SMS

Government air-safety lapses scarier than F-35 cock-up

Topics: 
Aviation safety, Transport Canada, SMS, Regulatory oversight
Rating: 
3

Thomas Walkom – April 4, 2012

The most dramatic revelation from Canada’s auditor general is the story of the F-35 cock-up. No question. But the most worrying — and telling — portion of Tuesday’s report by Michael Ferguson is his description of the Conservative government’s chillingly casual approach to air safety.

Casual because this government has no use for regulation and is going out of its way to cut what it calls red tape. Chilling because when governments don’t bother to regulate air safety, planes crash.

Transport Canada not up to speed on airline safety inspections

Topics: 
Aviation safety, Transport Canada, SMS, Regulatory oversight
Rating: 
0

Sarah Schmidt – April 3, 2012

Transport Canada failed to conduct planned inspections of about 500 airlines and other aviation companies that could be ``higher risk'' operations, Canada's auditor general found. Michael Ferguson's audit outlined "significant weaknesses'' in the department's surveillance activities in civil aviation.

Overall, the problems at Transport Canada mean the department, charged with ensuring airlines comply with Canada's air safety regulations, is not adequately managing its oversight of airline safety risks.

Flight policy change called a risky manoeuvre

Topics: 
Aviation safety, Transport Canada, SMS, Videos, Regulatory oversight
Rating: 
0
Rick Wolsey crash

CBC News – November 9, 2011

A new safety approach aimed at getting airlines to police themselves could endanger passengers, particularly those flying with smaller airlines, aviation experts warn.

In 2005, Transport Canada began changing over to a system that critics say essentially left airlines to regulate themselves, instead of primarily relying on federal inspectors to oversee airplane safety as they had before.

Railway execs could face jail under tougher safety laws

Topics: 
Transport Canada, SMS
Rating: 
0

The Canadian Press – June 2, 2010

VANCOUVER — A steep increase in rail accidents over the last decade is pushing the federal government to bring in tough new penalties for railway companies caught breaking safety rules.

Rob Merrifield, the minister of state for transport, announced Tuesday the new legislation will include protections for whistleblowers and greater financial and legal penalties for violations.

Transport Canada promises more oversight of major airlines

Topics: 
Aviation safety, Transport Canada, SMS
Rating: 
0

By Sarah Schmidt – March 30, 2010

OTTAWA — Top officials at Transport Canada on Tuesday vowed to step up oversight at major airlines after admitting government inspectors did fewer spot safety checks in the last few years.

"We haven't done as much surveillance activities as we wanted to do, but that will change in the next three years," Marc Gregoire, assistant deputy minister of safety and security, told MPs at the launch of parliamentary hearings into aviation safety in Canada.

Transport Canada shakes up aviation safety

Topics: 
Aviation safety, Transport Canada, SMS
Rating: 
0

Bruce Campion-Smith,  Ottawa Bureau chief – March 16, 2010

OTTAWA – Transport Canada has reversed course on a major initiative to offload aviation oversight and let an industry lobby group police the safety of the business aircraft sector.

Transport Minister John Baird announced Tuesday that the federal experiment that gave the Canadian Business Aircraft Association the job of licensing and overseeing business aviation – everything from single-engine Pipers to corporate jets – would be ending.

'Sequence of failures' blamed for plane crash

Topics: 
Aviation safety, Transport Canada, TSB, SMS
Rating: 
0

Accident that injured Tim Hortons co-founder was culmination of long list of flawed procedures at private operation, probe concludes

Peter Cheney
Globe and Mail, Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009

When Tim Hortons co-founder Ron Joyce took up flying, he could afford to do it in style. He put together a fleet of corporate jets and built his own private airport in Nova Scotia, with an oceanfront golf course wrapped around it. But, according to a damning new report, the coffee and doughnut entrepreneur's wealth didn't buy him the most important thing of all - safety.

"There was a clear failure in terms of risk management," said Yves Jolicoeur, a Transportation Safety Board investigator who spent nearly two years probing a 2007 crash that destroyed a new jet and seriously injured five people, including Mr. Joyce. "The accident was the result of a sequence of failures."

Fly At Your Own Risk

Topics: 
Aviation safety, Transport Canada, Kirsten Stevens, Justice Moshansky, SMS, Hugh Danford
Rating: 
5
The Walrus - Fly At Your Own Risk

Why is Transport Canada moving toward self-regulation for the country's airlines?

Carol Shaben – November 2009

THE WIDOW

IN A SMALL BALLROOM at the Best Western Hotel near Vancouver's airport, Kirsten Stevens, a tattooed single mother of three, rises to take the podium, her hands trembling. Dressed casually in black cords and an emerald green shirt, the forty-two-year-old resident of Campbell River, BC, known as the Widow to many in attendance, stands out from the suit-clad presenters who preceded her. Petite-just five feet three and 115 pounds-with a barely tamed bob of cinnamon-coloured hair and brown eyes, she surveys the audience from behind stylish cat's-eye glasses.

Federal inspection for planes is far weaker than for cold cuts

Topics: 
Aviation safety, Transport Canada, SMS, Regulatory oversight
Rating: 
4

By Daniel Slunder
Ottawa Citizen: July 23, 2009

From a distance, cold cuts and airplanes have absolutely nothing in common. But on closer examination, they do share something: Ottawa regulates the safety requirements for both industries. While food safety oversight clearly left a lot to be desired last summer – as detailed by the independent report on the listeriosis outbreak released this week – it is unsettling to realize that when the two regulatory systems are compared, oversight of the aviation industry is much weaker.

Safety Management Systems

Topics: 
Aviation safety, Transport Canada, Justice Moshansky, SMS, ICAO, Regulatory oversight
Rating: 
0
Safety Management Systems?

"Safety Management Systems" (SMS) is the rationale given by Transport Canada as it hands over more and more of its regulatory responsibilities to others.

There is an long-standing trend in many industry sectors towards formal management systems designed to provide better control of product quality and safety. When implemented properly, such systems can ensure greater consistency and reliability of operations.

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