BC Ferries lowers standards for ships' captains

[Retrovision]

(From: www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2006/10/23/bc-ferries-captains.html )
Last Updated: Monday, October 23, 2006 | 10:40 AM PT
Copyright © CBC 2006

BC Ferries has lowered its qualification requirements for officers wanting to become captains, a change that a former safety director says jeopardizes safety.

The corporation said it had to ease the rules to allow younger people to move up the ranks more quickly because so many captains were retiring, and it now faces a worldwide shortage of chief officers.


Former BC Ferries safety director
Darin Bowland warns that lowering
standards for ships' captains will
mean trouble.
(CBC)

But former safety director Darin Bowland said BC Ferries is being "completely reactive" and should have seen the retirements coming.

"If anybody actually looked at what's happening in the company, they would have known, you know, 'Three years from now, we're going to lose all these people. How are we going to deal with that effectively? OK, well, let's hire more people, but how are we going to train them?'

"To start lowering standards is a reactive tactic that is going to get them in a whole lot of trouble."

The change was made in June, just three months after one of the corporation's ferries, the Queen of the North, sank along the B.C. coast. Two people are missing and presumed dead.

Old rules exceeded government requirements

BC Ferries spokeswoman Deborah Marshall said until the new standards were put in place, the company's chief officers were actually more qualified than necessary.

"We were requiring our officers to have a higher ticket than what Transport Canada required," she said.

But Bowland argued that the Transport Canada requirements are the bare minimum, and that BC Ferries should be trying to exceed them.

Last week, he went public with an affidavit detailing his safety concerns about BC Ferries, and the reasons he alleges he was forced out of his job following the Queen of the North incident.

The affidavit had been part of his wrongful dismissal lawsuit against the corporation, which he recently dropped. None of the allegations have been proven in court.

[Neil]

BC Ferries isn't alone in dealing with a 'retiring' workforce. The Globe and Mail reported today that half of Canada's railroad employees will be retiring in the next five years. Construction and craft fields are short of new blood in an era where people seem to feel the only valid careers involve sitting in front of computer screens in offices all day.

Still, it's not reassuring to hear BC Ferries tell people that they're still going to be meeting legal safety standards. With sinkings and crashes, the public needs to feel that our major marine carrier is doing everything possible to improve, not decrease, the level of expertise of it's officers. This doesn't help.

[Retrovision]

Here's another perspective on the matter:
(From: www.nupge.ca/news_2006/n24oc06a.htm )
Protected by Copyright 1999-2006 NUPGE. All Rights Reserved

B.C. Ferries cuts standards for captains in wake of sinking

Fresh controversy for privately-managed ferry
system already accused of lax safety standards

Vancouver (24 October 2006) - B.C. Ferries has announced that it is lowering qualification standards for officers seeking to become captains.

The provincially-owned but privately-managed ferry service made the change in June, just three months after the Queen of the North passenger vessel sank in the Queen Charlotte Islands, taking two lives.

The company says the move is required to meet a looming shortage of captains and denies that it poses any threat to safety.

But Darin Bowland disagrees. The former safety director for B.C. Ferries who quit his job after the sinking, says this is the latest in a string of bad decisions made by the company.

"To start lowering standards is a reactive tactic that is going to get them in a whole lot of trouble," Bowland argued this week.

He said the company, which has been involved in one controversy after another since its operations were privatized by the Liberal government of Premier Gordon Campbell, should have seen the shortage coming and made preparations for it.

Yet nothing was done by company president David Hahn and the private board of directors to adequately prepare for the situation, Bowland said.

Second controversy in a week

It was the second controversy in a week involving B.C. Ferries and Bowland.

Last week Bowland released a damning affidavit prepared for the Supreme Court of British Columbia, citing a host of safety deficiencies within the ferry system prior to the March 22 Queen of the North sinking. (Because the dispute was settled out of court, the affadavit was not formally filed with the court.)

He made the document public after settling a wrongful dismissal suit with the ferry corporation. The original settlement between Bowland and the company called for the document to be kept secret.

Bowland released it public after Hahn alleged in public statements that the settling of the lawsuit out of court proved there was no basis to allegations made by Bowland in the days following the tragedy.

"We conducted a thorough internal investigation with an outside law firm and I am advised by the firm that there is no merit to any of the contents in affidavit," Mr. Hahn said.

Bowland says Hahn's remarks are so out of line with the facts that he decided to release the affidavit, which was not filed in court, and which he agreed in settling his wrongful dismissal suit not to release.

Bowland makes a series of damning allegations in the document. They include the following:

• After becoming safety director Bowland clashed repeatedly with senior B.C. Ferries managers over matters he felt presented safety concerns.
• While in his job, he created a document outlining more than 800 safety deficiencies that were not adequately addressed by the company.
• He was reprimanded after circulating the list to senior managers.
• Specifically, he warned that "lack of proper bridge resource management could lead to catastrophic results."
• After the Queen of the North sank, Bowland was pressured to downplay the situation by focusing a company inquiry, not on systemic safety problems at issue, but on "opportunities" for B.C. Ferries to improve.
• He was also pressured to suspend the inquiry by asking repeatedly if managers wanted it stopped and being met with silence. The silence "spoke volumes" and "clearly indicated that it had been decided that I should end the inquiry," he wrote.
• When he resigned his position after deciding he could not continue, B.C. Ferries told the media Bowland left for personal reasons. In fact, he had sent an e-mail to the company saying the opposite. "Bottom line -- the company scares me and I am not willing to carry on within the current culture and organization," he wrote.

The B.C. Ferry and Marine Workers' Union (BCFMWU), which represents West Coast ferry workers has called for full safety audit of B.C. Ferries. The BCFMWU is affiliated with the British Columbia Government and Service Employees' Union (BCGEU), a component of the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE).

Web posted by NUPGE: 24 October 2006

[Dane]

But Cascade....

.... that still leaves BC Ferries standards well above many European nations.

[dualcitizen]

True, and if a regulatory body like TC sets a certain standard, that is the "safe" standard. The reality is that every industry is experiencing a skills shortage. The problem is compounded for BCF because the level of licensing and clearances required to be a Master is fairly substantial. This isnt Walmart saying "we're short on cashiers." In fact, I'd liken it more to a doctors shortage.

It irks me that Mr. Bowland and the BCFMWU are using the labour shortage now was a political beachball. As someone in the recruiting industry, I can tell you that BCF is no worse off than anyone else.

[Retrovision]

dualcitizen said:

It irks me that Mr. Bowland and the BCFMWU are using the labour shortage now was a political beachball. As someone in the recruiting industry, I can tell you that BCF is no worse off than anyone else.

Fire with fire, and anyone who's lived in BC for any ammount of time realizes that the provincial government regularly goes far beyond such rhetoric, even using questionable backroom dealings, and always has. I don't agree with it, but I also wouldn't hesitate to use as much force as possible to fight off a mugger for example.

[Dane]

cascade said:

Dane,

Show me one article where UK and European standards are lower than anything currently enforced in BC and Canada - regarding employing a person for any position on a vessel licensed to carry passengers.

The Scandinavian countries have the highest levels of training - testing in the world - with regards to running a Ferry. The rules and regulation in Europe are much higher than anything you actually have on the Coast.

Ha I just said that to get you going (I expected the reply to be longer and more anti-Canada, though); I know it's true (Europe having the high standards vis a vi TC standards, however are not behind international regulation at all, and Canada's marine industry is safe. It's interesting to note Canada's Navy, though, has the most stringent safety regualtions in the world... it's somewhat odd that doesn't transfer over as well to the Civilian side.

[CN2972South]

hornbyguy said:

The Globe and Mail reported today that half of Canada's railroad employees will be retiring in the next five years.

Most railroads haven't done any major hiring since the 1990's, CN's last conductor class before me was in 1997, and I was hired in 2005. At CN, locally, another 3 or 4 are set to retire this year.

[Neil]

Cascade, you sure know how to confuse a guy.

You tell us you live in England, but then you say you're 12,000 miles away from us.... which by my reckoning puts you almost exactly half way around the world, way down in the south Indian Ocean, out between Africa and Australia. Then you mention British Columbians, and you say "we", as if you're here among us. So, where are you, geographically speaking? London? Madagascar? Coquitlam?

Then you tell us you're not anti- BC Ferries, but you suggest BC Ferries is 'last' among it's peers. You're not a union basher, but, union people can be 'dinosaurs'. You're a big BC booster, but BCers "keep on making some very stupid mistakes", and you wonder "why can't they do better". Sheesh. With friends like that.... Guess your motto is, "keep 'em guessing".

That said, I agree with you on the absolute need to not lower standards. This is a real mistake, and they should be embarking on a very energetic program to train officer staff to fill vacancies, and provide staff incentives to make it work.

Coastal Arrogant- what is your take on why the railroads are getting so 'elderly'? Are working conditions so bad that young people shy away from getting in?

[CN2972South]

hornbyguy said:

Coastal Arrogant- what is your take on why the railroads are getting so 'elderly'? Are working conditions so bad that young people shy away from getting in?

A lot of it has to do with the railroads not hiring for so long. The last time CN hired as many people as they have in the last year was in 1972, with those guys getting close to retirement and the lack of people hired between 1972 and 2005 the railroads are scrambling to find enough people.

[BrianWilliams]

RR hiring:

Yes, I knew several people who joined CP and CN in the early 70's, when there was an active recruitment drive on. Perhaps they were replacing their 1940's-era operating people in one massive campaign.

And maybe they'll have to do it again now. Too bad, a wiser strategy would be to bring on new guys continuously.

Railroading once was an industry that recruited new blood from the families of railroaders. The last 30 years (mostly in USA) of mergers, abandonments and uncertainty have not helped.

Recent technology has been good, allowing older rails to work with more brains than muscle ... and North American railroading is now a high-tech business with a bright future for skilled kids.

Let's hope the RR companies recognize their failure to recruit bright young people in recent years, and make the profession more attractive.

[Deleted]

I was just wondering about BC Ferry Captains. Does anyone know the hierarchy?

Does each route have a certain number of Captains available? Does each route have a Senior Master and if so, who or what decides who this person will be?

Is it all done by seniority?

[Dane]

Pool, by seniority.

There's full Captains who aren't Union and then Captains who are Union but generally work smaller routes.