IN ATTENDANCE

Gina Johansen                 Fish Safe

Brent Melan                     Independent Fisherman

Glenn Budden                 Fishing Vessel Owners Association

Joe Bauer                         Professional Fish Harvesters Association

Bill Duncan                     Native Brotherhood of BC/Aboriginal Fishing Vessel Owners

Tony Mijacika                 Pacific Mutual Marine Insurance

Michelle James               Underwater Harvesters Association

Jim Geros                         Ocean Fisheries

Workers Compensation

Harvey Linton                 Industry & Labour Services                    

Ellen Hanson                  Industry & Labour Services

Shane Neifer                    Worker  & Employer Services

Mike Ross                        Worker  & Employer Services

John Naylor                     Investigations

Transport Canada

Mak Chowdrey

Ross Hickling

Transport Safety Board

Peter Ward

Brian Lewis

Purpose of the Meeting:

WCB requested feedback from industry on their proposed guidelines for implementing Occupational Health and Safety Regulations that deal with vessel stability, specifically;

Section 24.70    Compliance with Standards

"All Fishing Vessels must

(a) be maintained in a seaworthy condition"

Section 24.71    Owner and Master Responsibilities

"(2) The owner must ensure that major modifications to a fishing vessel do not adversely affect the stability of the vessel."

Section 24.72    Documentation

"The owner of every fishing vessel must provide documentation on board, readily available to crewmembers, which describes

(....)

(b) vessel characteristics, including stability"

Section 24.76                Vessel Preparation

Before leaving on a voyage the master must ensure that the fishing vessel is capable of safely making the passage, due consideration being given to

(a) the seaworthiness of the vessel,  (b) the stowage and securing of all cargo, skiffs, equipment, fuel containers and supplies, (c) ballasting, and (d) present and forecast weather conditions

Transport Canada is also in the process of implementing new stability requirements for all vessels and they will report on the status of those requirements.

Introductions:

Fishing Industry Safety Coordinator, Gina Johansen reviewed the agenda and had attendees introduce themselves.

She explained that the goal of Fish Safe is to create a more comprehensive advisory committee which would include all regulatory bodies that affect the fishing industry from a safety perspective so that issues could be dealt with in a cohesive manner and all parties would be up to speed on what the other is doing and that realistic & practical decisions could be made as a result.  Attendees agreed that it was of great value to all parties to be able to deal with the fishing industry in this type of a forum.  Gina encouraged attendees to consider who should be at the table, and she hopes to have more fishermen dedicated to the process.  She also explained that the goal of Fish Safe is to develop a  practical fishing safety and health initiative for the industry under the umbrella of Fish Safe.  This program will continue to work on both prevention (safety promotion) and claims issues.  A five year strategic plan will be provided to WCB for funding.

Safe at Sea - Stability Module

To introduce the discussion on Stability, the Stability Module from the Safe at Sea Series was presented.  The module provides a general overview of stability in plain English, to create an awareness of how stability can be affected.  Order forms were provided for those that wish to use the series on board or within a training environment.  The series will be distributed with a viewing guide in January.  Order forms are available on-line at bcseafoodalliance.com.

WCB Stability Guidelines

Shane Neifer explained that although vessel stability has generally been a Federal responsibility under Transport Canada, the WCB has in effect regulations that also deal with stability.  They have developed guidelines for implementing these regulations for the purpose of reducing the number of stability related fatalities.  Despite the huge losses of life over the years since 1975 the number of incidents and the reasons for those incidents remains unchanged and there must be something done to ensure the stability of a vessel. 

The WCB has determined that stability data is best tested by an inclining experiment.  There will be a cost to the industry for this so an implementation period (up to 10 years) may be looked at as well as a priority on high risk vessels.   It was estimated that in the high risk category there would be 1400 vessels to be tested.

They are also looking at other incentives to support this process both from an educational and financial perspective.  These guidelines apply to all vessels, both of open and closed construction.  There may be different methods to determine the operation  stability of a vessel that is of closed construction versus those of open construction.  There was discussion as to weather these guidelines would apply to herring punts and some dive vessels and as already stated different methods such as  freeboard verification may apply.

After a productive interchange the following concerns and recommendations were noted:

              Justification

• Comments were made in regard to "using a chainsaw to cut butter" and whether it was necessary to apply these requirements to everyone.  WCB noted that it has to provide a level playing field and cannot expect one vessel to have to pay for safety requirements and not the other.
• It was recommended that DFO licence restrictions be taken into consideration when it comes to considering threats to stability.  Unnecessary length restrictions have put fishermen in situations where the size of  vessel was not appropriate for the type of fishery it was licenced for.  Gina has begun discussions with DFO on this issue but pointed out that fishermen can move this along through their fisheries managers as well.  Some fisheries such as the urchin fishery have had length requirements waived.
• DFO will be included in future meetings.

Cost: 

• The fishing industry is being asked to bear the brunt of cost of safety when government agencies routinely cut back safety services that can contribute to fatalities in the fishing industry, such as: lighthouses, foghorns and coast guard support.
• It was noted that in the big picture the financial and human cost of fatalities far outweigh the cost of a stability test
• Naval Architects have indicated that they are willing to look at ways of working with the industry to reduce costs and not to look at this regulation as a cash grab.
• It was also noted that the WCB regulation does not specifically request a stability book but requests stability documentation.

Education

• Is stability documentation going to guarantee your vessel's seaworthiness?
• It was clear and has been clear from past and current coroner's inquests that having stability documentation for your vessel does not guarantee it will not capsize.  It was noted that a system has to be in place to provide the educational support around stability data for vessel owners, masters and crew. 
• Whatever stability information that is provided for a vessel must be understood by the master and crew for it to serve any purpose.
• Funding needs to be provided to create a stability training workshop that includes the use of the Womack model and the new Safe at Sea Video series.  These workshops can be delivered by fishermen that have been trained, at specific events coordinated by the Fishing Industry Safety Coordinator, at harvester organization meetings, etc.
• A practical understandable stability component must also be incorporated into the existing Fishing Vessel Masters training.

Continuity and Communication

• It was agreed by all that WCB, Transport Canada, DFO and Canadian Coast Guard all need to work together to ensure that their regulations are consistent with each other and they will not create separate requirements and costs.
• Ie:  If you are a salmon troller and you have are restricted by your licence as to the length of your vessel and this length restriction makes your vessel not stable for this fishery then one regulation is conflicting with another. 
• It was noted that the all inclusive committee meetings will assist in improving communication amongst the regulatory bodies and the industry.

TC Stability Requirements

Mak Chowdrey from Transport Canada gave us a brief update of the regulatory changes that they have been undertaking that will affect stability requirements ( to include smaller vessels), personal certification (changes to sea time proposed and voyage classifications) and construction of new vessels (should be reviewed as it may apply some day). 

These changes are proposed to take effect in December 2006 but are still undergoing industry consultation.  We understand there will be meetings scheduled in January.  Several members of this committee have attended the Small Vessel Working Group, CMAC and MAG to make recommendations to TC on their proposed changes.  If anyone has questions on these proposed changes they should contact Brian Kinefick at TC and ask to be included in consultations.  Gina will also make sure that industry is kept up to date on proposed changes for input.

Contacts for more information:

Shane Neifer                    WCB Prevention                    250-615-6605

Harvey Linton                  WCB Policy                             604-233-4010

Gina Johansen                 Fish Safe                               604-261-9700

Mak Chowdrey                 Transport Canada                    604-666-5450

Brian Kinefick                 Transport Canada                     604-666-4684

Brian Lewis                     Transport Safety Board             604-666-4959