27 October 2010

Aviation Accident and Incident Reporting Scheme

The Australian Government is proposing amendments to the mandatory aviation accident and incident reporting scheme contained in the Transport Safety Investigation Regulations 2003 (TSI Regulations). The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) is inviting the Australian aviation industry to provide comment on the proposed changes by Friday 17 December 2010.

Details of the proposed amendments are provided in the Explanatory Statement [PDF: 90KB] and the Draft Regulations [PDF: 193KB].

It is acknowledged that the Senate Committee for Rural Affairs and Transport has terms of reference for an inquiry that encompasses accident and incident reporting and is due to report by 17 November 2010.  Amendments to the TSI Regulations that the ATSB is seeking to consult on now were in development prior to the establishment of this Committee.  Consultation will not limit the work of the Committee.  The consultation material on the ATSB's website outlines the elements of the accident and incident reporting scheme that have been assessed as the areas in which the scheme can be improved in the interests of enhancing its operational value within the safety system.  It's appropriate the amendments are progressed in a timely manner.

The main focus is on revising the detailed list of the reportable matters to provide clarity to those people with reporting responsibilities.  This is in the interests of sourcing accident and incident information from the industry that is more targeted for the purposes of use in safety research and analysis and assisting the ATSB to decide which matters to investigate

The list of reportable accidents and incidents are proposed to be adjusted in accordance with the ATSB's experience of managing the existing reporting scheme under the TSI Regulations and focuses on those matters that the ATSB has prioritised because of their safety implications.  Reporting requirements will also be focussed on the sectors of the aviation industry where the ATSB and the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) have targeted responsibility around fare paying passenger and other commercial operations.  However, the sport and recreation sector will still have reporting requirements to ensure that safety trends can be appropriately monitored in this sector of the industry.

The ATSB welcomes comment from all sectors of the Australian aviation industry in relation to the proposed amendments.  In particular, based on industry experience, you or your organisation may be interested in providing comments on:

• defined aviation terms;
• the actual matters that are required to be reported and their categorisation;
• the differentiation between the reporting responsibilities for the sport and recreation sector and the rest of the industry.

Submissions should be forwarded to the contact officer below by 17 December 2010.  The ATSB is looking forward to working with you to enhance the useability and safety value of mandatory accident and incident reporting.

 

Contact Officer:

Steve Young
Manager, Notifications and Confidential Reporting
Email: regulation.consultation@atsb.gov.au

Phone: 02 6274 6471
Fax: 02 6274 6434

Postal address:
Australian Transport Safety Bureau
Notifications and Confidential Reporting
PO Box 967
Civic Square ACT 2608

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Supporting material:

•  Explanatory Statement [PDF: 90KB]

•  New Draft Regulations [PDF: 193KB]

•  Current Transport Safety Investigation Regulations 2003 [PDF: 340KB]