An Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) investigation has found that a lack of hazard awareness and safety control measures led to the chief engineer on board the Australian bulk carrier River Embley sustaining burns to 45 percent of his body when he was scalded by hot water that unexpectedly sprayed from a steam valve he and a junior engineer were working on. On the morning of 14 October 2005, the engineers were working in the engine room while the ship was at anchor off Gladstone. While they were dismantling the turbo alternator exhaust steam valve a thousand litres of pressurised hot…

The ATSB's on-site investigation into the 5 October 2006 fatal accident involving a BAC-167 Strikemaster jet, NE of Bathurst, NSW, is continuing. Access to the accident site has been hampered by the presence of a large bushfire, which is currently being fought by the NSW Rural Fire Service. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau's on-site investigation team has reported that the aircraft wreckage trail extends more than 1 kilometre. Team members have been able to access some of the aircraft wreckage during a period of limited access to the accident site over the last 2 days. During that time…

The ATSB has released a further Interim Factual Investigation Report into the Lockhart River accident on 7 May 2005 in which both pilots and all 13 passengers perished and says that it expects to complete its draft final report by the end of November. This is the third factual report issued by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau since the tragic accident and, in accordance with international convention, it contains no analysis. The ATSB has previously issued a number of safety recommendations arising from the accident and others will be considered ahead of the final report if or as needed…

An ATSB discussion paper has found from a large survey of endorsed pilots that a recently introduced type of satellite approach [termed RNAV (GNSS)] used during the May 2005 fatal accident near Lockhart River is perceived as difficult, particularly in bad weather and without automation and vertical guidance instruments. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau sent the survey to all Australian pilots with Area Navigation (RNAV) Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) endorsement and received 748 representative responses, a response rate of 22 per cent. The most difficult RNAV (GNSS)…

An ATSB discussion paper has found that from 1990 to 2005 Queensland had a higher fatal aviation accident rate than the rest of Australia but that the results for Tasmania were much worse, and that the fatal accident rate for Far North Queensland was better than for Queensland's North and Central regions. Like NSW/ACT, QLD was the location for 102 of the 318 fatal accidents in Australia from 1990 to 2005. Compared with the national rate of 0.7 fatal accidents per 100,000 landings 1990-2004, TAS had 1.8 and QLD the next highest at 0.9. QLD had 32% of the accidents and 24% of the landings so…

An ATSB has found that inadequate load securing methods, combined with reduced track clearances, lead to a collision between a steel plate freight load and a passenger train at Eden Hills station platform on 30 September 2005. The freight load had been protruding from the side of the freight train for at least 85 km before the collision occurred. Eden Hills is located about 14 km south of Adelaide in the Adelaide Hills region. Both trains were heading towards Adelaide when the collision occurred. There were no injuries and only minor damage to track and rollingstock infrastructure. The…

The ATSB has found that deficient boat design and construction, inadequate equipment and training, fatigue and poor decision-making, weather conditions and regulatory confusion, all combined in the tragic loss of five Torres Strait Islanders travelling on board the 6 metre boat Malu Sara in Torres Strait on 15 October 2005. According to the final investigation report by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), the boat did not meet basic freeboard or stability requirements. When operating at slow speed or stopped, water flooded the boat's cockpit from the stern freeing port. The four…

ATSB data and analysis released today refutes recent claims reported in the media that the commercial aviation fatal accident rate in Australia is increasing and that the number of aviation fatalities involving professional pilots in Australia over the last three years is very high compared with the years since 1990. Australia still has the best international record in high-capacity regular public transport (RPT) with no hull losses or fatal accidents involving passenger jet aircraft. Even using the broadest definition of commercial aviation to include both RPT and General Aviation except for…

An ATSB investigation has found that nobody was assigned to guide the leading end of a shunting movement of a Pacific National freight train which collided with the side of the Sydney to Melbourne XPT on the evening of 19 January 2005 at South Dynon. The ATSB investigation found that factors including the lack of procedures, poor communications, erroneous assumptions and a depleted team of terminal operators all contributed to the collision. The investigation also found that the catchpoints were ineffective in deflecting the wagons away from the main line. The final investigation report by…

An Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) investigation report, released today, has found that work procedures in the Regency Park rail yard allowed a shunter to ride on the end-steps of a wagon while being shunted and did not require that the driver confirm that the shunter was safe and/or in a safe position before starting a shunt movement. The dangers involved in railway shunting accidents were tragically illustrated when a railway employee was severely injured and disabled after a string of wagons ran over him. The ATSB report of the accident on 2 February 2005, cites poor work…