Canadian Pacific begins safety awareness campaign
By Adnews Staff
Calgary-based railway company Canadian Pacific has begun an awareness campaign promoting the safety benefits of inward-facing cameras, a technology incorporating voice and video recorders in locomotives. The campaign includes an online video and website at <http://www.cprailsafe.ca> which highlights the ways in which this technology can reduce the risk of railroad accidents.
According to the company, current regulations allow inward-facing cameras to be used only by the Transportation Safety Board for post-incident investigations. Canadian Pacific is seeking changes to these regulations to allow the "proactive" use of these systems to detect unsafe behaviour such as tampering, cell phone use or sleeping before incidents occur.
"We are proud to be running the safest railway in North America, but we can always do better, and having the ability to use inward-facing cameras allows us to be even safer," said Keith Creel, president and CEO of Canadian Pacific. "This is a preventative, proactive, behaviour-changing tool the industry should have been allowed to use years ago. Having the ability to use this technology in a proactive manner as opposed to only after the fact would allow us to prevent incidents, instead of explaining them. We recognize the need to use this technology in a way that is respectful of our employees, and are committed to doing so."