The case won’t make it to court after all, as the Transportation Safety Board decided that it will allow BC Ferries access to the computer data that it recovered from the wreck of the Queen of the North off of Gil Island.
Earlier in the week, the Ferry Corporation had commenced action to take the Safety Board to court after the federal agency refused to turn over the data disks from the bridge of the Queen of the North. The data provides chart information from the navigation system on the ship and might help shed some light on the reasons for the disaster in March of 2006.
The board was declining to release the material recovered from the sunken vessel because it said B.C. Ferries would not provide assurances it would not publicly release the material before the release of a final board report into the accident, board spokesman John Cottreau said.
It’s an issue that apparently has been resolved with the announcement yesterday that BC Ferries will have access to that information.
If nothing else at least it removes one more roadblock from the eventual release of the report from the Transportation Safety Board. A lengthy court case over such silliness as access to data is the last thing the people of BC need, what they would like and should be demanding is prompt and complete information on the tragedy.
They deserve to know what happened on that fateful night, and having the two principles in the matter sparring over access is not at all in anyone’s interest. Thankfully we’re to be spared than unseemly show, now if we could only get some clear and truthful answers as to what happened that night, we might be able to bring a bit of closure to a tragic moment in BC’s maritime history.
B.C. Ferries, TSB to share ship's data
Deal comes after disclosure of lawsuit seeking access to computer hard drive from ferry's electronic chart system
IAN BAILEY
The Globe and Mail
May 26, 2007
VANCOUVER -- B.C. Ferries and the federal Transportation Safety Board yesterday agreed to share data gathered from the sunken Queen of the North ferry.
The deal, negotiated by lawyers, came soon after disclosures that the Crown-owned ferry company had filed a lawsuit in B.C. Supreme Court seeking access to a computer hard drive from the electronic chart system of the ferry, which ran aground near Prince Rupert in March of 2006.
The board was declining to release the material recovered from the sunken vessel because it said B.C. Ferries would not provide assurances it would not publicly release the material before the release of a final board report into the accident, board spokesman John Cottreau said.
With the agreement, however, the data were to be provided to B.C. Ferries today.
The data record the vessel's final movements and could provide new evidence about its motions before it ran into trouble.
Two of 101 passengers and crew aboard the ship remain missing.
B.C. Ferries president David Hahn said lawyers for two parties reached the deal yesterday, capping weeks of negotiations.
The company, Mr. Hahn said, was maintaining its option to go to court, but was satisfied now to be able to review the material.
"We still leave our options open to pursue court issues in our petition should we deem that necessary," Mr. Hahn said.
He said, as an example, that B.C. Ferries would resume its lawsuit if there was a safety issue highlighted by the material that the company wanted to release to the public.
"The main thing is we start tearing into the data and try to dig through as to what may or may not be there," he said.
"It's one of the more critical pieces of the puzzle because it's objective data. It's not human beings. It's machines talking and machines will give you very objective, statistical navigational references that are indisputable. They are unique in this situation."
Court documents suggest B.C. Ferries also wants the board's report delayed until it has a chance to analyze the electronic data.
The safety board recovered the material within two months of the ferry's sinking.
B.C. Ferries, which has fired three bridge crew based on its own investigation, also wants to analyze the material to help it respond to the board's report into the accident.
Showing posts with label Transportation Safety Board. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Transportation Safety Board. Show all posts
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Thursday, May 24, 2007
BC Ferries to head to court over Queen of the North hard drive
The latest twist in the torturous path towards closure on the Queen of the North tragedy will be played out in a court room. CKNW radio in Vancouver was the first to report that the Ferry Corporation is taking the Transportation Safety Board to court in order to gain access to a computer hard drive from the vessels chart system, which was recovered by the TSB last year.
The ferry corporation claims that it requires the information from that hard drive so that it can provide a response to the board’s draft report on the tragedy. The confidential draft has been making the rounds of the various stakeholders, who all have the right of response, but according to a Canadian Press story today; the Ferry Corporation claims that the Transportation Safety Board has refused to provide the computer drive for examination by the Ferry Corporation.
The court action could lead to a delay in the release of the final draft, originally the plan was to have a final determination released to the public by this summer, but now with more acrimony on the horizon between the participants in the investigation it could be longer before we get a definitive word on what took place off of Gil Island that night in March.
B.C. Ferries sues TSB over ferry-sinking report
Canadian Press
May 24, 2007 at 10:07 PM EDT
The ferry corporation claims that it requires the information from that hard drive so that it can provide a response to the board’s draft report on the tragedy. The confidential draft has been making the rounds of the various stakeholders, who all have the right of response, but according to a Canadian Press story today; the Ferry Corporation claims that the Transportation Safety Board has refused to provide the computer drive for examination by the Ferry Corporation.
The court action could lead to a delay in the release of the final draft, originally the plan was to have a final determination released to the public by this summer, but now with more acrimony on the horizon between the participants in the investigation it could be longer before we get a definitive word on what took place off of Gil Island that night in March.
B.C. Ferries sues TSB over ferry-sinking report
Canadian Press
May 24, 2007 at 10:07 PM EDT
VANCOUVER — B.C. Ferries is taking the federal Transportation Safety Board to court over access to a key piece of hardware from its sunken Queen of the North, radio station CKNW reports.
The legal tussle could delay the release of the board's final report into the sinking of the northern ferry last year, which claimed two lives.
According to documents filed in B.C. Supreme Court, the Crown-owned ferry company wants the agency to turn over the computer hard drive from the ship's electronic chart system, which was recovered from the wreck last June.
The system recorded the final movements of the vessel and is key to determining whether or not the bridge crew made any effort to alter course before the ferry ran aground on March 22, 2006.
The ship with 101 passengers and crew struck Gil Island in Wright Sound a few hours after leaving the north-coast port of Prince Rupert.
It sank in less than two hours and two passengers remain missing and presumed drowned.
In its court filing, B.C. Ferries says it needs to analyze the data from the system in order to respond to the board's draft report into the accident.
The confidential draft has been circulating among the interested parties for several weeks and the final report was expected to be made public this summer.
The ferry company says in its filing that the safety board refuses to co-operate with its request.
It is asking the court to order the hard drive returned and to order the agency not to release its final report until then.
A spokeswoman for B.C. Ferries refused to comment on the court action Thursday, saying only chief executive officer David Hahn could discuss it and he was unavailable.
After completing its own investigation, B.C. Ferries earlier this month fired the three bridge crew members who on watch the night the ship ran aground.
Their union said it will challenge the dismissals.
The crew members and the ferry company are also named in lawsuits filed by the relatives of the two missing passengers and in a class action by other passengers who lost vehicles and belongings in the sinking.
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Queen of the North report delayed
The Transportation Safety Boards much anticipated report into the sinking of the Queen of the North, will be anticipated a little bit longer.
The federal agency has delayed the release of its report after one of the reviewers on an undisclosed list submitted a number of questions about the findings. As is the procedure those questions must be addressed in written form before the report can be made public.
The $600,000 report, which is now over a year in the making has been the one piece of the puzzle that all of the participants into the investigation have been patiently waiting for. It is hoped that it will help to clear up some of the questions as to what happened off Gil Island that night.
It is hoped that the report will be made public by the end of June.
While we wait for the report, the inevitable leaks are starting to come out from it, the CBC, quoting a lawyer representing one of the recently fired workers, is reporting that a major system error on the ferry was identified as a major cause as well.
Both stories can be found below.
Federal report on sinking of B.C. ferry Queen of the North delayed
Canadian Press
Monday, May 07, 2007
VICTORIA (CP) - A federal report into the sinking of B.C. Ferries' Queen of the North last year has been delayed.
The Transportation Safety Board spent more than $600,000 investigating the loss of the 37-year-old ferry, which left two people missing after striking an island south of Prince Rupert. The board investigators sent a draft of their findings to an undisclosed list of reviewers several weeks ago.
TSB spokesman John Cottreau says one of those parties has been granted a 30-day extension to respond to facts in the draft.
Cottreau can not say when the final Queen of the North report will be released to the public.
The board must reply to each of the draft reviewer's comments in writing, those comments and responses will then be assessed by staff and a redrafted report will go to the board for approval.
It's now likely the final report will not be released before the end of June.
© The Canadian Press 2007
Equipment also a factor in ferry sinking: lawyer
Last Updated: Tuesday, May 8, 2007 11:48 AM PT
CBC News
A federal report shows the Queen of the North's crew members were not solely at fault for the ferry's sinking in March 2006, says the Vancouver lawyer representing one of the workers fired last month.
A recent BC Ferries report on the sinking, which claimed two lives, blamed the tragedy on human error. But Glenn Orris says the upcoming Transportation Safety Board report on the sinking said a system failure was a major cause.
"I don't think anybody doubts that there was human error, but it was in combination with other things that were happening at the same time. It wasn't completely as the ferry corporation said —human error," he says.
"There were other problems within the ferry itself, within the equipment and the system that the ferry used."
Three crew members who were on bridge duty when the ferry struck Gil Island were terminated two weeks ago as a direct result of the corporation's internal inquiry, officials said.
The report concluded the three, on duty the night of the sinking, had failed to follow proper operating procedures.
Two of the three refused to answer ferry corporation questions about the accident and the 14-minute period immediately before the ship hit the rocks.
However, they did answer the investigation by the Transportation Safety Board. And their union says BC Ferries should at least have waited until that report was completed before taking any action.
The B.C. Ferry and Marine Workers Union has vowed to fight the firings.
The federal agency has delayed the release of its report after one of the reviewers on an undisclosed list submitted a number of questions about the findings. As is the procedure those questions must be addressed in written form before the report can be made public.
The $600,000 report, which is now over a year in the making has been the one piece of the puzzle that all of the participants into the investigation have been patiently waiting for. It is hoped that it will help to clear up some of the questions as to what happened off Gil Island that night.
It is hoped that the report will be made public by the end of June.
While we wait for the report, the inevitable leaks are starting to come out from it, the CBC, quoting a lawyer representing one of the recently fired workers, is reporting that a major system error on the ferry was identified as a major cause as well.
Both stories can be found below.
Federal report on sinking of B.C. ferry Queen of the North delayed
Canadian Press
Monday, May 07, 2007
VICTORIA (CP) - A federal report into the sinking of B.C. Ferries' Queen of the North last year has been delayed.
The Transportation Safety Board spent more than $600,000 investigating the loss of the 37-year-old ferry, which left two people missing after striking an island south of Prince Rupert. The board investigators sent a draft of their findings to an undisclosed list of reviewers several weeks ago.
TSB spokesman John Cottreau says one of those parties has been granted a 30-day extension to respond to facts in the draft.
Cottreau can not say when the final Queen of the North report will be released to the public.
The board must reply to each of the draft reviewer's comments in writing, those comments and responses will then be assessed by staff and a redrafted report will go to the board for approval.
It's now likely the final report will not be released before the end of June.
© The Canadian Press 2007
Equipment also a factor in ferry sinking: lawyer
Last Updated: Tuesday, May 8, 2007 11:48 AM PT
CBC News
A federal report shows the Queen of the North's crew members were not solely at fault for the ferry's sinking in March 2006, says the Vancouver lawyer representing one of the workers fired last month.
A recent BC Ferries report on the sinking, which claimed two lives, blamed the tragedy on human error. But Glenn Orris says the upcoming Transportation Safety Board report on the sinking said a system failure was a major cause.
"I don't think anybody doubts that there was human error, but it was in combination with other things that were happening at the same time. It wasn't completely as the ferry corporation said —human error," he says.
"There were other problems within the ferry itself, within the equipment and the system that the ferry used."
Three crew members who were on bridge duty when the ferry struck Gil Island were terminated two weeks ago as a direct result of the corporation's internal inquiry, officials said.
The report concluded the three, on duty the night of the sinking, had failed to follow proper operating procedures.
Two of the three refused to answer ferry corporation questions about the accident and the 14-minute period immediately before the ship hit the rocks.
However, they did answer the investigation by the Transportation Safety Board. And their union says BC Ferries should at least have waited until that report was completed before taking any action.
The B.C. Ferry and Marine Workers Union has vowed to fight the firings.
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