Union raising concerns about school bus safety after buses pulled off road

The union that represents government inspectors is worried they are being stretched too thin when it comes to inspecting school buses.

In the last couple of weeks, Service NL has pulled eight school buses off the road, seven of them belonging to one company.

• Another school bus sidelined by safety concerns

• School buses taken off road for leaking brake lines, broken emergency gear

"Clearly, this demonstrates that there are buses on the roads that are of concern," said Jerry Earle, president of the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Public and Private Employees.

Service NL says there are about 1,090 school buses in the province licenced to transport students, but that not all of them may be in use.

"The major problem we have is the resources to do these inspections," said Earle. In this case, "resources" means people.

"These highway enforcement officers have much more (to do) than just school buses." said Earle. "What the public has to realize (is)it's everything from ambulance fleets to heavy equipment to tractor trailers that are on our highways."

The union estimated that Service NL has about 45 highway enforcement officers. Service NL says it actually has 35 officers, but anticipates getting that number up to 41 by the end of the year.

"We have heard people talk about lessening these resources," said Earle. "That would be a major concern."

Operators doing own inspections

Some school busoperators are certified by Service NL andallowed to inspect their own buses.

"That would be concerning to me as a member of the general public," said Earle."When you put the fox in charge of the henhouse, it would be concerning."

More frequent inspections

Earle sayshighway enforcement officers should be doing independent and more frequent inspections.

"Their primary responsibility is the safety, in this case, on school buses, of our children," he said."That is criticalin their minds that if they can't do their job or miss something, there could be significant consequences to it."

Service NL says all school buses in the province get inspected three times a year. They are inspected twice by certified, non-governmental, inspectors,and onceduring the fall by the enforcement officers with Service NL. Of that, 30 per cent of the buses are randomly selected for an inspection in in the spring.

"The 30 per cent leaves them (enforcement officers)with some concerns. They feel it could be a higher mark," said Earle.

Earle says the policy makers need to talk toenforcementofficers.

Listen to enforcement officers

"Talk to those on the front line," he said."They would be able to suggest to those who are making the decisions, what would be appropriate inspections, what would be appropriate percentage of inspections."

"For those who are sitting behind a desk making decisions, it should be those who are on the frontlines telling you whether it is adequate or inadequate."

Most of the inspectors have been in the system for a long time, saysEarle.

"They pretty well know where there are concerns, and if officials were to speak with them, they could identify areas where there could be greater attention paid to."

If the government has to make cuts to save money, says Earle, it shouldn't cut inspectors.

"When I hear talk about cuts to the public service, we keep saying, where you remove people, you remove services. We don't believe you can remove a single person without impacting the safety of our children, "said Earle.