National Committee Elevating Safety to New Heights

2005-02-21

Acrophobia - or the fear of heights as it is more commonly known – is a condition familiar to many people. Fortunately, it is not one that afflicts the National Public Safety Advisory Committee (NPSAC). On the contrary, ever since its establishment in 2001, members of NPSAC have been working diligently to elevate the public safety system in Canada to greater heights.

While there are many groups devoted to the development and application of the codes and standards used in Canada, NPSAC plays a distinct role in this arena. It is the only national body working at the policy level to promote the common adoption and consistent administration of safety codes and standards for the following discipline areas:

• elevating devices; passenger ropeways (i.e.: ski lifts);
• amusement rides;
• fuel (i.e.: oil, natural gas and propane);
• boilers and pressure vessels; and
• electrical safety.

The committee's core membership is made up of federal, provincial and territorial regulators.  Associate members include the Standards Council of Canada, the Canadian Standards Association, the Underwriters' Laboratories of Canada and the Bureau de normalisation du Québec, all of which contribute to NPSAC.

“The committee provides an opportunity to get together and share best practices, to learn from each other and to take more of a national approach on many of the issues that we have to deal with,” says Denis St. Arnaud, Co-Chair of NPSAC, a position he holds in addition to his job as Alberta's Assistant Deputy Minister, Public Safety Division, Department of Municipal Affairs.

Raising public awareness about safety is a regular item on the committee's agenda. “Every jurisdiction has different successes in terms of public education campaigns,” says St. Arnaud. As an example, he points to Ontario's positive experience in partnering with retailers like Home Depot and Canadian Tire to promote electrical safety to consumers. He says committee members are eager to share and learn from each others' experiences. Members are also committed to keeping those working within affected sectors informed. To this end, they are working to develop national databases for information sharing.

Another important aspect of NPSAC's work is the development of a responsive policy and administrative framework to support effective management and promote consistency in the legislative processes. This entails:

• outlining the objectives of provincial/territorial public safety services;
• facilitating the expression of national objectives and standards for public safety;
• providing policy leadership to technical codes and standards organizations;
• supporting the removal of barriers to labour mobility;
• determining appropriate roles and responsibilities for government, industry and the public in safety administration; and
• facilitating the cost-shared development of public education and compliance strategies.

Among the issues tackled by the committee is the need for a national certification approach for elevator inspectors. Their efforts have already resulted in an agreement that will ensure that the same standards and training requirements for elevator inspectors are being applied across the country.

The committee is currently involved in efforts to balance safety requirements with innovation in elevator design. This is being realized through the development of an objectives-based  process which will enable manufacturers to introduce new technologies.

Other examples of the committee's efforts to increase national cooperation include the harmonization of certification requirements for electrical inspectors, the creation of a central registry of design fittings for pressure vessels, and the commencement of work to promote the development of a model regulatory framework for the emerging hydrogen fuel sector.

NPSAC is also heightening efforts to forge partnerships with other organizations. This was apparent at the National Standards System (NSS) Conference hosted in Calgary, Alberta, by the Standards Council of Canada from November 15-17, 2004. NPSAC held its fall meeting in conjunction with the event.

The conference was a chance for participants to network and build connections with individuals from across the country and to attend various sessions on relevant standardization issues including: smart regulation, alternative energies, sustainable development, social responsibility and health and safety. NPSAC committee members were among the conference attendees who took part in the conference's final session on the Canadian Standards Strategy renewal. Stakeholders were invited to offer their suggestions about how to move forward with the implementation of the revised long term strategic plan, which will be launched in Spring 2005.

NPSAC took advantage of the conference to arrange inaugural meetings with two committees within the NSS. It sat down separately with the Standards Council of Canada's Provincial Territorial Advisory Committee (PTAC) and the Provincial Territorial Policy Advisory Committee on Codes (PTPACC). PTAC looks broadly at standardization work in Canada from the perspective of the provinces and territories, and PTPACC, which is overseen by the National Research Council of Canada, focuses specifically on policy and administrative matters related to the building, fire and, plumbing codes and standards.

Although all three committees share information informally through mutual members, St. Arnaud stressed the value of face-to-face meetings. “The committees all have similar kinds of mandates, but this was the first opportunity for us to get together and realize we are all working on the same wavelength, and to look at what we can do to align our efforts,” said St. Arnaud.

Both committees expressed interest in holding regular meetings with NPSAC and in working together where possible to meet their common goals. This commitment is just one example of how partners within the National Standards System are rising to the challenge of charting a course for the future of standardization.

Back