Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, we'll have to take this back and just have a look and perhaps provide the Member with an explanation. Thank you.
Member.
Thank you, I'd appreciate that. Can the Minister or the department speak to whether or not there are any health and safety or project manager positions within this department or this area of the budget? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, we I do have a human resource summary here and it just kind of speaks to some of some of the employees. I'm going to ask Mr. Moore to speak a little bit more about a little more details. Thanks.
Thank you. Mr. Moore.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Most definitely asset management has a number of project managers on staff. In the transportation, for example, we have staff on site on projects and supporting all the projects in the transportation sector. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Maybe sorry, I got a frog in my throat. But I asked about health and safety project manager, health and safety officers for the projects. Thank you.
Thank you. Mr. Moore. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, we do have a health and safety coordinator within the department. Thanks.
Thank you. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Is that position here under, say, design and technical services; does it work with the groups, or is that position located with this group? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, no, that position doesn't fit within asset management. It's more of in the program service area. Thank you.
Thank you. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. But does not design and technical services, is that not the group that then works with projects and ensures the project execution? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I'll get Mr. Moore to speak to it.
Mr. Moore.
Thank you, Madam Chair. We actually work with contractors responsible for their projects on a project by project basis. Projects have health and safety plans applied to them. As a department, as the Minister mentioned, we have a health and safety coordinator to the department at the OSH level. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So as part of the contract services, are contractors required to submit their health and safety plans for projects ahead of the project or as part of the project bid? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, as part of the project.
Thank you. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Does the department actually sign off on the project plan? Do they for example, do they review it and check it for any deficiencies? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, yes. Thank you.
Thank you. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. What is the policy or the procedure? Is there a standard operating procedure for reviewing health and safety plans? The reason I ask is that our current Prohibition Creek contract has now had its third safety issue, two vehicle incidents plus the fibre optic cut back in January, and I'd just like to know if the department had signed off on their health and safety plan prior to that project. Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, we do we did review it. I'm going to ask Mr. Moore to just speak a little more detail about that. Thanks.
Thank you. Mr. Moore.
Thank you, Madam Chair. As the Minister mentioned, our department does review those plans. We do not approve them. That's in the under the auspices of the contractor. With respect to that specific project, yes, there were two incidences and they are currently under investigation with our department. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So given that there has been incidents, it would seem to me that not approving plans and just looking at them is leaving the government open to a liability here. Ultimately we are responsible for the projects that we have on the ground and the people that are working on them. And when we go ahead and just not ensure that that's being done, I would suggest that that's actually a failure on our part to ensure the safety of our people.
Madam Chair, can I just get a question on the decrease of the transportation costs from the actuals of 20212022 to the main estimates coming up? I believe it's about just under a million dollars. Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I'll get Ms. Lee to speak to it.
Ms. Lee.
Just because under actuals for the 20212022 fiscal year, there is an amortization cost that was coded to asset management and that was actually in error. The budget side of it is with regional operations so you'll see a corresponding surplus on that side.
Thank you. All right, are there any further questions under asset management? Member for Frame Lake.
Yeah, thanks, Madam Chair. I too want to thank the Minister and staff for the commitment on an asset management dashboard. I think we've raised that issue before in the House and look forward to seeing what that looks like.
I'd understood that there was going to be some changes to the standards that we use for well, the amount of chip sealing we could do. Is this the right place to ask about this? And I think something about bridge inspections as well, is this the right place to ask? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Yes. Yes.
Perfect, thanks, I'm ready to go. So I think that we're how many kilometres of chip seal are we doing this year?
Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, we're doing 150 kilometres. Thank you.
Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. How many did we do last year, or how much (audio). Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
