The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB™) is Australia's
prime agency for the independent investigation of civil aviation
accidents, incidents and safety deficiencies. The ATSB is governed
by a Commission and is entirely separate from transport policy
makers, industry operators, and from transport regulators such as
the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA).
In the aviation transport mode, the ATSB conducts 'no blame'
aviation safety investigations in accordance with the Transport Safety
Investigation Act 2003 (TSI Act). The ATSB does not
investigate for the purpose of taking administrative, regulatory or
criminal action.
Annex 13 (Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation) to the
Convention on International Civil Aviation (Chicago Convention
1944) prescribes international principles for aircraft accident and
incident investigation, and the provisions of the TSI Act are
designed to reflect those principles.
The TSI Act contains a scheme for the mandatory reporting of
occurrences that are classified as Immediately
Reportable Matters (accidents & serious incidents) and Routine Reportable
Matters (incidents). It is from these initial reports that the
ATSB makes a decision on whether or not to investigate. The
decision is based on factors such as safety value to be obtained
from the investigation and where resources may best be
targeted.
In addition to investigating accidents and incidents, the ATSB
investigates safety issues based on occurrence trends that could
lead to a future accident. For example, the investigation into
aviation fuel contamination affecting thousands of smaller aircraft
at the end of 1999, could have led to a serious accident and
highlighted a range of safety deficiencies in global aviation fuel
standards and refining.
The ATSB also participates as an accredited representative on
investigations of accidents and serious incidents involving
Australian-registered aircraft overseas. In accordance with Annex
13, from time-to-time the ATSB assists other overseas agencies in
the investigation of accidents and serious incidents that do not
involve Australian-registered aircraft.
The ATSB makes a significant contribution to the safety of the
Australian aviation industry through investigation, analysis, open
reporting and education on civil aviation safety matters free of
any conflict of interest and without 'fear or favour'.
The objective of investigating accidents and incidents is to
prevent the occurrence of future accidents and not for the purposes
of apportioning blame or liability.
The results of ATSB investigations are presented in terms of
findings and significant factors. The ATSB does not utilise the
term 'cause' which can be confused with legal causality, and is not
restricted to, identifying only one causal factor as the most
important in a particular occurrence. The majority of air safety
occurrences are the result of a complex interaction of many factors
that mayneed to be addressed for the purposes of accident
prevention. Like its overseas equivalents, the ATSB has no power to
implement its recommendations, which are advisory only.
Aviation Accident & Incident Notification telephone ATSB
(toll-free, 24 hours): 1800 011 034
Submit an accident or incident
report
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