Highway safety compromised: Ombudsman

The Nova Scotia Ombudsman has found public safety on the province's highways has been compromised by a poisonous workplace at the weigh station on Highway 104 in Amherst where supervisors overruled tickets issued by vehicle compliance officers, says a report obtained by CBC News.

The corrosive atmosphere at the weigh station had led to lax behaviour by some employees who were "doing minimal work and not applying risk management principles, potentially compromising public safety and staff health," the 11-page report by Ombudsman Dwight Bishop says.

"This investigation has found the front line supervisor at the Amherst site and management have ineffectively managed the various problems at the workplace, allowing the conflicts to affect job performance," the report says.

"The Office of the Ombudsman makes a finding of wrongdoing as contemplated in the Civil Service Disclosure of Wrongdoing Regulations under Section 2 (1) (c) which states that a wrongdoing occurs if there is 'an act or an omission that creates a substantial and specific danger to the life, health or safety of a person."

All trucks greater than 3,000 kilograms must report to scale houses when travelling on 100 series highways in Nova Scotia. Vehicle compliance officers are supervised by area co-ordinators, who are front line supervisors in the bargaining unit.

During the course of the ombudsman's investigation, safety officers made some startling admissions.

They admitted to picking new trucks with no inspection issues because they were quick and easy to deal with. They admitted to letting trucks with possible safety infractions go by.

Officers also admitted that on the night shift, it was not uncommon to pull over the required number of trucks at the beginning of the shift and then close the weigh station down for the rest of the night.

The ombudsman found four cases where violation tickets were arbitrarily voided by managers and compliance officers instructed to ignore so called drive bys — when the truck bypassing the Amherst scale is headed toward New Brunswick.

The ombudsman also found that there was even a written policy not to stop the violator beyond the Nova Scotia-New Brunswick border.

[B]Officers made allegations[/B]

Allegations of wrongdoing were brought to the ombudsman by four vehicle compliance officers employed at the Amherst scales.

"They alleged management was and continues to have a negative impact on their duties to the point public safety and the integrity of the highways are compromised," the report says.

The ombudsman's office looked at three situations "related to alleged interference by the line supervisor and manager of [vehicle compliance officers's] legislated duties".

Information gathered during the investigation supported the conclusion that various levels of management have been directly involved in voiding tickets and directing officers to do so.

"Throughout this investigation, a number of individuals have informed ombudsman representatives of historical and ongoing concerns of harassment, bullying and performance management issues," the report says.

"During our investigation, an incident occurred where an employee threatened to commit suicide in the area co-ordinator's office, in part, due to the work environment. A protection of property order was filed in the court against a staff member by the area co-ordinator, further eroding the relationship between the two."

Transportation Minister Bill Estabrooks said Thursday that his department received the report within the last week, and he is aware of the personnel issues.