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| Cougar crash renews calls for separate safety agency | |
| Written by The Canadian Press | |
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Page 1 of 3 March 11, 2010, St. John's, N.L. - Keith Kenny didn't worry too much when he climbed aboard the helicopter that would shuttle him out to his job on one of Newfoundland's offshore installations.He would settle into the back of the Sikorsky S-92 and fall asleep for the roughly two-hour ride as he had many times for the last several years. But when one of the helicopters crashed a year ago killing 17 people, Kenny's sense of ease quickly evaporated while attention turned to the safety of the aircraft flying workers to the platforms and the regime that oversees the lucrative industry. In particular, observers, experts and employees said the crash of Cougar Flight 491 highlighted the need for a separate safety agency to replace an offshore regulator that has the competing tasks of promoting the industry and protecting workers. Kenny, who lost friends and his niece in the crash last March 12, argues that Newfoundland's offshore regulator is in a clear conflict and might not be able to both advocate on behalf of the industry while ensuring worker safety. "Things have to change,'' the 45-year-old galley steward said from his home in Fermeuse, one of the small communities along the Avalon Peninsula's eastern coast that lost nine people in the accident. "Are they protecting the companies more than they are the workers? Who knows, but hopefully now everyone will do right.'' The difficult question is a central one being asked about the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board, the arms-length regulator that has both safety and resource management as two of its four mandates. Critics have voiced concerns before about the dual — and, they suggest, duelling — roles the board plays in regulating the industry. But those questions came into sharper focus at an inquiry called in the wake of the crash of the S-92, which went down suddenly after experiencing mechanical problems on its way to the offshore. The province's federation of labour testified at the inquiry led by Robert Wells that there should be a separate agency dealing strictly with worker safety. "We must understand the competing interests of safety and production or profit and put in place the correct structures,'' federation president Lana Payne said at the inquiry. "What we have in the offshore is not much better than self-regulation.'' |
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