Railway Safety Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. 32 (4th Supp.))

Medical Information

Marginal note:Medical examination

• 35 (1) A person who holds a position that is declared by regulations made under paragraph 18(1)(b) or by any rule in force under section 19 or 20 to be a position critical to safe railway operations, referred to in this section as a “designated position”, shall undergo a medical examination organized by the railway company concerned, including audio-metric and optometric examination, at intervals determined by the regulations made under subparagraph 18(1)(c)(iii) or by any rule in force under section 19 or 20.

• Marginal note:Physician or optometrist to disclose potentially hazardous conditions

  (2) If a physician or an optometrist believes, on reasonable grounds, that a patient is a person described in subsection (1), the physician or optometrist shall, if in their opinion the patient has a condition that is likely to pose a threat to safe railway operations,

  • (a) by notice sent without delay to a physician or optometrist specified by the railway company, inform the specified physician or optometrist of that opinion and the reasons for it, after the physician or optometrist has taken reasonable steps to first inform the patient, and

  • (b) without delay send a copy of that notice to the patient,

  and the patient is deemed to have consented to the disclosure required by paragraph (a).

• Marginal note:Holder of designated position to inform physician or optometrist

  (3) A person who holds a designated position in a railway company shall, prior to any examination by a physician or optometrist, advise the physician or optometrist that the person is the holder of such a position.

• Marginal note:Railway company may act in interests of safe railway operations

  (4) A railway company may make such use of any information provided pursuant to subsection (2) as it considers necessary in the interests of safe railway operations.

• Marginal note:Proceedings not to lie against physician or optometrist

  (5) No legal, disciplinary or other proceedings lie against a physician or optometrist for anything done by that physician or optometrist in good faith in compliance with this section.

• Marginal note:Information privileged

  (6) Information provided pursuant to subsection (2) is privileged and

  • (a) no person shall be required to disclose it or give evidence relating to it in any legal, disciplinary or other proceedings; and

  • (b) it is not admissible in any such proceedings, except

    • (i) as provided by subsection (4), or

    • (ii) where the patient consents.

Other Information Requirements

Marginal note:Power to require information

• 36 (1) The Minister may order that a company provide, in the specified form and within the specified period, information or documents that he or she considers necessary for the purposes of ensuring compliance with this Act and with the regulations, rules, orders, standards and emergency directives made under this Act.

• Marginal note:Communication authorized

  (2) A company is authorized to communicate to the Minister the information that it recorded, collected or preserved under subsection 17.31(1) and that the Minister orders it to provide under subsection (1), for the purpose of verifying compliance with section 17.31 and regulations made under section 17.95.

Marginal note:Maintenance and production of safety records

• 37 (1) The Governor in Council may make regulations

  • (a) respecting the keeping and preservation by any person of information, records and documents that are relevant to the safety of railway operations, including a complete set of the regulations, emergency directives, rules and orders made under this Act that apply to that person;

  • (a.1) respecting the submission of information, records and documents that are relevant to the safety of railway operations by any person other than the Minister to any person specified in the regulations;

  • (b) respecting the filing with the Minister, including at the Minister’s request, of information, records and documents kept and preserved under regulations made under paragraph (a); and

  • (c) respecting notification to the Minister by companies of information suitable for monitoring safety performance or predicting potential changes in levels of safety, including information about any accident or incident associated with railway safety or any situation that could have a detrimental impact on safety performance.

• Marginal note:Application

  (2) A regulation made under this section may be general or applicable to a group or class of persons.

• Marginal note:Canada Transportation Act

  (3) Information, records and documents that are filed with the Minister as required by a regulation made under paragraph (1)(b) are deemed to be information that is required to be provided to the Minister under the Canada Transportation Act.

Marginal note:False information, etc.

38 No person shall, either orally or in writing, knowingly make a false or misleading statement or knowingly provide false or misleading information to the Minister, to a railway safety inspector or to any other person acting on behalf of the Minister in connection with any matter under this Act.

Security

Marginal note:Screening before boarding

• 39 (1) A screening officer may require a person or any goods to undergo authorized screening before the person or goods come on board railway equipment or enter a restricted area and, if so required,

  • (a) the person shall not board the railway equipment or enter the restricted area unless the person has undergone the authorized screening; and

  • (b) no person shall take the goods, or have them placed, on board the railway equipment or in the restricted area unless the goods have undergone the authorized screening.

• Marginal note:Screening after boarding or in restricted areas

  (2) A screening officer may require a person on board railway equipment or in a restricted area to undergo authorized screening and, if the person refuses,

  • (a) the officer may order the person to leave the railway equipment or restricted area and to remove from it any goods that the person took or had placed there; and

  • (b) the person shall leave the railway equipment or restricted area and remove or permit the removal of the goods immediately or, if the railway equipment is moving, at the first reasonable opportunity.

• Marginal note:Unaccompanied goods

  (3) A screening officer may carry out authorized screening of any goods at a railway work that are intended for transport on railway equipment and are not accompanied by a person, and the officer may use any force that is reasonably necessary to gain access to the goods.

• Marginal note:False or misleading information

  (4) No person shall knowingly make any false or misleading statement to a screening officer, or knowingly provide false or misleading information to a screening officer.

• Marginal note:Operators to post notices

  (5) When authorized screening is required or authorized under this Act on board railway equipment or at a railway work, the railway company that operates the railway equipment or railway work shall post notices stating that

  • (a) authorized screening is being carried out;

  • (b) no person is obliged to undergo authorized screening of their person if they choose not to board the railway equipment or enter a restricted area; and

  • (c) no person is obliged to permit authorized screening of their goods if they choose not to take the goods or have them placed on board the railway equipment or in the restricted area.

• Marginal note:Placement and languages of notices

  (6) The notices must be posted in prominent places where authorized screening is carried out and they must be written in both of the official languages of Canada and may, in addition, be written in any other language.

Marginal note:Minister may formulate security measures

• 39.1 (1) The Minister may formulate measures respecting the security of railway transportation.

• Marginal note:Requirement to carry out measures

  (2) The Minister may, by notice in writing, require or authorize a railway company to carry out any of those security measures.

• Marginal note:Exemption by Minister

  (3) The Minister may, on any terms and conditions that the Minister considers necessary, exempt any railway company or other person from the application of a security measure if, in the opinion of the Minister, the exemption is in the public interest and is not likely to pose a security threat.

Marginal note:Disclosure of security documents

• 39.2 (1) No person shall disclose to any other person the substance of a security document that is labelled as such unless the disclosure is

  • (a) authorized by the Minister;

  • (b) ordered by a court or other body under subsection (3);

  • (c) required by law; or

  • (d) necessary to give effect to the document.

• Marginal note:Court or other body to inform Minister

  (2) If a request is made for the production or discovery of the security document in any proceeding before a court or other body having jurisdiction to compel its production or discovery, the court or other body shall

  • (a) notify the Minister of the request, if the Minister is not a party to the proceeding; and

  • (b) examine the document in a hearing closed to the public and give the Minister a reasonable opportunity to make representations with respect to it.

• Marginal note:Order for production and discovery

  (3) If the court or other body concludes that the public interest in the proper administration of justice outweighs the interests that would be protected by non-disclosure, the court or other body

  • (a) shall order the production and discovery of the security document, subject to any restrictions or conditions that the court or other body considers appropriate; and

  • (b) may require any person to give evidence relating to the document.

Inquiries

Marginal note:Inquiry

• 40 (1) If the Minister considers that

  • (a) a proposed railway work set out in a plan filed with the Minister under section 10,

  • (b) rules filed with the Minister under section 19 or 20,

  • (c) any accident or incident associated with railway works or with the operation of railway equipment, or

  • (d) any other matter relating to the operation or maintenance of railway works or railway equipment

  raises, or may raise, issues of public interest relating to safe railway operations, the Minister may, by order, direct persons designated by the Minister for the purpose to conduct an inquiry into the matter in accordance with any regulations made pursuant to section 47, subject to the Canadian Transportation Accident Investigation and Safety Board Act, and report the findings of the inquiry to the Minister in such manner and within such period as the Minister directs.

• Marginal note:Powers of persons conducting an inquiry

  (2) Each of the persons designated to conduct an inquiry under subsection (1) has the powers of a person appointed as a commissioner under Part I of the Inquiries Act, subject to any restrictions specified in the designation.

• Marginal note:Privilege

  (3) Where, in the course of an inquiry under this section, a statement is obtained by the persons conducting the inquiry that is included within a class of statements classified pursuant to the regulations as privileged, those persons may make such use of the statement for the purposes of the inquiry as they consider necessary in the interests of safe railway operations, but they shall not knowingly communicate the statement or permit it to be communicated to any person except in the circumstances set out in the regulations or as authorized in writing by the person making the statement.

• Definition of statement

  (4) In subsection (3), statement means any oral, written or recorded assertion or any transcript or substantial summary thereof, and includes conduct that could reasonably be taken to be intended as such an assertion.