Introduction

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) is established under the Transport Safety Investigation Act 2003 (TSI Act) as Australia's transport safety investigation agency. The TSI Act clearly sets out the independence of the ATSB with a view to avoiding conflicts of interest and external interference in its role in transport safety investigation, research and analysis, and fostering public awareness of transport safety. While independent, the ATSB is accountable to Parliament through its Minister.

The TSI Act empowers the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport to notify the ATSB of his views on the appropriate strategic direction for the ATSB. The ATSB must have regard to those views. The Minister notified the ATSB of his views through a Statement of Expectations (dated 9 May 2011) covering the period until 30 June 2013.

This Statement of Intent describes the ATSB's functions and approach and outlines priorities which will form the basis for the ATSB's business and resource allocations. Those priorities and related key business outputs are consistent with the Minister's expectations and broader Government policy in the area of transport safety.

The ATSB's functions and approach

The ATSB's primary function is to improve aviation, marine and rail safety by means that include:

• receiving and assessing reports of transport safety matters, including notifications of safety occurrences and confidential reporting
• independently conducting no-blame investigations of accidents and other safety occurrences, including investigations based on research
• identifying factors that contributed to those accidents and other safety occurrences or which affect, or might affect, transport safety
• encouraging safety action in response to those safety factors by acknowledging safety action already taken and by issuing safety recommendations and advisory notices
• raising awareness of safety issues by reporting publicly on investigations and conducting public educational programs.
• The ATSB is not permitted, in transport safety matters, to apportion blame, nor to provide the means to determine liability, nor generally to assist in court matters, nor allow adverse inferences to be drawn from anyone's involvement in an investigation.

The ATSB's capacity to carry out its primary function of improving transport safety is critically dependent on the quality of its relationship with industry and the community. The ATSB therefore has the additional function of cooperating with government agencies, private organisations and individuals who have transport safety functions and responsibilities or who may be affected by the ATSB's transport safety functions. In addition, the ATSB has the function of cooperating with equivalent national bodies in other countries.

In carrying out its functions to the highest possible standards, the ATSB will actively consult, target its communications to ensure that transport industry stakeholders understand the importance of no-blame investigation, and encourage the open reporting of accidents and other safety occurrences. In doing so, the ATSB will promote an appropriate level of confidentiality and protection for sensitive safety information provided to it.

In addition, the ATSB will:

• focus its resources in the areas that are most likely to result in improvements to safety;
• conduct investigations impartially, thoroughly, and in a timely manner
• obtain the information and expertise necessary to undertake its safety role effectively
• ensure there is appropriate consultation in the course of investigations and that the significance and consequences of identified safety issues is well understood
• reflect in its reports the various expert views expressed to it, state its conclusions and set out its reasons for those conclusions
• express its reports and any necessary media statements in ways that address the issues objectively rather than attributing blame or fault
• make timely safety recommendations that are practical and capable of materially improving transport safety if acted upon
• ensure that authoritative investigations are translated into clear safety messages and effective safety actions.

ATSB priorities 2011-13

Safety communication and education

The ATSB will ensure that the safety messages resulting from safety investigations are clear and understandable, thereby maintaining industry awareness and public confidence.

The ATSB will publish and implement its Communication plan, reflecting the priority given to communication and education activity.

Allocation of resources to area of greatest safety benefit

The ATSB will continue to apply its investigation decision-making policies to ensure resources deliver the best safety outcomes to the travelling public. The decision making policy is publicly available on the ATSB website.

The ATSB will continue to work towards investigation of all accidents and serious incidents, including through limited fact-gathering investigations and allocation of resources to examine emerging trends and safety issues.

By July 2012, the ATSB will critically review and, where necessary, reallocate investigation resources to meet the ATSB's commitment to enhancing safety communication and education.

Building capability

By December 2011, the ATSB will issue revised investigator work level standards to appropriately reflect project management requirements and increased emphasis on safety communication and education priorities.

Where resources permit, the ATSB will provide technical advice and support to other organisations with a role in transport safety.
By December 2011, the ATSB will revise the MoUs with the Department of Defence and the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA).

Active participation in the transport reform agenda

The ATSB will work with the Department of Infrastructure and Transport to contribute to the government's regulatory reform agenda to improve the efficiency, safety, sustainability and competitiveness of the aviation, maritime and rail industries.

The ATSB will implement the government's commitments regarding the safety investigation function and responsibilities outlined in the National Aviation Policy White Paper - Flight Path to the Future.

The ATSB will focus on positioning itself to ensure it meets the Council of Australian Government's commitment to a national safety investigator of rail accidents and other safety occurrences.

The ATSB will collaborate on the most effective marine safety investigation arrangements within the overall reform package that will see an expanded role for AMSA, covering all commercial shipping.

To achieve the outcomes in rail and marine, the ATSB will regularly consult with state authorities to ensure a seamless and well understood transition to the new national model.

Improved efficiency and timeliness of investigations

The ATSB will continually review its investigation policies and practices to ensure its reputation as a best practice safety investigation agency.  The ATSB will promote continuous improvement through benchmarking and networking with like overseas agencies.

Without jeopardising rigour, the ATSB will work to improve the timeliness of investigations. By December 2011, updated project management policies and procedures will be incorporated in the ATSB Quality System and supporting tools will be introduced as part of the Safety Investigation Information Management System (SIIMS).

The ATSB will aim to issue final reports on investigations within one year from commencement.

Strengthening stakeholder relationships

The ATSB will strengthen its relationship with industry participants and the travelling public through continued commitment to safety communication and education, and through objective and transparent investigations that include appropriate levels of consultation.

The ATSB will develop and agree a model MoU with rail safety regulators in anticipation of the establishment of a single national rail regulator.

Sharing safety information

Consistent with its legislative obligations and international requirements, the ATSB will cooperate with other state, national and international safety agencies to share safety data and other safety intelligence to allow all parties to better perform their important safety functions.

In responding to the government's Declaration of Open Government, the ATSB will promote public access to transport safety accident and incident occurrence data and statistical holdings.

The ATSB will implement the ATSB Information Publication plan to publish details of our structure, functions, statutory appointments, and annual reports, consistent with the government's FOI reforms.

Focussed safety research and data analysis

The ATSB will publish and undertake a research program informed by: analysis of safety data holdings and investigation findings; and consultation with relevant stakeholders, including other safety agencies, educational institutions and transport industry participants.

The ATSB will actively participate in initiatives to improve consistency and comparability of transport safety datasets, including those that focus on the collection, collation and analysis of data.

The ATSB will contribute to the creation of national safety occurrence datasets in rail and marine to ensure that the ATSB will have ready access to the data and that the databases will be conducive to proactive data analysis for measuring safety within these industries.

The ATSB will develop a proactive safety occurrence trend monitoring capability. As part of this process, the ATSB will be developing occurrence risk ratings to allow indications of safety risk from occurrence data.

Regional and international engagement

The ATSB will be an active and constructive player in International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), International Maritime Organization (IMO), and other international and regional forums that have a role to play in transport safety. The ATSB will actively support initiatives to build aviation and maritime safety investigation capability in the Asia-Pacific region.

The ATSB will promote engagement with its international counterpart agencies and with relevant multilateral organisations, ensuring that safety lessons and operational innovations are shared internationally. The ATSB will collaborate on improving the international standards for accident investigation.

The ATSB will assist Australia's regional neighbours through international agreements and participation in intergovernmental programs such as the Indonesian Transport Safety Assistance Package (ITSAP) and cooperation with Papua New Guinea in line with the Australia-PNG MoU on Cooperation in the Transport Sector.

Preparedness for a major accident

The ATSB will undertake preparedness activities to effectively respond to a major accident within Australia or involving an Australian air carrier or ship overseas. As well as contingency planning, the ATSB will participate in, or undertake, regular exercises to test and continuously improve preparedness. Where beneficial, the ATSB will participate in emergency response and post investigation debriefs.

Keeping abreast of changes

Reflecting the dynamic nature of the transport sector, the ATSB will ensure it is able to respond to the challenges posed by new transport vehicles and supporting technologies.

The ATSB will ensure that the characteristics of a good safety management system are well understood by its investigators, and that the ATSB investigations findings are a valuable means of measuring and assuring the effectiveness of safety management systems.