The ATSB publishes a range of outputs in addition to, or in support of, our occurrence investigation reports.
Occurrence briefs
Occurrence briefs are short factual summaries that highlight safety messages and learnings from accidents and incidents that the ATSB has not investigated under the Transport Safety Investigation Act 2003. They detail the occurrence's sequence of events and highlight a relevant safety message so that learnings from the experiences of others can be shared.
Briefs are based upon the initial notification of an incident or accident to the ATSB and any follow-up inquiries, but do not contain analysis or findings. Involved parties are afforded the opportunity to review the brief before publication, but otherwise the ATSB does not verify the accuracy of the information.
To encourage reporting to the ATSB and the free sharing of safety information, briefs are de-identified, however the nature of the incident or accident may mean operators may be identifiable by others.
Briefs are published on the ATSB website, promoted on ATSB social media channels, and may be the subject of ATSB safety promotional videos.
Safety promotion videos
The ATSB uses safety promotion videos and animations to highlight important safety messages and investigation findings, explain complex sequences of events, describe technical detail, and engage with broader audiences.
The videos are published on the ATSB's YouTube channel(Opens in a new tab/window).
Safety studies
Safety studies typically investigate multiple occurrences of a similar nature, or a potential or emerging safety issue. Conducted as an investigation under the TSI Act, they aim to uncover safety issues through the analysis of occurrence and other data.
View published ATSB safety studies here.
Safety advisory notices
A safety advisory notice (SAN) is a means for the ATSB to communicate and raise awareness of a safety message or concern targeted at a specific industry sector, activity group or operators of a particular type of aircraft/vessel/train.
A SAN will feature a short description of the key safety message, relevant context, and explanatory information and images. They contain enough information that, if read without context, the desired audience is able to understand and act upon the key issue and message.
SANs are typically published in standalone form, as well as within the final investigation report.
They are published on the ATSB website, distributed to key organisations via email, and promoted to industry media and on social media. The ATSB may also produce a supporting safety promotion video.
Safety recommendations
The ATSB may issue a formal safety recommendation, either during or at the end of an investigation, based on the level of risk associated with an identified safety issue and the extent of corrective action already undertaken.
Recognising that in most instances, the responsible organisation is best placed in understanding how a specific safety issue may be addressed, safety recommendations are not prescriptive in nature.
Instead, a safety recommendation will focus on the safety issue of concern, and it is a matter for the responsible organisation to assess the costs and benefits of any particular method of addressing a safety issue.
Under section 25A of the Transport Safety Investigation Act 2003, an organisation that receives an ATSB safety recommendation is required to provide a written response within 90 days. That response must indicate whether they accept the recommendation, any reasons for not accepting part or all of the recommendation, and details of any proposed safety action to give effect to the recommendation.
REPCON reports
The ATSB operates the REPCON voluntary and confidential reporting scheme for the aviation, rail and marine industries. Any person within these industries, or member of the travelling public, may submit a REPCON report of a reportable safety concern. The scheme is designed to capture safety concerns, including unsafe practices, procedures and risk controls within an organisation or affected part of the industry.
The aim of the REPCON scheme is to encourage safety action to address the reported safety concerns. This can include variations to standards, orders, practices and procedures, or an education campaign. The ATSB may use the de-identified version of the reported safety concern to issue an information brief or alert bulletin to whichever organisation is best placed to take safety action in response to the safety concern.
The ATSB publishes the outcome of each REPCON on our website.
Aviation occurrence database
The ATSB National Aviation Occurrence Database contains de-identified information on aviation accidents and incidents in a searchable format.
The database has been designed to be flexible to allow searches for most information, including date range, aircraft and operation type, injury level, occurrence category and type, location, and airspace type and class.