Railway assessments at Technical Safety BC

Remote audit and assessments during COVID-19
 

Technical Safety BC’s Railway Safety Program has created a remote audit process to continue regulating the general railway safety standards for the protection of the public. The process is guided by WorkSafeBC’s COVID-19 and returning to safe operation - Phase 2. WorkSafeBC administers the workers’ compensation system in British Columbia and promotes the prevention of workplace injury, illness, and disease.

We have a phased approach to our remote audit process:

1. In the first phase, we will audit smaller, low-risk facilities. This allows us to test out the audit process and make the necessary adjustments before we start to tackle both the larger and higher risk facilities.
2. The process involves a request for documentation in order to determine compliance, and a follow-up phone call to discuss status and areas of concern or noncompliance.

When we are able to resume our physical audit process, we will be directed by the following:

• Technical Safety BC’s COVID-19 Inspection Guidelines
• WorkSafeBC’s COVID-19 Information and Processes
• The COVID-19 procedures of each individual site

During this time, you can stay up-to-date with WorkSafeBC’s transportation and COVID-19 safety protocols. Additionally, we recommend taking the following measures:

1. Identify risk areas
   • Worker areas
     • Common areas such as meeting rooms, washrooms, and lunch rooms
     • Common surfaces such as door handles and light switches
     • Areas of interaction with the public
   • Passenger areas
     • Inside rail cars
     • Platforms
     • Elevators and escalators, and related common surfaces
        
2. Consider these actions
   • Train staff on new policies and procedures
   • Sanitize common areas in stations
   • Frequently clean trains and common surfaces
   • Apply practicable crowd control measures within a train car (blocking seats, barriers etc.)
   • Apply practicable crowd control measures at a station, such as buffer zones to maintain distancing during loading/unloading
   • Provide hand sanitizing stations where practicable
   • Post occupancy limit signage in stations and rail cars
   • Use signage and monitors to communicate social distancing, hand washing and other pertinent messages
   • Post your COVID-19 safety plan
      

2020 Inspection Fees

Safety Services Hourly Rates (excludes GST):

• Weekdays (8am to 4:30pm) - $225/hr
  • Physical inspections, minimum 1 hour
  • Remote inspections, minimum 30 mins; charged at 30 minute increments
• Overtime - $341/hr
• Weekends & Holidays - $454/hr

Frequently asked questions due to COVID-19