REPCON is a voluntary and confidential reporting scheme. REPCON allows any person who has a rail safety concern to report it to the ATSB confidentially. Protection of the reporter’s identity and any individual referred to in the report is a primary element of the scheme. Personal information will not be disclosed. Only de-identified information will be used for safety action. You may be contacted for additional information. The following matters are not reportable safety concerns and are not guaranteed confidentiality:a) matters relating to a serious and…

The ATSB collects, holds and uses a range of information for the purposes of improving transport safety. The ATSB is a part of Australia's aviation safety system and the information gathered by the ATSB may be provided to other agencies for the specific purpose of maintaining and improving aviation safety. It is an additional legislative function for the ATSB to cooperate with these agencies. Mandatory reporting A principal source of safety information is the mandatory reporting scheme established under the Transport Safety Investigation Act 2003 (TSI Act). The scheme gathers information on…

Since March 2013, the Multicultural Access and Equity Policy requires that all Australian Government departments and agencies under the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997, with the exception of the Departments of the Parliament, have an Agency Multicultural Plan in place and available on their websites in mid-2013.  The ATSB Multicultural Plan 2013-2015  [PDF: 532KB]  [DOCX: 37KB]   

The National Aviation Occurrence Database allows you to search for accidents and incidents that have been reported to the ATSB since 1 July 2003. You can search the database using a time period, location, type of occurrence (i.e. what happened), and type of aircraft. We regularly add new reported occurrences to ensure the database is up to date. However, depending on workload and volume of reports it may take some weeks to verify and include new occurrences. How ATSB data is collected? ATSB data is collected through the mandatory occurrence reporting requirements of the Transport Safety…

What is REPCON? REPCON is a voluntary and confidential reporting scheme. REPCON allows any person who has a rail safety concern to report it to the ATSB confidentially. Protection of the reporter’s identity and any individual referred to in the report is a primary element of the scheme. Who may make a REPCON report? Any person may report a reportable safety concern. This would include: (a)  Any person involved in the Rail Industry. An example would be an employee or contractor of a rail transport operator who may have reported a matter under the operator’s SMS but does not believe…

Safety concern Navigation through confined waters under pilotage is a high-pressure situation where errors can easily lead to serious incidents.  What can you do? The clear and open exchange of information between the ship’s master and crew and the pilot is vital, both during the pilotage passage and before it even commences. This helps to ensure that all members of the bridge team have a shared mental model of the pilotage passage and, as a result, a good understanding of how it should proceed.  This pre-passage information exchange should always include:  the courses or…

Safety concern R44 helicopters with all-aluminium fuel tanks have proven susceptible to post-accident fuel leaks increasing the risk of a potentially fatal post-impact fire following a collision with terrain.  What can you do? The manufacturer has issued a Service Bulletin SB-78B requiring R44 helicopters with all-aluminium fuel tanks be retrofitted with bladder-type tanks as soon as practical, but no later than 30 April 2013. The ATSB urges all operators and owners of R44 helicopters fitted with all-aluminium fuel tanks to replace these tanks with bladder-type fuel tanks as detailed in…

Safety concern ATSB research reveals that accidents and incidents are not always reported to the ATSB when they should be. When something goes wrong in transport safety, it is the duty of a ‘responsible person’ (defined in the Transport Safety Investigation Regulations 2003) to report it to the ATSB.    ATSB on YouTube   What can you do? As the national transport safety investigator, the ATSB is the Australian Government agency you should notify in the event of an accident or incident. While we use your notification to determine whether to investigate an occurrence, looked at…

Safety concern The ATSB has investigated several accidents that have occurred when maintenance work was being carried out on or near railway tracks. Conducting work on or near a railway track can be dangerous if safeworking rules and procedures have not been correctly implemented to protect the worksite. Trains cannot stop quickly and any breakdown in the communication or management of a worksite can leave workers extremely vulnerable to dangerous situations. What can you do? Operational safe working on track requires a high level of preparation and organisation. Whenever there is work…

Safety concern It is difficult for pilots to spot another aircraft through visual observation alone.  The ATSB often receives reports from pilots that another aircraft is flying too close to them in uncontrolled airspace. Not surprisingly, three quarters of these reports involve pilots flying within 10 nautical miles (18.5 kilometres) of a non-controlled aerodrome. Twice as many near-collisions are reported to the ATSB where pilots had no prior warning of other aircraft in their vicinity, compared with situations when a pilot received an alert by radio or a traffic alerting system like…