The University of Victoria says it has implemented all 43 recommendations stemming from an independent investigation into a field-trip bus crash that killed two first-year students in 2019. The final step involves a return trip to Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre this year.
UVic says it is applying the lessons learned more widely to improve the university’s procedures and training for large-scale emergencies off campus.
“We know that the changes the university has made as a result of the report’s recommendations can never undo the pain and trauma experienced as a result of the accident,” says the final report from the university, presented to the board of governors on June 28 and released publicly on Wednesday.
Emma MacIntosh Machado of Winnipeg, 18, and John Geerdes, 18, from Iowa City, Iowa, died on Sept. 13, 2019, when a Wilson’s Transportation bus carrying 45 students and two teaching assistants tipped and crashed while on a biology field trip to Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre. Other students were injured. Machado and Geerdes were seated together near the back of the bus.
The university’s changes for trips to the marine research and teaching facility include: travelling in daylight; ensuring trips stick to a set itinerary; providing emergency communications; enforcing use of safety equipment including seatbelts; including a senior staff member with first-aid training; and having a mass crisis emergency plan, including a communication plan.
On future field trips, UVic will use a newly created hazard assessment and control program to assess what mode of transportation should be used for group student travel. The recommendations questioned whether the MV Frances Barkley vessel is preferable to buses for trips to the marine centre, since it would avoid use of the Bamfield Main logging road.
The university will collect emergency contact information for each student, provide students detailed information about the trip and activities when they register, provide adequate staffing for trips, and set clear roles during emergencies.
Machado’s mother, Ethel MacIntosh, said she hopes the improvements mitigate the chances of another family dealing with anything similar — and prepares the university for how to deal with any future incidents with “compassion and appropriate resources.”
“To say it shouldn’t have happened doesn’t change anything,” said MacIntosh. “Every day we are reminded and at times I still find it incomprehensible to realize that I will never see Emma again.”
Geerdes’ mother, Mary Murphy, said the pain of losing her son, who had four siblings, is immense and his absence is ever present. “We continue to mourn him and are so very sorry he didn’t live long enough to realize his full potential and grow older with his siblings and friends,” said Murphy in an email. “It is our hope and expectation that University of Victoria students and others will never suffer another bus crash.”
Soon after the crash, UVic commissioned a report by Ross Cloutier, an expert in outdoor-related risk management. It was published June 2020 and made 43 recommendations that UVic pledged to implement within a year.
The university says it has learned about “managing large-scale critical incidents.” Many injured students were discharged from hospitals in shock without identification, money and, for some, even clothes and shoes. Students and parents were unable to reach an emergency co-ordinator at the university in the first 24 hours after the crash.
“To this day, we remain profoundly sorry for the immeasurable grief, hardships and ongoing challenges caused by this tragic accident and all aspects associated with it,” says the UVic final report.
“Our community will never forget what happened September 13, 2019,” UVic president Kevin Hall said.
Safety improvements to the 76-kilometre logging road that connects Port Alberni and Bamfield are underway, a priority in the Cloutier report.
The province has approved $25.7 million, with another $5 million from the Huu-ay-aht First Nation, who will oversee construction.
In the months after the crash, parents of those killed and injured criticized the university for failing to reach out to them, noting bills continued to arrive for students unable to return. Machado’s parents came to the school unaccompanied to collect her belongings from her dorm room.
“Care, empathy, and compassion were not expressed from senior leadership and that is who they needed to hear from,” the independent report said. “Correspondence was weak and impersonal, and telephone calls by executive were not made to the families in a timely fashion.”
Kristi Simpson, acting vice-president of finance and operations who oversaw the implementation of the recommendations, said the concern the university felt at the time was not obvious to those who most needed to know it. “We have taken this feedback to heart,” she said. “It will change the way we respond in the future.”
ceharnett@timescolonist.com
