What about the maintenance asks NDP's Gary Coons

Gary Coons the NDP ferries critic and MLA for the North Coast, suggested that there is still one outstanding issue that needs to be addressed when it comes to the sinking of the Queen of the North.

Coons pointed out on Friday that he has had concerns over the maintenance of the BC Ferries vessels in recent years, and was particularly interested in the maintenance routine for the Queen of the North which had a failure of an alarm system as one of the key moments in the 2006 tragedy.

Coons also called for a full public inquiry into the sinking, a call echoed by the federal representative for the region, NDP MP, Nathan Cullen. It's a concept that has begun to pick up some steam in the province, after the two year TSB study left British Columbians no better informed than the night that the vessel sank off of Gil Island.

The Daily News provided details of many of the MLA's concerns with a front page story in Friday's paper.

MLA COONS POINTS FINGER AT MAINTENANCE OVER SINKING

Politician says the way ferries are being maintained is causing problems
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Friday, March 14, 2008

Pages one and three

B.C. Ferries, the media and the public are totally missing one of the key points in the Transportation Safety Board's report on the sinking of the Queen of the North, says North Coast MLA Gary Coons. And the NDP Ferry Critic says it is leaving the door open for future accidents.

The Transportation Safety Board report released earlier this week notes that the Electronic Chart System alarm that would have alerted the crew that the ship was off-course in time to avoid the accident was turned off while the Queen of the North had been out of service being refitted.

The failure of this alarm fed into the chain of events that eventually resulted in the ship's grounding on Gil Island, Coons said.

Of the 101 people on board, 99 made it off the ship while two are missing and presumed dead.
Coons said this was the second major incident that could be traced back to modifications to a vessel coming back from a refit. It shows a pattern of safety issues caused by allowing the company to privatize refit services in 2002 and use the cheapest bidder rather than the most experienced, he claimed.

"Do most people take their cars to a different mechanic every time they need repairs, or do they develop a relationship based on prior experience and reliability? The answer is obvious: while cost is an important consideration, value is what really matters," said Coons.

A full public inquiry into the accident would bring issues concerning the privatization of critical safety maintenance to light, he said, rather than allowing the accident simply to be dismissed as the result of human error.

Most focus on the report since it was released Wednesday has been on the personal conversation between the Quartermaster and Fourth Officer during the 12 minutes after they failed to notice the missed course change and the time the ferry grounded.

"I have a concern with refit and maintenance services as it has been privatized under the Coastal Ferry Act," said Coons. "Vessel maintenance is treated as ancillary and is unregulated. B.C. Ferries is treating the maintenance of their vessels the same way they treat reservations and catering."

Coons added that in the summer of 2005, The Queen of Oak Bay smashed into 24 boats and ran aground while docking at Horseshoe Bay in West Vancouver because a three-centimetre codder pin was not replaced during a refit. Amazingly, no one on board the ferry or in Sewell Marina was injured.

Once again, the missing codder pin fed into a chain of events that caused the ferry to run out of control and put the lives of 544 passengers in danger.

According to a B.C. Ferries spokesperson who addressed the crash at the time, the pin held in place a nut that connected the control arm between the engine speed control device to the engine fuel rack. Failure of the mechanism caused the ship to overspeed. The codder pin was not replaced after the engineer speed control device had been serviced by a private company during a $35-million refit.

Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP Nathan Cullen is also calling for a full public inquiry into the sinking.
"The whole two-year effort was to provide some answers and some closure to the families and I don't think that happened," said Cullen. "This is something the families have been calling for."
Cullen questioned the effectiveness of the Transportation Safety Board when it apparently lacks the authority to get to the bottom of a disaster of this magnitude.

"I think we have to look at the Transportation Safety Board's mandate, do they have enough teeth, is there enough legislation that covers them?"

A report, an apology and still more questions remain

The Daily News began its coverage of the Transportation Safety Board’s investigation into the sinking of the Queen of the North, with a front page article in Thursday’s paper.

Thursday the paper provided a brief outline of the report, details of a letter of apology from former crew member Karl Lilgert and promised more coverage to come in Friday’s paper.

REPORT ON FERRY SINKING STILL LEAVES QUESITONS HANGING
Transportation Safety Board spent two years probing why ferry was lost
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Pages one and two

B.C. Ferries crew members on board the bridge of the Queen of the North failed to follow proper safety procedures, sealing the fate of the vessel when she sank two years ago.

According to the Transportation Safety Board (TSB), which released its final report into the sinking yesterday, the two officers on the bridge were engaged in a personal conversation when they missed the course change and the vessel crashed into Gil Island.

An, alarm that would have alerted the crew to the missed course correction, was turned off and other navigational equipment was not in place.

“Essentially, the system failed that night. Sound watch-keeping practices were not followed and the bridge watch lacked a third certified person.” Said Wendy Tadros, chair of the TSB.

Any action taken once the course change was noticed was then described as “too little too late”.

There were 101 people on board the vessel when she sank off Gil Island on March 22, 2006. Only 99 people made it to shore. It took B. C. Ferries hours to conclude they were missing because it didn’t have an accurate passenger list.

The federal agency says that if the ship had a voyage data recorder – similar to the black boxes found on aircraft – the public and investigators wouldn’t be forced to speculate about what happened during the 14 minutes it took the ferry to go off course and run aground.

“While we do not know exactly what the crew was doing on the bridge minute by minute… I can tell you they were not following sound watch-keeping practices,” said Capt. Pierre Murray, a senior safety board marine investigator.

Following the release of the report, the fourth officer on board the bridge that night, Karl Lilgert, issued am apology to all those affected by the incident.

“I continue to grieve for the missing persons and would with all my heart exchange my life for theirs,” he said. “Words are inadequate for the sorrow and grief I feel. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about everyone that was impacted by this tragic accident.”

The B. C. Ferry and Marine Workers’ Union has confirmed that Lilgert and Quartermaster Karen Bricker, who were on the bridge that night, had recently ended a romantic relationship, but has denied they were doing anything inappropriate.

According to the TSB, as the Queen of the North transited Wright Sound, the officer of the watch and the quartermaster sat in their chairs next to the radar and the forward steering station and continued talking off and on for the next 12 minutes before noticing anything was wrong.

There are three recommendations from the TSB report - B., C. Ferries improve procedures for keeping track of passengers; that it improve procedures for crew training in an emergency and that all large Canadian vessels be fitted with voyage data recorders.

“The recommendations we are making today go beyond the cause of the sinking to ensure that Canadians will always reach port safely. Passengers are the focus of our first two recommendations. In an emergency, all passengers must be accounted for and evacuated to safety. Our third recommendation calls for voyage data recorders on all of Canada’s large vessels,” said Tadros.

A criminal investigation into the sinking continues. A lawsuit launched by the children ofShirley rosette and Gerald Foisy – the passengers who died – continues, as do plans for a class action suit by the other passengers.

See tomorrow’s Daily News for more.