Earlier this week, RVP, Ian Thomson and I attended the third official meeting of the working group on fatigue, along with representatives from NAV Canada and Transport Canada. We had an opportunity to present and discuss the results of our recent fatigue survey and are very pleased to report that the evidence was very well received by the TC group and went a long way to supporting our position in a few key areas of concern we had targeted.
Developing the survey was a lot of effort but very well worth the time. This represents the culmination of several years of very hard work trying to get into the same room with NAV Canada and Transport so that we could have a direct voice in the development of these regulations which stand to have such a huge impact on our schedules. Our response rate on the survey was impressive to the working group and made the conclusions irrefutable.
The standard being developed is still a working document and far from final, so it is too soon to share details on how it may look. However, our first few objectives have been met – to get in the room, make ourselves heard, and exercise some influence on the outcome. I’m extremely pleased we stuck with this process.
TC is continuing to pursue this aggressively, but it does have to go through the regulatory process, which means it will take time. We will have an opportunity to make a formal submission as it proceeds through that cycle – as we have on other proposals. For those interested, view the process here: https://tc.canada.ca/en/corporate-services/transparency/briefing-documents-transport-canada/2023/minister/overview-regulatory-process
Nick von Schoenberg, President Ian Thomson, RVP Atlantic