IOC railway wins safety award

Iron Ore Company of Canada's (IOC) dedicated railway from mine to port, the Quebec North Shore and Labrador Railway (QNS&L), has won the Railway Association of Canada's 2008 Safety Award for efforts on improving fatigue management.

"We are proud to be the only railway in North America who implemented a programme of this nature," said Louis Gravel, IOC's general manager, Product Delivery. "We're always looking to improve the safety and wellbeing of our employees and this is one more step in the right direction."

In the past, locomotive enginemen would finish their shifts and receive up to 60 hours of time off, including on call duty, without getting an indication of restart time. Once called, they would have only two hours of notice to prepare and be on site. With QNS&L's 24/7 schedule, employees would receive calls at any time, day or night, consequently leading to erratic sleeping patterns.

Computer access

Employees now have secure computer access to monitor railway traffic, real time production, and train loading, as well as the actual crew situation, by remotely logging on to IOC production systems. This enables efficiently planned rest periods, ultimately increasing job safety.

Implemented by IT analyst Georges Sanikopoulos and supported by QNS&L traffic controllers, a pilot project of the programme started in 2005. Locomotive enginemen have access at all times, even while in transit.