Probe on 2022 ferry crash finds 'safety deficiencies': TSB

It's still unclear what led a Toronto Island ferry to crash into a dock two years ago, injuring roughly 20 people and sending six to the hospital.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) announced its findings at a news conference Monday morning.

"Our investigation found several safety deficiencies," TSBchair Kathy Fox told reporters.

The Sam McBride ferry was returning to the Jack Layton Terminal just after 5 p.m. on Aug. 20, 2022, when it collided with the dock, said TSBinvestigator tienne Sguin-Bertrand.

No evidence of malfunction, investigators say

At the time, he said, the ferry was running behind schedule, with roughly 910 passengers and six crew members on board.

Sguin-Bertrand said the investigation revealed the ferry was docking at a speed of five knotsrather than three knots, which is how fast it had docked on its previous eight trips that day.

For comparison, that means the ferry was coming in at a speed of just over 9 km/h instead of 5 km/h.

"The proportional increase is fairly significant," Sguin-Bertrand said.

The Sam McBride ferry has two propellers, one at the rear and one at the front of the boat. The TSB investigation found that while both were used on previous dockings, the crew was not able to engage the front propeller as it approached the terminal.

"Given the vessel speed and distance from the dock, the reverse thrust provided by the one propeller was not enough to stop the ferry," Sguin-Bertrand said.

"While we did not find evidence that there was a malfunction with the engine or the engine control system we cannot say conclusively that there wasn't one."

At the time, Fox said the City of Toronto had no written procedures on safe docking and left it to the discretion of the vessel's master. She said the city has since introduced written procedures.

Passenger safety key: TSB

Age did not play a role in the collision, Sguin-Bertrand said, noting that old vessels can continue to operate safely if they are kept in good repair.

"We found no issues with the maintenance of the Sam McBride," he said.

The TSB's three recommendations are aimed at Transport Canada and deal with crew training around passenger safety management, formal approval processes for evacuation procedures and processes to ensure passenger vessels are keeping an accurate count of all passengers, including separate counts for infants and children.

At the time of the crash, Fox said the crew were not keeping an accurate count of the number of passengers on board the ferries, or how many of those passengers might need extra assistance, such as children and infants.

As a result, she said the number of children on board the Sam McBride could exceed the number of available life jackets.

"Estimating isn't good enough," Fox said. "There's a risk that not all passengers will be accounted for in an emergency."

In a statement, Toronto city spokesperson Russell Baker thanked the TSB for its "thorough and comprehensive investigation" and said it supported the recommendations.

"The City has been and continues to be in compliance with Transport Canada's requirements and regulations and has already implemented a number of these actions, while continuing to implement others," Baker said.

"The City has documented its ferry safety protocols, invested in training staff, increased the number of life jackets onboard the vessels, improved lighting on the bridge deck and improved pre-departure safety briefings all of which were implemented after the incident and continue to be our standards today."

Transport Canada also thanked the TSB for the investigation and said it would respond within the required 90 days to its three recommendations.

The federal department said it considers several factors, such as the nature of operation, number of passengers, proximity to safety services, to determine the number of crewrequired for emergency situations.

"Following this accident in August of 2022, Transport Canada reviewed and updated the required number of crew members on Toronto Island Ferries," Transport Canada said, adding the city is responsible for ensuring there is compliance with all relevant safety regulations.