” according to the TSB. As of March 31, 2024, 91 recommendations remain outstanding, including eight new recommendations issued in the 2023-24 fiscal year.
Responses to recommendations are assessed based on the extent to which the underlying safety deficiency has been or is being addressed. For more details, see the Board’s assessment rating guide.
Of the 10 responses to rail transportation safety recommendations the TSB assessed in 2023-24, one was closed as Fully Satisfactory (R22-01).
“The Board closed recommendation R22-01 as Fully Satisfactory following Transport Canada’s approval of revisions to the Railway Freight and Passenger Train Brake Inspection and Safety Rules, effective in 2025, by introducing the requirement to replace brake cylinders every 14 years on freight cars operating in mountain grade territory in cold weather,” the agency reported. This revision, TSB says, “strengthens maintenance standards and will improve cold weather air brake performance on trains operating in mountain grade territory.”
The Board did not issue any pipeline recommendations in 2023-24, and all responses to pipeline transportation safety recommendations were previously assessed as Fully Satisfactory.
In Canada’s marine transportation sector, TSB said it assessed the progress of 19 safety recommendations in 2023-24, and one was closed as Fully Satisfactory (M99-02). Visit the TSB website for more details. Of the 31 responses to air transportation safety recommendations that the Board assessed in 2023–24, two were closed: one was closed after being assessed as Fully Satisfactory (A21-01), and the other was closed as Satisfactory in Part (A07-06). Visit the TSB website for more information.
