Confidential Reporting Scheme for Aviation, Marine and Rail
Transport
The Australian Government is proposing reforms to the
Confidential Reporting (REPCON) Schemes administered by the
Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB). The ATSB is inviting the
Australian aviation, marine and rail industries to provide comment
on the proposed changes by Friday, 16 December
2011.
Details of the proposed amendments are provided in:
• Letter from Martin Dolan, Chief Commissioner,
ATSB [
PDF:
41KB]
• Confidential Reporting: Discussion Paper and
Explanatory Statement [PDF:
251KB]
• Draft Regulations [PDF:
172KB]
The reforms create a new set of regulations under the
Transport Safety Investigation Act 2003. The new
Regulations will consolidate the existing aviation and marine
schemes while incorporating rail for the first time. Rail is being
included consistent with the scope of reforms proposed for the
national rail safety system, including establishing the ATSB as the
national rail safety investigator.
The main focus of voluntary confidential reporting is to allow a
person to report a safety issue to the ATSB with the assurance
that, unless there are exceptional circumstances, their identity
will be kept confidential. In this way reporters feel more
comfortable about reporting a safety issue than in circumstances
where their identity is known to other parties. Consequently,
confidential reporting captures information that mandatory
reporting and other information gathering activities cannot. This
means that confidential reporting is a very important part of the
safety information matrix and helps to ensure that transport safety
is not compromised by a lack of information.
The ATSB welcomes comment from all sectors of the Australian
aviation, marine and rail industries in relation to the proposed
reforms. In particular, based on industry experience, you or your
organisation may be interested in providing comments on:
• The value of confidential reporting in safety information
gathering;
• the ATSB as the administrator of REPCON;
• how the ATSB can improve confidential reporting processes and
outcomes.
Submissions should be forwarded to the contact officer below by
16 December 2011. The ATSB is looking forward to
working with you on this important reform.
Contact Officer:
John Taylor
Project Leader, REPCON
Email: repconreform@atsb.gov.au
Phone: 02 6274 6416
Fax: 02 6247 3117
Postal address:
Australian Transport Safety Bureau
Attention: John Taylor
PO Box 967
Civic Square ACT 2608
