University says it's making changes after crash that killed two students

A report into a bus crash that killed two University of Victoria students calls for travel during daylight hours on a narrow logging road that it says should be improved by the provincial government.

Those are among 43 recommendations in a report released Thursday from an independent expert commissioned by the university after the crash on the evening of Sept. 13, 2019.

Forty-five students and two teaching assistants were headed to the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre aboard a chartered bus that moved over for an approaching vehicle and rolled down an embankment.

First-year biology students John Geerdes of Iowa City and Emma Machado of Winnipeg, both 18, died, and many others were injured.

Ross Cloutier, author of the report and an expert in outdoor-related risk management, says the sciences centre hosted 112 school groups from 2018 to 2019, for a total of about 3,400 participants.

He says only eight groups arrived after dark and the University of Victoria accounted for two of them.

"Given the university's proximity to (the centre) it seems reasonable to expect the university's groups to arrive during daylight hours," he says.

That would require leaving Victoria by noon and adhering to an organized and disciplined travel schedule, Cloutier says.

University of Victoria president Jamie Cassels says the school fully accepts the recommendations and is working to implement them.

"We know this devastating accident has caused immeasurable grief and that the impacts are ongoing for families of the students who died, and for the other students on the bus and their families," he says in a statement.

"To those who have suffered loss and hardship, the university is profoundly sorry."

The university says all surviving students and their parents or guardians were given the opportunity to speak or correspond with Cloutier, who travelled to Manitoba and Iowa to meet with the families of the students who died.

It says that while university services and supports are currently focused on students it will also determine those that could be provided to their families.

"This will include more regular and timely communication with parents."

The university says in response to the recommendations, it will collect emergency contact information at registration, future bus trips to Bamfield will include a hazard assessment and travel will happen during daylight.

Pre-determined itineraries, an additional satellite communications device and first-aid equipment for the group size will also be part of trip planning.

Staff on board will enforce protocols such as adhering to the itinerary and the wearing of seatbelts, it says, adding it agrees with the review that using a ferry service from Port Alberni to Bamfield may be useful for some trips.

Cloutier also calls for the development of more robust crisis response protocols by the university, as well as a separate way to deal with major off-campus incidents.

"Campus Security, while being a convenient first point-of-contact, is not the unit that should be handling parent and student inquiries for academic or service questions."

The university says it recognizes current resources are not sufficient to support response to serious incidents.

"To better support our students and staff during such an event we will look to develop external resources that can be quickly scaled to provide a range of potential services and supports," it says.

It also says the condition and suitability of the logging road as an essential corridor between Bamfield and Port Alberni continues to be a concern.

"The university, along with the Huu-ay-aht First Nations, the (centre) and others are advocating to the B.C. government for road improvements. Parents of the students have identified this as an important priority."

The Transportation Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The university has also committed to working with the centre, which it co-owns, along with the University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, the University of Alberta and the University of Calgary.

It says the centre is not booking field trips until at least April 2021 due to COVID-19 and buses will not be used for field trips until the recommendations are in place.