Hours of service issues on the railroads: part IX, parallel models

[Our series on Dr. Martin Moore-Ede's testimony before Congress continues]

5. What parallel models should we examine?

I have recently had the opportunity to work with the Rail Association of Canada (RAC) and a group comprised of the Canadian Railroads, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (BLE) and the United Transportation Union (UTU), which have developed and proposed to Transport Canada an innovative alternative to restrictive Work-Rest rules (i.e. the equivalent to the US Hours of Service).

In return for preserving more liberal outer limits on hours of work and rest than in the USA, the RAC committee has submitted a plan for ministerial approval which mandates that every railroad prepare - working in consultation with their unions - a Fatigue Management Plan. I participated in the public hearings where the proposed work-rest rules were presented and defended. Important to their credibility was the promise that the Fatigue Management Plan was not a document to be put on a shelf, but instead a living active process for ongoing fatigue management. It is anticipated that this new rule will be approved by Transport Canada by June 16, 2002.

In addition railroads operating in Canada can apply for waivers that extend beyond the outer work-rest limits to meet operational flexibility requirements, provided they prepare additional special fatigue management plans for those special circumstances.

My colleagues and I have had direct experience in how effective Risk-Informed Performance–Based Fatigue Management processes can be. In the trucking industry both in Australia and in the United States, we have seen truck accident rates and severity cut by more than 50% when systematic fatigue management following these principals has been implemented.

Source: http://www.house.gov/transportation/rail/06-06-02/mooreede.html

Related Posts:
* Hours of service issues on the railroads: part I
* Hours of service issues on the railroads: part II, sleep deprivation and alertness
* Hours of service issues on the railroads: part III, safety threat?
* Hours of service issues on the railroads: part IV, increasing risk?
* Hours of service issues on the railroads: part V, hours of service rules
* Hours of service issues on the railroads: part VI, train control technology
* Hours of service issues on the railroads: part VII, alertness monitoring technology
* Hours of service issues on the railroads: part VIII, risk-informed fatigue management
* Hours of service issues on the railroads: part X, how to proceed