The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) is Australia's national transport safety investigator. The ATSB is the federal government body responsible for investigating transport-related accidents and incidents within

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. It covers air, sea and rail travel. The ATSB is an independent Commonwealth Government

statutory agency A statutory body or statutory authority is a body set up by law (statute) that is authorised to implement certain legislation on behalf of the relevant country or state, sometimes by being Primary and secondary legislation, empowered or deleg ...

, governed by a Commission and is separate from transport regulators, policy makers and service providers.

History

The ATSB was formed on 1 July 1999. It combined the Bureau of Air Safety Investigation (BASI), Marine Incident Investigation Unit (MIIU) and parts of the Federal Office of Road Safety (FORS). Its central office is located at 12 Moore Street in

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory until 1938, is an internal States and territories of Australia, territory of Australia. Canberra, the capital city of Australia, is situated within the territory, an ...

. It has field offices in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

and

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

. It has about 100 employees, including about 60 Transport Safety Investigators of aviation, marine, and rail accidents and incidents.

Air safety investigation

Australian aviation accidents were initially investigated by the Air Accident Investigation Committee (AAIC), formed in 1927, to "investigate all civil and military aircraft accidents that the Committee deemed advisable". When the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) was formed in 1938, investigation of air safety came within its purview. During the 1950s, the Air Safety Investigation Branch (ASIB) was formed, becoming the Bureau of Air Safety Investigation (BASI) in 1982, an operationally independent unit of the Department of Aviation (DoA). In 1987, BASI was transferred to the Department of Transport and Communications (DoTaC) when DoA was abolished. Currently, the ATSB is responsible for investigating civil aircraft incidents and accidents within Australia and assisting in investigations of Australian registered aircraft overseas. Australia is a Council member of the

International Civil Aviation Organization The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation, and fosters the planning and development of international sch ...

(ICAO).

Marine safety investigation

The Marine Incident Investigation Unit (MIIU) was created on 1 January 1991, under the direction of the Inspector of Marine Accidents, a statutory position. Previously, significant marine accident investigations were conducted by a Court of Marine Inquiry, a model which was adopted in 1921, via amendment to the ''Navigation Act 1912'' (Cwlth). This was based on United Kingdom law and practices dating back to the 1850s. Currently, the ATSB investigates accidents and serious incidents of Australian flagged ships worldwide, and of foreign flagged ships withi
Australian waters
Australia is a Council member of the

International Maritime Organization The International Maritime Organization (IMO; ; ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for regulating maritime transport. The IMO was established following agreement at a ...

(IMO).

Road Safety Branch

Between July 1999 and March 2008, Federal government initiatives dealing with road safety were primarily within the ATSB's responsibilities in the Road Safety Branch (RSB). The RSB later became part of 'The Infrastructure and Surface Transport Policy Division' of the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government.

Rail safety investigation

Until formation of the ATSB, rail safety had been the responsibility of each state government. With the enactment of the ''Transport Safety Investigation Act 2003'' (Cwlth), the ATSB gained jurisdiction for rail incident and accident investigations on the Defined Interstate Rail Network (DIRN), consisting of the standard gauge track linking all major Australian mainland cities and ports. In December 2009, the

Council of Australian Governments The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) was the primary intergovernmental forum in Australia from 1992 to 2020. Comprising the federal government, the governments of the six states and two mainland territories and the Australian Local G ...

(COAG) agreed to adopt the ATSB as the national rail safety investigator, in conjunction with the formation of
national rail safety regulator
Commencing in January 2013, all Australian states and territories gradually adopted the scheme, with

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

the last to join in July 2017. Th
Office of Transport Safety Investigations
(OTSI) and th
Chief Investigator Transport Safety
(CITS), continue to investigate rail accidents and incidents in conjunction with the ATSB, in

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

and Victoria, respectively.

ATSB operations

The ATSB contributes to transport safety by independently investigating, analysing and openly reporting on transport safety matters. It is not a function of the ATSB to apportion blame or liability, instead, investigations are focused on learning from accidents and incidents and, encouraging safety action by government and industry. The ATSB is entirely separate from transport regulatory authorities such as the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA), the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) and th
Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator
(ONRSR), government policy makers and, service providers such as Airservices Australia and the Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC). This separation ensures the independence of ATSB investigations, thereby avoiding external influence and conflicts of interest. The ''Transport Safety Investigation Act 2003'' (TSI Act), allows the ATSB to investigate transport safety matters in the aviation, marine and rail transport modes within the Australian Government's constitutional jurisdiction and, to release transport safety information, including investigation reports that detail the findings and significant factors that led to a particular transport safety occurrence. ATSB Transport Safety Investigators exercise statutory powers delegated by the Chief Commissioner in accordance with the provisions of the TSI Act. These powers allow ATSB investigators to interview anyone involved directly or indirectly in a transport safety occurrence. A comprehensive regime of provisions within the TSI Act is in place to maintain the confidentiality of, and legal protection for, a range of sensitive safety information gathered by ATSB investigators. The ATSB is now so experienced in Aircraft crash investigations that they are now specifically called upon by the US NTSB and were a major contributor in the Adam Air 574 crash in Silowasi Indonesia

Other countries

* Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Board – South Korea * Dutch Safety Board – Netherlands * Taiwan Transportation Safety Board – Taiwan * Japan Transport Safety Board – Japan * National Transportation Safety Board – United States * National Transportation Safety Committee – Indonesia * Safety Investigation Authority – Finland * Swedish Accident Investigation Authority – Sweden * Swiss Transportation Safety Investigation Board – Switzerland * Transport Accident Investigation Commission – New Zealand * Transportation Safety Board of Canada – Canada * Transport Safety Investigation Bureau – Singapore

References

External links

Australian Transport Safety Bureau Website
* {{Authority control Organizations investigating aviation accidents and incidents Commonwealth Government agencies of Australia Government agencies established in 1999 Rail accident investigators Transport safety organizations 1999 establishments in Australia Funding bodies of Australia Organisations based in Canberra Transport organisations based in Australia Safety in Australia