LAC-MEGANTIC, Quebec, Aug. 19 (UPI) -- The Canadian government's investigation of the 2013 Lac-Megantic, Quebec, rail disaster that killed 47 people calls for new safety measures and an improved audit of protocols.
Transport Canada's Transportation Safety Board filed its final report on the incident Tuesday, noting too few hand brakes were activated when an unattended train carrying crude oil, parked at the top of a slope, accidentally rolled down a track in July 2013. The resulting derailment, explosion and fire destroyed dozens of buildings in the small town of Lac-Megantic and killed 47.
TSB chair Wendy Tadros said the chain of causality "goes far beyond the actions of any single person," adding 18 different factors were involved in the incident.
"Take any one of them out of the equation and this accident may not have happened."
The report put much of the blame for the accident on the absence of safety protocols on the part of the MM&A Railway, owner of the train. It noted the company's absence of proper procedures and a "weak safety culture."
The report recommended additional physical safeguards to prevent unattended trains from breaking loose, as well as more frequent audits of railways' safety management systems. It was critical of Transport Canada's oversight of risk on the country's railways, questioning the safety crude oil by rail.
"This booming industry where oil trains were shipping more and more oil across Canada and across the border ran largely unchecked," Tadros said. "Transport Canada didn't audit railways often enough or thoroughly enough."
The findings will likely attract attention, and reform, in the oil and railway industries. The spectacular nature of the accident has led to calls for changes in how volatile rail cargo is classified, as well as for new safety rules. Transport Canada has already established stronger tank-car rules, as well as guidelines regarding the security of parked trains.
