Typically, the ATSB safety reporting team receives more than 17,000 notifications of safety occurrences each year, spread over aviation, marine and rail. While there may be duplicate notifications of the same occurrence and many of the notifications submitted are about matters not required to be reported under the Transport Safety Investigation Act 2003, each one is reviewed and recorded.   The TSI Act requires any responsible person who has knowledge of any accident or serious incident (or any immediately reportable matter) to report it as soon as it is reasonably practicable.…

The level of investigative response is determined by resource availability and factors such as those detailed below. These factors (expressed in no particular order) may vary in the degree to which they influence ATSB decisions to investigate and respond. Factors include:   the anticipated safety value of an investigation, including the likelihood of furthering the understanding of the scope and impact of any safety system failures   the likelihood of safety action arising from the investigation, particularly of national or global significance   the existence and extent of…

ATSB investigation reports The ATSB will release a final report at the conclusion of an investigation, detailing contributing factors, safety issues and other findings. However, at any time during the course of an investigation, should we uncover safety critical information we will immediately share that with relevant parties so they can take appropriate safety action. Depending on the complexity of the occurrence and the scope of the investigation, the ATSB may also produce preliminary and interim reports. Preliminary reports detail factual…

The ATSB conducts different levels of investigation according to the anticipated scope and scale of the work required to determine the contributing factors to a safety occurrence. Occurrence briefs Occurrence briefs provide the opportunity to share important safety messaging and information with industry and the public in the absence of an investigation. They are a…

New reporting requirements for safety occurrences involving remotely piloted aircraft (or drones) took effect on 30 September 2021. The Transport Safety Investigation Regulations 2021 require the reporting of certain transport safety occurrences to the ATSB as immediately or routine reportable matters, and introduced updated requirements for operators of certain types of remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) to make reports to the ATSB. Recognising the range of different types of RPA and their uses, the regulations categorise relevant RPA as…

ATSB policy provides for identifying most organisations in its transport safety investigations. Most organisations directly involved in any aviation occurrence investigated by the ATSB are identified in the report and on the investigation web page. The policy ensures the ATSB’s compliance with the International Civil Aviation Organization’s recommended practices. It also ensures that the ATSB has a consistent and transparent approach across all of its aviation, rail and marine safety investigations. Operators and other organisations can be assured that it is not a function of the ATSB to…